Professional Services - London

Non-Executive Director (NED)

Professional Services Company

Business Operating in the UK, North America and the UAE/GCC Regions

Time Commitment 1-2 Days per Month

The Opportunity

We are seeking a commercially astute and leadership focused Non-Executive Director (NED) to join the Board of an established and growing professional services business.

The company works with large and sophisticated clients across the UK and Middle East, providing professional services across a broad range of sectors. Having established a strong reputation, client base and platform for growth, the business is now looking towards its next stage of development.

The board is seeking an NED who can work closely with the CEO as a trusted adviser, strategic sounding board and constructive challenger, bringing experience and perspective to the decisions required to scale the business successfully.

The appointment will also play an important role in developing the Board itself, strengthening strategic decision-making and helping the business identify, evaluate and pursue new opportunities in both existing and new markets.

This is intended to be an active, commercially focused NED role, rather than one centred predominantly on governance and compliance.

The Role

The NED will provide independent perspective, experience and challenge to the CEO and Board, with a particular focus on growth, scale, commercial strategy and organisational development.

CEO Support & Strategic Counsel

A central part of the role will be developing a strong and trusted relationship with the CEO.

The NED will act as a confidential sounding board on strategic, commercial and leadership matters, helping the CEO work through complex decisions, test assumptions and maintain focus on the issues most important to the long-term development of the business.

The successful individual will know when to challenge, when to advise and when simply to provide perspective, while maintaining a clear distinction between executive and non-executive responsibilities.

Scaling a Professional Services Business

Provide advice and guidance on the transition from a successful SME into a larger, more structured and scalable professional services organisation.

This will include consideration of:

• Leadership and organisational structure.
• Recruitment, retention and development of high-quality professional talent.
• Increasing capacity while maintaining service quality.
• Developing scalable operating processes and management disciplines.
• Reducing dependency on individual relationships or key executives.
• Strengthening management information and performance measurement.
• Maintaining culture and entrepreneurialism as the organisation grows.
• Improving productivity, utilisation and commercial performance where appropriate.

A key consideration will be ensuring that growth does not compromise the quality, responsiveness and senior-level relationships that have helped establish the company's reputation.

Growth & Commercial Strategy

Work with the CEO and Board to refine the company's growth strategy and determine where management time and investment should be focused.

The NED will provide independent commercial perspective and constructive challenge, helping the Board maintain a clear and disciplined approach to sustainable growth.

UK & Middle East Development

Given the company's existing client base, experience of doing business across the UK and Middle East would be particularly valuable.

The NED should help the Board consider how best to develop these markets, including the balance between servicing clients internationally from the existing organisation and establishing additional capability, partnerships or presence within key markets.

An understanding of the relationship-led nature of professional services and the importance of senior stakeholder engagement with large organisations will be important.

Client & Market Development

Provide strategic input into the development of the company's client proposition and approach to major accounts.

This may include:

• Developing deeper and broader relationships with existing major clients.
• Increasing cross-selling between services and sectors.
• Building more systematic key-account management.
• Identifying new sectors and client opportunities.
• Strengthening routes to market and referral networks.
• Developing strategic partnerships and alliances.
• Supporting senior-level client engagement where appropriate.
• Increasing recurring and repeat revenue.
• Reducing unnecessary client concentration risk.

New Opportunity & Investment Decisions

An important element of the role will be helping the CEO and Board establish a disciplined approach to evaluating new opportunities.

The NED should bring strong commercial judgement to decisions involving new markets, sectors, service offerings, senior hires, partnerships, acquisitions and other significant investments.

The objective is to support entrepreneurial decision-making with appropriate challenge, evidence and commercial discipline, ensuring resources and management attention are directed towards opportunities capable of creating sustainable value

NED Profile

The successful NED is likely to have held a senior leadership position such as CEO, Managing Director, Partner, COO, Commercial Director or Chair/NED within an organisation where data driven decision making, strong key stakeholder management and flexibility in pivoting and changing course have been prevalent.

We are particularly interested in individuals who have experienced the journey of scaling a business, or working in a slightly smaller, less aggressively funded business, rather than candidates whose experience has been exclusively within very large corporate organisations.

Previous NED experience is not required. We are more interested in experienced executives, entrepreneurs and business leaders considering their first NED appointment where they can demonstrate the judgement, commercial experience and interpersonal qualities required to add value at Board level.

The priority is to find the right individual and the right fit for the CEO, Board and business. This is not an exercise in appointing the candidate with the longest portfolio of NED positions, nor is it about securing the lowest available day rate. We are looking for someone whose experience, judgement, personality and ambitions align with the company's next stage of growth and who has the capacity and motivation to make a meaningful contribution.

Relevant experience could include:

• Building or scaling an SME/Mid Cap business or leading a team within a larger organisation
• Working with large corporate, institutional or government-related clients.
• Developing senior client relationships and key accounts.
• International business development exposure, particularly across the UK and Middle East.
• Expanding into new sectors, services or geographies.
• Building leadership teams and organisational capability ahead of growth.
• Developing senior professional talent.
• Creating more systematic commercial and business-development processes.
• Evaluating strategic partnerships, acquisitions or other inorganic opportunities.
• Building effective leadership and governance structures within entrepreneurial businesses.

Personal Characteristics

The chemistry between the NED and CEO will be critical.

The successful candidate will need to combine experience, credibility and independence with a low-ego and pragmatic approach.

They should be:

Commercially minded – able to understand quickly how a professional services business creates value and where the greatest growth opportunities lie.

Supportive but challenging – capable of building a trusted relationship with the CEO while being willing to challenge assumptions and difficult decisions.

Strategic but practical – able to discuss long-term direction while understanding the operational realities of an SME.

Entrepreneurial – comfortable with opportunity, ambiguity and calculated risk rather than imposing unnecessary corporate process.

Relationship oriented – understanding that reputation, trust and senior relationships are fundamental to winning and retaining major professional services clients.

Internationally aware – comfortable operating across different markets and business cultures, ideally including the Middle East.

Independent – prepared to offer a clear view even where it differs from that of management or shareholders.

Personally invested – genuinely interested in the business and motivated by the opportunity to help the CEO and company succeed, rather than simply adding another appointment to a portfolio.

Commitment

The anticipated commitment is approximately 1–2 days per month, comprising formal Board meetings, regular one-to-one sessions with the CEO and additional availability around significant strategic decisions.

The NED will be expected to be accessible to the CEO between formal meetings as the relationship builds and develops to provide that much needed voice of reason.

The Mandate

This appointment is about more than conventional Board oversight.

We are looking for an individual who can become a trusted strategic partner to the CEO and an important contributor to the next chapter of the business.

The successful candidate does not need to be an established NED. What matters is that they bring relevant experience, sound judgement, commercial curiosity, constructive challenge and the right personal chemistry with the CEO and wider Board.

The appointment will therefore be approached based on value and fit rather than simply previous NED credentials or day rate. The aim is to find an individual who genuinely wants to engage with the business, understands the opportunity ahead and can make a meaningful contribution to its development over several years.

Above all, the NED should help the business scale while protecting the quality, relationships, culture and reputation on which its success has been built.