Product & Design
PMs, product designers, researchers and design leadership — from first hire to a function of forty.
128 placed · 11 openTwo people need this to go well. We work for both.
For employers
Hiring?
Get a shortlist of four people who actually want the job — not forty who match a keyword. We brief deeply, we say no to bad fits, and we tell you when the salary is the problem.
See how we work
For candidates
Looking?
You'll get the salary band before the first call, an honest read on the team, and a straight answer either way. No ghosting. No "we'll keep you on file."
Browse open rolesFor employers · how we work
Four steps. No surprises at the end of any of them.
Most searches fail in week one, when nobody says the uncomfortable thing. We say it then.
STEP 01
The honest brief
Two hours with the hiring manager and the team they'll sit in. We pressure-test the salary against our own data and tell you if it won't clear.
Week 1
STEP 02
Search, not spam
We approach a named longlist by hand. Nobody gets a generic message, so people who aren't looking still reply.
Weeks 1–2
STEP 03
Four, not forty
A shortlist of four, each with a written case for why they fit and one honest reservation. You interview people, not CVs.
Week 3
STEP 04
Offer and after
We manage the offer, the counter-offer, and the resignation. Then we check in at 30, 90 and 365 days.
Week 4 → year 1For candidates · open roles
Every role, with the band published.
If a client won't publish the band, we don't take the role. It's that simple.
Fintech · Series B · 80 people
New
Staff Product Designer
Base salary band
£95,000 – £115,000 + equity
£80k£130k
Health tech · Series A · 40 people
2 openings
Senior Backend Engineer
Base salary band
£85,000 – £105,000 + equity
£75k£125k
Climate · Seed · 18 people
New
Head of People
Base salary band
£78,000 – £92,000 + equity
£65k£110k
Marketplace · Series C · 220 people
Urgent
Group Product Manager
Base salary band
£110,000 – £130,000 + bonus
£90k£145k
Developer tools · Series B · 95 people
Interviewing
Engineering Manager
Base salary band
£100,000 – £120,000 + equity
£85k£140k
B2B SaaS · Series A · 55 people
New
Lead UX Researcher
Base salary band
£72,000 – £86,000 + equity
£60k£100k
Where we go deep
Three markets. We'd rather know them properly.
We turn down about a third of the briefs we're offered, because they're outside these.
Engineering
Backend, platform, data and engineering management. We read the code review before we read the CV.
154 placed · 17 openPeople & Ops
Heads of People, talent partners and operations leads. The hires that decide what everyone else's job feels like.
58 placed · 6 openThe numbers
A placement isn't a fee. It's someone's next two years.
So we measure the thing that matters: are they still there, and are they glad they moved?
340people placed since 2019
94%still in the role at twelve months
21days median, brief to signed offer
4.9average rating from placed candidates
Both sides of the table
The client and the candidate, on the same hire.
“They told us our band was £15k light before they'd start. That was annoying to hear and completely correct — we fixed it and closed our first choice in three weeks.”
Priya RamanVP ENGINEERING · HALCYON PAY
“I knew the salary, the team's last two failures and who I'd report to before I ever took a call. I've never had a recruiter tell me the honest downside of a job before.”
Tom BergqvistSTAFF ENGINEER · PLACED 2025
Who you'll actually deal with
Four of us. You get the person you met.
No account managers, no handovers to a junior after you sign.
Ada Kowalski
Founder · Product & DesignTwelve years in-house before this, the last four as a Head of Design. She's been on the hiring side of a bad process.
Marcus Oyelowo
Partner · EngineeringWrote backend code for eight years. Still reads pull requests. Will not send you a CV he hasn't understood.
Nadia Haddad
Partner · People & OpsBuilt the People function at two Series B companies. Knows exactly which "culture fit" answers mean nothing.
Jonah Reyes
Research leadMaps the market before we approach anyone. The reason our longlists have people no job board has.
Free · updated quarterly
The 2026 salary guide. Real offers, not survey guesses.
Built from the 340 offers we've actually negotiated — not from what companies say they pay.
- Bands by level, city and remote policy
- What equity is actually worth at Seed vs Series C
- The counter-offer numbers people accepted, and the ones they didn't
No sales call attached. One email, one PDF.
✓ On its way — check your inbox in a minute.
| Role | Median base |
|---|---|
| Staff Product Designer | £104k ↑6% |
| Senior Backend Engineer | £96k ↑4% |
| Group Product Manager | £118k ↑9% |
| Engineering Manager | £112k ↑5% |
| Head of People | £88k ↑7% |
| Lead UX Researcher | £79k ↑3% |
Whichever side you're on, start with a conversation.
Thirty minutes, no pitch. If we're not the right people for it, we'll tell you who is.