Change & Transformation
Programme directors, change leads, transformation managers, organisational change practitioners. The roles closest to our 11-year practice, where our network runs deepest.
Recruitment practice
Right teams build real change.
Recruitment from inside the change practice. We've sat in the rooms we now hire for. The people we know help our clients build their teams across change, transformation, IT, AI, tax, finance, legal, sales, engineering, and beyond.
In one paragraph
InnovationWorks recruits the operators who deliver change. We're a boutique change consultancy in London, founded in June 2015, with eleven years of practice across hundreds of programmes. We know the people, the standards, and the firms. We now hire for our clients across change, transformation, IT, AI, tax, finance, legal, sales, engineering, and the specialist roles that don't fit a category. Senior, sensitive, selective. Always success-based.
Trusted by the firms who hire us back
BP
Mars
AstraZeneca
Scottish Water
Dentons
Deliveroo
Three things we do differently
Boutique, by design.
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01
Specialists, not name-shufflers
We've delivered change at BP, Mars, AstraZeneca, Scottish Water, Dentons. We've sat in the rooms we now hire for. That changes the conversations we have, with you, and with the candidates we approach.
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02
Curated, not mass-marketed
We work small briefs, deeply. Most placements come through warm conversations: people we already know, or one degree away. If your role isn't a fit for us, we'll tell you on the first call.
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03
Confidential by default
Senior moves are sensitive. Our outreach is quiet, by name and by role, never by company logo unless you tell us otherwise. Your search stays yours.
Where we hire.
Senior and specialist hires, success-based, across the verticals where our practice and our network run deepest.
IT & AI
Heads of engineering, technical leads, ML and data hires, AI product roles. The infrastructure of modern transformation, where we've delivered alongside change for years.
Tax & Finance
Senior tax managers, partners, audit leads, finance directors. Senior practice hires across UK, US and European firms.
Legal & Solicitor
Partner-track solicitors, senior associates, in-house counsel. Confidential moves at the senior end.
Sales & Commercial
Sales directors, commercial leads, account directors at firms scaling their go-to-market.
Engineering
Engineering leadership, specialist technical hires, the rare-skill roles where the right person matters more than filling the seat.
Other
Got a senior role that doesn't fit a tile? Tell us about it. If we can help, we'll say so. If we can't, we'll point you somewhere that can.
What you can count on.
We only get paid when we place. No retainers, no kick-off invoices, no obligation. Every search has its own fee terms and guarantee period, agreed in writing before we start. We don't ask you to bet on us. We ask you to give us a brief.
No obligation
No fee until placement.
Terms in writing
Guarantee periods and payment timing agreed up front.
Brief or chat
Send a written brief, or jump on a 30-minute call. Whichever works.
Eleven years · counting
A practice with a track record.
11 yrs
Change practice heritage
40+
Enterprise clients delivered for
1.6M+
Stakeholders impacted
9
Verticals we hire across
How we work.
Two ways to engage. Both success-based. Both with a written guarantee period.
Retained
Retained search
For senior, sensitive, or specialist hires where the search needs to be exclusive and the brief deserves real time.
- When
- Senior moves, succession, partner-track, hard-to-fill specialisms.
- Fee
- Success-based, paid only on placement.
- Guarantee
- Every search has a guarantee period, agreed up front and recorded in writing.
- What you get
- A dedicated specialist working your brief, a mapped market, weekly written updates, exclusivity for the search period.
Contingent
Contingent search
For open briefs where you want to see what's out there before committing.
- When
- Practice-level hires, parallel processes, flexible briefs, multiple roles at once.
- Fee
- Success-based, paid only on placement.
- Guarantee
- Every placement has a guarantee period, agreed up front and recorded in writing.
- What you get
- A shortlist within two weeks (or sooner if you need it), no exclusivity, no obligation.
The moat, plainly
Why a change consultancy?
For eleven years we've been called in when programmes go wrong. The pattern is almost always the same: the strategy was right, the tooling was right, the people were wrong. Wrong skills, wrong wiring, or simply not enough of them.
So when our clients started asking "do you know anyone who could do this?", we said yes, because we did. We formalised the recruitment practice in 2023. Same people, same standards. Different deliverable.
From brief to offer.
Five steps, transparent at every stage.
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01
One chat
Tell us the role, the team, the constraint. We tell you whether it's a fit for us, honestly, in 30 minutes.
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02
The brief, refined
We work with you on the spec until it lands for the candidates we'll approach. Your spec, sharpened, never rewritten without you.
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03
The shortlist
Three to five people, each with a written reason they're on the list. Within two weeks for retained, faster if you need it.
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04
Through to offer
We run the conversation. References, salary, counter-offer management. We've seen the failure modes.
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05
After placement
We check in at 30, 90, and 180 days. Bad placements are nearly always bad fits showing up early. We'd rather know.
Questions, answered.
What kind of roles does InnovationWorks recruit for?
We recruit senior and specialist roles across change, transformation, IT, AI, tax, finance, legal, sales, and engineering. Our depth is in change-related hires, where our 11 years of practice gives us a real network. If your role doesn't fit a category, we'll tell you in the first conversation whether we can help.
How is InnovationWorks different from a typical recruiter?
We started as a change consultancy in June 2015 and formalised our recruitment practice in 2023, after years of warm introductions for clients. Every recruiter on our team has either delivered the work themselves or worked alongside the people who did. We work briefs deeply, one or two at a time per specialist.
Does InnovationWorks only recruit for change roles?
No. Change is our heritage and where our network runs deepest, but we recruit across multiple verticals including transformation, IT, AI, tax, finance, legal, sales, and engineering. If you've got a senior role that doesn't fit, get in touch and we'll tell you whether we can help.
Where does InnovationWorks recruit?
UK, US, and Europe. Most placements are in London and the South East, but we work with international firms with hiring needs across the EMEA region and increasingly in the US.
How does InnovationWorks charge for recruitment?
Success-based, on placement only. There's no kick-off fee, no retainer, no obligation if we don't place. Our fee is a percentage of the candidate's first-year salary. Payment split, guarantee period, and any other terms are agreed openly in writing at the start of every search.
Is InnovationWorks PROSCI certified?
Imran Akram, who founded InnovationWorks and leads the recruitment practice, is PROSCI-certified. The certification is personal and applies to the change consulting work he leads.
Who runs the recruitment practice at InnovationWorks?
Imran Akram leads the recruitment practice alongside the wider InnovationWorks team. He's the first call you'll have, and he stays close to every senior search.
Can InnovationWorks help with hiring for a one-off senior role?
Yes, that's most of what we do. Single senior hires, partner-track moves, head-of-function searches, and specialist roles where the right person matters more than the speed. Send us a written brief or jump on a 30-minute call, whichever works for you. Either way we'll tell you honestly whether we can help.
One chat can change everything.
Send us a written brief, or jump on a 30-minute call. We'll tell you honestly whether we can help.