Financial Recruitment Agency

About Linear Partners

Founded by Nick Silver and Nick Goff in 2014, we are a search oriented financial recruiter with the roots of our focus in M&A/Corporate Finance. We are one of the leading providers of M&A/Corporate Finance talent to the EMEA and US markets with clients spanning investment banks, investment managers (GPs) and in-house corporate development and strategic finance teams. We take pride in being the trusted, go-to supplier of talent to a range of businesses.

01

Experience

Our team has a combined 75+ years’ experience in contingent recruitment and retained executive search. We’ve built an unparalleled track record in our specialist markets and are consistently rated as the number one supplier to a range of companies, both large and small. Collectively, we have completed in excess of a thousand hires between us.
02

Relationship Driven

We’ve spent the last 20 years sticking to what we know and developing long term, meaningful relationships with dozens of companies and hundreds of high-achieving and entrepreneurial individuals. The client/candidate experience always takes precedent. We take time to listen, understand and offer bespoke, transparent and candid advice.
03

Market Expertise

Having lived and breathed the same space for as long as we have, we’ve developed a genuine intuition for what works and what doesn’t. We maintain comprehensive market maps and have created a unique people moves tracking tool which enables us to stay fully up to speed with key hiring trends and analysis across our markets.
04

Integrity

Our business is all about providing great customer service and doing right by both candidates and clients. The markets we serve expect the highest levels of professionalism and integrity from the people within them and we fully reflect these values in how we operate too. This is one reason why so many of our clients have used us repeatedly for the last 15+ years.

Client Coverage

Investment Banking - EMEA & North America

We partner with a selection of the largest, full-service investment banks, undertaking searches at all levels from Analyst to MD across EMEA and North America. We are a key supplier to Deutsche Bank, UBS, J.P. Morgan and Bank of America as well as several full-service, mid-market investment banks. We are a trusted supplier of advisory professionals to renowned firms like Evercore, Greenhill, Lazard, Moelis and many more. We have hired hundreds of front office Analyst to MD level professionals into these firms across M&A and capital markets over the past 20 years.

The Buy-Side

Most investment professionals begin their careers in client-facing advisory roles, developing and honing their technical skills and building their networks across specific industries. We work with multiple funds/GPs looking to hire exceptional talent from investment banks, corporate finance advisory boutiques, strategy consultancies and Big 4 CA firms. We cover multiple asset classes including PE, Private Debt, Venture & Growth, Real Assets, Secondaries and Public Markets. Our track record extends across multiple industries including Consumer, TMT, Industrials, Healthcare, Infrastructure, Financial Services (FIG) and Real Estate.

Private Capital Advisory, Fundraising & Investor Relations

We partner with boutique advisory firms specialising in helping private equity managers and other GPs in marketing, raising and structuring their investment funds. We have completed dozens of hires into this market, often individuals with M&A or Corporate Finance training backgrounds or from Big 4 CA firms or strategy consultancies. We also work extensively across the fast-growing private capital secondaries advisory market. For those looking to move in-house with a fund, we also service Investor Relations teams looking to add experienced fundraising and capital formation professionals.

Portfolio (CFOs & Finance Directors)

Our Portfolio team brings 25+ years experience in recruitment and retained search with our lead consultant having trained as a Chartered Accountant with PwC. Our track record spans CFO and FD assignments across multiple different sectors including Business Services, TMT & Software, Infrastructure, Healthcare, Education, Industrials and Consumer & Retail. We work with companies of all sizes and at all stages of development from venture and growth to PE owned and publicly listed. Our team have completed hires across the UK & Ireland, continental Europe and the US.

Corporate Development & in-house Strategic Finance

Corporate Development is a highly sought-after career for many who train in corporate finance and/or strategy consulting. Taking those skills to a mature or growth company and helping them execute their M&A strategy is an enormously fulfilling alternative to a buy-side move. We work with a range of private and public companies who are looking to source experienced talent from one or more of these markets for their in-house Strategic Finance and/or Corporate Development teams.

15+ years' average experience.

One of the most experienced teams with over 250 hires completed since 2021 alone.

"...one of the leading providers of M&A/Corporate Finance talent to the London market..."

We are proud to be the trusted recruitment partner to a plethora of diverse, industry defining businesses across a range of sizes and specialisms.

See what our clients say about us...

“We have known Nick and the team for several years and have found their wide candidate reach and access to a quality pool of candidates to be impeccable.

The team are well structured, very well organised and provide a frank and fair recruitment perspective. Nick provides useful market insights, highlighting trends on an ongoing basis and is insightful in helping us progress on our talent enablement strategy”

Harry Matharu

MD, CAO & Finance Director - Lincoln International

“Having worked with numerous consultants over the years, Nick and the team at Linear stand out as being quite exceptional in terms of the consistency with which candidates they propose meet our recruitment criteria – in particular, understanding our business’ unique characteristics and values.

We greatly value the fact that Nick invests the time to ensure he has a clear rationale and justification for how and why a candidate he is proposing “fits the bill”. We look forward to the relationship continuing into the future.”

Dean Rodrigues

MD, Head of UK M&A - Greenhill & Co.

“Linear Partners have helped us find several important new hires over the last 10 years. We felt that Linear knew immediately what we were looking for, and only introduced us to people who might be a real fit – with the result that the hiring process in each case was efficient and hassle-free for all involved.

There is no doubt in my mind that we will definitely use Linear for the next potential hire, and thereafter.”

Alexander Fellowes

Partner, Spencer House Partners

“We have known Nick Goff and his team at Linear for years. Linear’s knowledge of the market is simply unparalleled, and they have proven they can navigate different market environments. Linear deeply understands clients’ needs, and the candidates he introduced to us when mandated were always great fits. It is really enjoyable working with Linear given their professionalism and pragmatism, and the one great quality they have is that they will never push for unwanted profiles or when the time is not right to recruit. Many companies call themselves “Partners” but few actually mean that when dealing with Clients; on the contrary Linear Partners has been and is a true and loyal partner to our firm.”

Alessio Pieri

Partner, d'Angelin & Co.

“Nick and the Linear team have been a consistent and valuable recruitment partner for Torch Partners for the last 15+ years. During this time they have introduced several highly additive hires to our business. In a competitive market for high quality talent, the Linear team are targeted and thoughtful in their approach and show us candidates they believe will be a strong fit with our analytical approach and team culture. We look forward to continuing this successful partnership for years to come!”

Thomas Roberts

CEO, Torch Partners

Our Team

Director - EMEA IB

Nick Silver

Co-founder and Director of Linear Partners, Nick has specialised in recruiting Investment Banking M&A professionals into EMEA markets since 2005. He has had a direct hand in helping to shape numerous teams across a handful of bulge bracket investment banks, both US and European, as well as a number of mid-market and boutique advisors. Nick is a keen skier, an avid tennis fan and player and an automotive enthusiast. His two young boys take up much of his spare time outside of these pursuits.

Director - EMEA IB

Nick Goff

Co-founder and Director of Linear Partners, Nick has spent the last 20 years covering Investment Banking and Corporate Finance. He has strong relationships with multiple global names in M&A with a particular focus on elite boutiques, mid-market M&A/CF advisors and smaller, large-cap focused boutique advisors. Nick is a keen skier, golfer, tennis and squash player. As a member of the Berkshire golf club, he would be pleased to hear from anyone in our market interested in a round. A father of two (and soon to be three), this is the only excuse he has to play any more.

Consultant - EMEA IB

Stephen Almond

Steve joined Linear Partners in 2018 after a 3-year stint in property development and a 10-year career in hospitality, latterly managing a Michelin starred restaurant in West London. Steve manages a portfolio of growing mid-market Corporate Finance clients while also supporting the team on larger projects across some of our longer standing and larger Investment Banking client base. Originally from Manchester, Steve now lives in South West London with his wife and two children.

Consultant - EMEA IB

Adam Duffen

After graduating from the University of Leeds with a 2:1 in Economics and French, Adam joined Linear Partners in 2021 to help with building out the firm's research function. He supports all of the team on their respective search mandates and is responsible for maintaining market maps and people moves research across our core markets. Fluent in French and a qualified ski instructor, he has settled in very naturally to the vital role of 'sat-nav' on the firm's annual ski trips.

Consultant - EMEA IB & Buy-Side

Roscoe Hughes

Roscoe grew up in Cadiz in the south of Spain (or to be more specific, a place fondly known throughout Iberia as "Puerto") and is bilingual in English and Spanish. He works across both investment banking and buy-side mandates, with a buy-side client base that spans Private Equity, VC/Growth, Secondaries, Credit and Real Assets. Roscoe now lives in South Kensington and on weekends can generally be found in bars and pubs between home and Stamford Bridge.

Consultant - North America IB

Joe Penniall

Joe was one of two hires made in 2023 in an effort to build out the firm's North American Investment Banking coverage. He has successfully hired dozens of investment banking professionals from Analyst to MD across a wide range of full-service banks and boutique advisors. The resident Netflix aficionado, Joe graduated with a degree in Film and Cinema Studies from the University of Southampton and now lives with his girlfriend in South London.

Consultant - North America IB

Tom Hall

Tom joined the team in 2023 at the same time as Joe, both having worked together at their prior firm. Working alongside Joe, Tom likewise covers the North American Investment Banking market and has successfully hired dozens of Analyst to MD level professionals from East to West coast. A Business graduate from Cardiff University, he is an avid follower of Arsenal football club and captains Linear Partners FC in the handful of tournaments the team takes part in each year (Patrick Vieira would be proud). Having grown up on the Cornish coastline, Tom now respresents the team as a resident of East London.

Director - Head of Portfolio

David Hanison

David joined Linear Partners in 2024 as the firm looks to develop its coverage of the corporate landscape. A PwC trained Chartered Acccountant, David has 25+ years' experience in recruitment and retained search, working with VCs, Private Equity firms and publicly listed companies to recruit CFOs and FDs for them on an interim/permanent basis. David lives in North London with his wife and kids and is another proud supporter of Arsenal FC. Like Tom, he can often be spotted among Emirates' attendees having picked up last minute tickets for some of their many empty seats.

We are an industry leading boutique recruiter specialising in M&A/Corporate Finance, Alternative Investments and Portfolio (CFOs)

Linear Partners in numbers

About Linear Partners

Experience

Relationship Driven

Market Expertise

Integrity