Skip the generalist agency dance. Our AI agent qualifies your senior brief — role, level, sector, package — and matches you with the right boutique executive search firms in your sector. Shortlists you can act on, usually within seven days.
Mercer qualifies your brief — role function, level, sector, location, package envelope, urgency — and matches you with up to three boutique executive search firms in your sector. Your hiring intent stays confidential until you accept the introduction.
What our matching engine extracts as Mercer qualifies the senior brief in real time.
Generalist agencies have you paying retainers to firms who don't actually source in your sector. We do the opposite: Mercer matches your brief to firms who specialise exactly where you're hiring. No retainer commitments until you've seen the shortlists.
Describe the senior role you're hiring for. Mercer asks about function, level, sector, location, package, and urgency — five minutes, no forms.
Mercer routes your brief to vetted boutique search firms with deep coverage in your sector and level. Up to three firms see your anonymised brief and decide whether to engage.
The firms who accept your brief contact you to scope retainer terms. Once engaged, expect first shortlists inside seven days. You decide who to interview.
VPs of Sales, Marketing, Product, Engineering. Series A through PE-backed scale-ups and listed.
Banking, asset management, fintech, insurance. Risk, distribution, ops, transformation.
Healthtech, biotech, medical devices, allied health. Commercial, operational, and clinical leadership.
DTC brands, omnichannel retail, FMCG. Marketing, brand, e-commerce, supply chain.
Consulting, legal, accounting, agency. Practice leadership, business development, COO.
Heavy industry, advanced manufacturing, logistics. Operations, supply chain, plant leadership.
Developers, builders, REITs. Development directors, commercial leadership, finance.
Renewables, mining, oil & gas, utilities. ESG, commercial, technical leadership.
Most senior-search lead-gen is a numbers game — endless cold inquiries from companies who can't afford retainers, won't sign exclusivity, and don't fit your sector practice. We're built differently: Mercer qualifies every brief before you see it — function, level, sector, package envelope, urgency — and only routes briefs that fit your specialist coverage.
You pay a fixed per-qualified-brief fee — only when you accept. No subscriptions. No referral commissions on placement value beyond the CPL.
Apply to join the network →Yes — you never pay us. We make money from the executive search firms in our network who pay a per-qualified-brief fee when they accept your matter. The retainer / engagement fee you eventually pay the search firm is between you and them — we don't take a placement cut.
Every firm in the network is verified as a member of the Recruitment, Consulting and Staffing Association (RCSA), holds current professional indemnity insurance, has documented experience in their nominated sectors, and is monitored on response speed and client satisfaction after their first three accepted briefs.
Confidential by default. Your company name and brief details are anonymised when matching — search firms see the role shape, level, sector, and package envelope, but not your identity, until they accept and you choose to engage. We can also accommodate explicit confidentiality flags (e.g., blacklist current employees, blacklist named competitor firms from seeing the brief).
Senior hiring: Director, VP, GM, MD, and C-suite levels are our core. Total package envelope typically $250K+. For roles below this, the matching engine routes to firms with broader generalist coverage; if your role is closer to mid-management, we may not be the right fit.
LLMs is the Melbourne-based AI agents studio that designed and operates Mercer and the underlying matching engine. We're one of several vertical marketplaces in their portfolio. See more →