Exec Search, Recruitment & RecTec revenue advisory in Salford
Strategic Revenue Audit and fractional CRO support for recruitment and RecTec scale-ups, founder-led search firms and PE-backed staffing groups professionalising the commercial function ahead of an investment, exit or generational transition. On the ground in Salford and across the wider North West exec search, recruitment & rectec cluster.
Salford's commercial profile has been transformed by MediaCityUK, the BBC's relocation, and the subsequent build-out of one of the largest broadcast and digital media clusters in Europe. The University of Salford, Salford Quays and the wider Greater Manchester catchment together support a deep concentration of commercial, partnerships and AdTech talent. Salford's regeneration around the Quays and Chapel Street has anchored a growing community of B2B SaaS and creative-industries employers.
The North West is the single largest concentration of recruitment commercial activity in the UK outside London. Manchester city centre hosts PageGroup, Hays, Robert Walters, Search Consultancy and a deep specialist-search community; Salford anchors Morson Group and the wider engineering staffing market; Warrington hosts Brookson and the M62 contractor-compliance cluster; and Manchester is also the UK commercial home of Bullhorn following the Volcanic acquisition. Liverpool adds a credible mid-market specialist base on top.
PageGroup (Manchester)
Exec search and recruitment
Major Northern office for the FTSE 250 global recruitment group, covering professional and specialist search.
Hays plc (Manchester / Leeds)
Recruitment
FTSE 250 global recruiter with substantial Manchester and Leeds commercial benches.
Robert Walters (Manchester)
Specialist recruitment
Northern HQ for the global professional recruitment group.
Search Consultancy
Multi-discipline recruitment
Manchester, Liverpool and Leeds offices serving the wider Northern commercial market.
Morson Group
Engineering and technical staffing
Salford-headquartered global engineering and technical recruitment group.
NES Fircroft
Energy and engineering staffing
Manchester-headquartered global staffing business for energy, infrastructure and life sciences.
Sellick Partnership
Specialist recruitment
Manchester-headquartered specialist recruitment group covering legal, finance and public sector.
Brookson (People2.0)
Recruitment compliance and tech
Warrington-headquartered contractor accountancy and recruitment-compliance business with deep RecTec adjacency.
Bullhorn (Manchester)
RecTec (CRM)
Manchester commercial presence for the global recruitment-CRM platform, anchored by the former Volcanic team.
Northern recruitment commercial talent is unusually deep at consultant, principal consultant and Director level, with Manchester and Leeds the two dominant hubs and Salford anchoring engineering and contract staffing. Most senior recruitment leaders are loyal to their current desk, equity package or earn-out and move only for genuine commercial upside, autonomy or specialism. RecTec commercial supply is thinner: SaaS sellers who genuinely understand the recruitment buyer concentrate around Manchester, Leeds and Sheffield, with a meaningful share crossing in from adjacent HR Tech and workforce-management platforms.
Senior recruitment commercial salaries vary widely with the underlying model. A Director-level perm recruiter in a successful Northern boutique typically earns £80k-£130k base with profit-share or equity layered on; an MD of a £10m-£30m specialist business sits at £130k-£200k base plus meaningful earn-out. RecTec Sales Directors track wider SaaS benchmarks: £110k-£160k base with OTE of £180k-£280k for a £5m-£25m ARR business. Fractional CRO day rates for recruitment and RecTec scale-ups run £1,400-£2,000.
Salford Central, MediaCityUK tram and the wider Metrolink network give 10-minute access from central Manchester. The M60 and M602 connect directly to the wider Greater Manchester network.
How we work
01
A two to four-week Strategic Revenue Audit. Interviews across leadership, sales, marketing and CS. Pipeline, forecast and CRM data review. Output is a written diagnostic with a prioritised set of interventions, not a generic playbook.
02
We translate the diagnostic into an operating-model design: structure, segmentation, role design, compensation, forecasting cadence, tooling decisions. Reviewed with the CEO and board before any change is made.
03
Working back from revenue targets, we model the headcount, ramp, attainment and hiring plan needed to deliver. This becomes the joined-up commercial plan against which decisions are made.
04
Where useful, an Evara fractional revenue leader steps in to run the change. Where the in-house team has capacity, we support from alongside. Either way the work gets done, not just recommended.
05
Monthly commercial reviews against the plan. Quarterly board pack. Annual re-plan. The advisory engagement winds down as the in-house function gets stronger; it is not designed to be permanent.
FAQs
Yes. Senior commercial hires into executive search firms, recruitment groups, staffing businesses and RPO / MSP providers are a recurring part of our work, including confidential replacement searches for underperforming MDs and Sales Directors.
RecTec includes applicant tracking systems (ATS), recruitment CRMs, sourcing and assessment platforms, recruitment marketing software and contractor-compliance technology. We hire commercial leaders, AEs, partnerships and customer success talent across all of these, with a strong Northern bench centred on Manchester, Leeds and Sheffield.
Recruitment buyers are commercial operators themselves and screen suppliers hard. A wrong Sales Director or Practice Lead hire in a recruitment business burns equity, damages client relationships and is visible inside the market within weeks. Evara's partners have built and led recruitment and RecTec businesses themselves, which means our screen is calibrated to how this market actually buys and sells.
Salford's media and broadcast anchor (BBC, ITV at MediaCityUK) gives the city a uniquely deep AdTech, partnerships and creative-commercial talent pool. For B2B SaaS and FinTech, Salford and Manchester operate as one talent market.
Yes. The MediaCityUK and Salford Quays campuses offer modern commercial space, and the talent catchment is fully integrated with central Manchester via the Metrolink.
Email Rachel Lunn and the team. We will reply within one working day with a Salford-specific exec search, recruitment & rectec market read for the role you have in mind.
Email Rachel Lunn/revenue-advisory/salford/exec-search-recruitment-rectec
Sales recruitment, GTM recruitment and revenue advisory for SMEs UK-wide. We reply within one working day.
Email Rachel Lunn