About us
Kern Consulting is a specialist executive search and talent advisory firm focused on delivering high quality commercial, technology, and product leadership for clients in the Information Services and Market Intelligence sectors. We work with our clients not just to find exceptional leaders, but to help them build, structure, and retain the leadership teams they need to compete.
In our sector we concentrate on hiring and advising on leadership across the sales, general management, product, and technology functions.
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The market our clients are navigating
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The information services and financial data markets will continue to undergo seismic shifts in 2026, driven not just by AI integration but by fundamental changes in what clients demand and how value is delivered. The business intelligence market is projected to grow from $29.3 billion in 2025 to $54.9 billion by 2029, but growth alone doesn't tell the full story.
The critical divide is now between organisations with clear AI strategy and orchestration capabilities versus those still experimenting. Most clients now prefer firms offering highly personalised products and services, forcing providers to abandon generic data feeds for customised intelligence tailored to specific investment strategies.
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The democratisation of information means exclusive access no longer wins — superior analytics, contextual insights, and seamless workflow integration do.
Why leadership is the deciding factor
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In a market evolving this rapidly, the right leadership isn't just important — it's existential. Executive search firms remain indispensable in this transformation, bridging the gap between organisations and scarce commercial, product, and technology talent. The competitive landscape for tech and sales leadership has intensified dramatically, with organisations struggling to keep pace with monthly technology pivots and widening skills gaps.
Identifying leaders with both the technical acumen to implement AI-driven platforms and the strategic vision to transform data into competitive advantage requires deep sector expertise — not just a wide network. The CTOs driving digital transformation, the Chief Product Officers ensuring the next generation of products are best in class, the Chief Data Officers honing data strategy, ensuring data quality, and driving business value through data analytics and governance, and the commercial leaders who understand how to leverage intelligence to capitalise on market opportunity and prepare their sales teams for success in an ever more demanding client environment: Finding and securing these people demands a search partner who understands the sector as well as the client does.
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Our Services
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Retained Executive Search
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Our core capability is retained executive search for senior commercial, product, and technology roles. We bring specialised research and deep sector knowledge to identify leaders that generalist firms simply cannot reach. We quickly grasp the unique cultural DNA of each client and the specific functional challenges of each mandate, working closely throughout the process to provide detailed advice on the talent market and think creatively about where the best candidates can be found.
Every retained search engagement includes post-placement support as standard. The risk in any senior hire doesn't end at offer acceptance, and we don't walk away when the contract is signed. We maintain close relationships with both the placed executive and the hiring organisation through the critical first months, helping to accelerate integration, surface early friction, and protect the investment both parties have made. We consider this an essential part of doing the job properly, not an optional extra.
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Talent Mapping & Enhanced Research
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For the most senior and business-critical appointments, a standard long list is not enough. Our enhanced research service adds a rigorous additional layer of due diligence and human intelligence to ensure clients have a genuinely complete view of the available talent landscape before making consequential decisions.
This goes beyond database searches and publicly available profiles. It means systematic outreach, discreet validation, and experienced human judgment applied to ensure that no significant candidate has been overlooked and that the picture presented is as accurate and complete as it can be. Enhanced research is available as a standalone commission or as an upgrade within a retained search engagement. When the cost of a wrong hire or a missed candidate can run into the millions, the investment in getting the research right is straightforward to justify.
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Discreet Outreach
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There are situations where an organisation knows exactly who it wants to approach, but cannot make that approach directly. Internal talent acquisition teams are rarely positioned to conduct sensitive outreach without revealing the hiring company's identity prematurely. Equally, when a recently hired leader recommends a former colleague or direct report, non-solicitation clauses can prevent the organisation from making contact themselves — even where there is genuine mutual interest on both sides.
In these situations, Kern Consulting acts as a trusted third party. We conduct the outreach professionally and confidentially, creating the necessary distance and discretion the situation demands. The individual is approached with care and without pressure; the client's identity and intentions remain protected until the moment is right to reveal them. This service is available as a standalone engagement and is particularly valued by in-house talent teams who have strong internal capabilities but need an experienced external partner for the approaches they cannot make themselves.
Interim and Fractional Placement
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Not every leadership need requires a permanent hire. We connect organisations with senior executives available for interim or fractional engagements — providing immediate, experienced capability when a business needs to move quickly, bridge a transition, or access senior leadership without the commitment of a full-time appointment.
Drawing on our deep network across the Information Services and Market Intelligence sectors, we identify and place executives who can add value from day one. This service is available as a standalone engagement and frequently runs alongside a retained search, ensuring continuity of leadership while a permanent appointment is secured.
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Kern Partnership - Talent Advisory Subscription
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For clients who want more than transactional search support, the Kern Partnership is a retainer-based advisory relationship designed to keep leadership teams and boards ahead of the talent market rather than constantly reacting to it.
Delivered through a simple monthly or quarterly retainer, the Kern Partnership combines two integrated strands of ongoing support:
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Talent Market Intelligence — Regular, sector-specific intelligence on the senior talent landscape: who is moving, what organisations are building, how compensation is shifting, and where the emerging leadership profiles in your market are developing. For PE-backed businesses and scale-ups preparing for a growth phase or exit, this intelligence is a strategic asset. For established players, it provides the early warning needed to act before competitors do.
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Leadership Advisory — Access to experienced, independent judgment on the wider questions that senior hiring and leadership development raise. How should a function be structured at this stage of growth? What kind of leader does the business need now versus in two years? Where are the succession risks that the board hasn't yet named? We bring a perspective built on years of observing leadership teams succeed and fail in this specific market, without the agenda of an internal stakeholder or the limitations of a one-off engagement.
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The Kern Partnership is available to a small number of clients at any one time, and is structured to be genuinely useful rather than a light-touch newsletter subscription dressed up as advisory. Clients typically find that it pays for itself many times over — in searches avoided, decisions made with better information, and hiring mistakes that never happened.