Change & Transformation
recruitment.

Change & Transformation recruitment

Hexford’s Change and Transformation practice places senior interims and permanent leaders into complex business change. We work with banks, insurers, asset managers, government bodies, and the largest corporates — the kinds of organisations where transformation programmes are measured in tens of millions and span multiple years.

The practice is led by James Holloway from our Manchester office. James is the person clients call when they need credible programme leadership at short notice for high-stakes change.

Where we focus

We are most active in senior interim transformation leadership — Transformation Directors, Programme Directors, and the senior interims who lead workstreams within major programmes. Roles are typically £1,000-£1,800 per day, Outside IR35, 9-18 month engagements with strong likelihood of extension.

We also work on permanent transformation leadership — Chief Transformation Officers, Heads of Change, and the senior permanent appointments that anchor transformation capability inside organisations. This work is less frequent but more strategically significant.

How we work

The interim transformation market moves fast. When a programme needs senior leadership now, the answer can’t be “we’ll get back to you in three weeks.” Our model is built around being able to introduce credible candidates inside 48-72 hours of taking the brief — not because we are running a database play, but because the network we have built in this market is genuinely deep.

For permanent transformation leadership we work to a more conventional retained model, with searches running eight to twelve weeks.

We are deliberately selective about the briefs we take. The senior interim market has a long tail of “candidates” whose actual experience does not match their CV; we will not introduce someone we have not personally referenced into a high-stakes programme. This selectivity is why our clients keep coming back.

Who to talk to

James Holloway leads the Change and Transformation practice from Manchester. For any senior transformation brief — interim or permanent — James is the right first conversation.