Embedded Research Support for a Global Infrastructure Group

At a glance

A major international infrastructure group has brought Talent Acumen in as an embedded extension of its in-house executive search team three times since 2022, most recently in 2025 and again this year. Each time, the same principal researcher stepped straight in, working to the team's own priorities on a flexible day rate, with no placement fees.

The challenge

The client's in-house executive search team is small and highly skilled, but demand on it rises and falls sharply. Senior vacancies, succession planning and diversity and inclusion goals all land on the same few people.

At different points, the pressure came from different places:

• A gap in headcount while the team recruited an additional in-house search professional.

• Rapid business growth, with one division set to double in size within two years and several major national infrastructure programmes mobilising at once.

• Senior leadership turnover creating a run of critical roles to fill.

• Seasonal peaks, such as a busy autumn hiring period coinciding with reduced capacity over the holidays.

None of these suited a traditional agency model. The client did not want to brief a different firm on every role, or pay a percentage-of-salary fee each time. It needed extra research capacity that would slot into the team, flex to whatever mattered that week, and leave the market knowledge in-house.

Our approach

We provided an embedded researcher who worked as part of the client's team, not as an outside agency working assignment by assignment.

1. One principal researcher for continuity. Charlotte Shelton, a senior researcher with a background in FTSE 100 executive research and in-house HR and recruitment, led every engagement, backed by the wider Talent Acumen team for absence or peaks in demand.

2. Priorities set by the client, week by week. Charlotte met the Senior Manager, Executive Search, for regular briefings and moved her time to wherever it was needed most. She also joined hiring manager briefings where useful.

3. Whatever the team needed. Market mapping, confidential candidate approaches, end-to-end search, succession planning and market insight, all from the same block of days.

4. Clear outputs. Deliverables and KPIs were agreed for each brief, and all candidate and market data was exported from our CRM to the client, so the intelligence stayed with them.

5. A simple commercial model. A fixed day rate, a set number of days per week, discounts as programmes ran into a second and third month, and a break clause at the end of each period. No placement fees: any number of hires from the research, now or in future, cost nothing extra.

The work

The model has flexed each time to fit what the business needed, from a three-month growth programme to a short burst of autumn support.

Example: Group Director of Employee Communications and Engagement (2026)

A high-profile Group role reporting to the Chief Communications and Corporate Affairs Officer, with exposure to the Executive Committee and Board, and an international remit. We ran the search across international talent pools, approached senior internal communications and engagement leaders confidentially, and produced market insight for the client's executive talent acquisition lead to use when presenting the shortlist.

Example: Technical Director market mapping refresh

For a Technical Director role on a major UK transport infrastructure scheme, we refreshed an existing market map rather than starting from scratch. Because our researcher already knew the client and the market, the update was quick, and the client gained an up-to-date view of who was available, where they sat and how they might respond to an approach.

Results

At the time of publishing, the work had already led to two senior appointments: a Project Director on a base salary of £180,000 and a Technical Director on £130,000. At a typical executive search fee of 25% of salary, those two roles alone would have cost £77,500. Interviews for further roles are ongoing.

Our day rate meant the client paid for the research time it used, not a share of each salary, and further hires from the same research will cost nothing extra. The client has also kept coming back: three engagements in five years, each with the same researcher.

• Capacity on demand. The team handled peaks in senior hiring without adding permanent headcount or briefing multiple agencies.

• No ramp-up time. Returning to the same researcher meant no re-learning of the business, its culture or its hiring managers.

• Predictable, lower cost. A fixed day rate and no placement fees, so the cost stayed the same however many hires the research produced.

• Market intelligence retained. Every name, approach and piece of candidate feedback was handed over, building the client's own picture of the external market for future roles.

Why embedded research works

Embedded research gives an in-house team the reach of a search firm without the agency fees or the loss of control.

Our embedded seats run for set periods from two weeks to 12 months. You choose the days, set the priorities and keep all the data. We bring experienced researchers who can map a market, approach senior candidates confidentially and give you the insight to make better hiring decisions.

If your team is facing a busy period, a growth programme or a gap in headcount, get in touch to talk about an embedded seat.