October Market Insight: Confidence Creeps Back into Leadership Hiring
Something has shifted in leadership hiring.
After 18 months of uncertainty, the market across consumer has steadied — and with that comes a different kind of confidence. Not the post-pandemic hiring rush. Not the “throw people at the problem” phase. This is slower, more deliberate.
Founders, boards and investors are no longer chasing growth at all costs. They’re looking for leadership that brings clarity, not chaos.
We’re calling it The Reset.
A Market That’s Grown Up
For a while, the leadership conversation was about speed. Businesses needed to rebuild, investors wanted returns, and leadership hiring was driven by urgency.
Now, the mood has shifted. Across fashion, beauty, food and lifestyle, the focus is on capability — not volume.
Brands are asking:
- Do we have the right leaders for the next stage of growth?
- Do they understand both digital and discipline?
- Can they balance ambition with operational reality?
At Consumer Exec, we’re seeing more of those conversations land on our desks. The market hasn’t slowed — it’s matured.
AI Has Changed the Game — But Not the Goal
AI is shaping leadership recruitment in ways that are subtle but significant.
At the surface level, search processes are faster. Data tools, sourcing platforms, and automated insights can map a market in half the time it used to take. But the real value comes from what happens after that.
AI has made it easier to see who’s available. It hasn’t made it easier to judge who fits.
That’s where the best search work still happens. The human side — understanding how a leader operates, motivates, and makes decisions — can’t be automated.
But AI is changing what boards expect from leaders. There’s a growing divide between those who understand how to use technology to drive commercial decisions and those still treating it like a buzzword.
We’re seeing this especially in marketing and finance leadership: CFOs who can work with predictive modelling, CMOs who understand data privacy, CEOs who can see the commercial edge of automation.
The future of leadership hiring isn’t about replacing humans with AI. It’s about hiring humans who know how to use it well.
Skills That Matter Now
The market is hungry for capability that blends three things:
- Strategic Clarity – the ability to simplify complexity and make calls in uncertain conditions.
- Cultural Intelligence – empathy, communication, and real awareness of how teams function across geographies and hybrid models.
- Commercial Adaptability – knowing when to double down and when to pivot, especially in brands managing cost pressure and slower growth.
The traditional “command and control” style of leadership doesn’t fit anymore. Today’s consumer businesses need leaders who can operate like connectors — aligning finance, brand, and people without ego.
We’ve seen it most clearly in the rise of creative-commercial leadership. Appointing Aaron Esh at AllSaints and Alexandra Sowerby at The White Company weren’t just creative plays — they were commercial decisions rooted in trust, taste and track record.
Those hires show that the line between creative and corporate leadership has thinned. The next generation of consumer leaders will need to move comfortably between both.
Fractional Leadership Becomes the Norm
Fractional leadership — part-time, project-based, or interim — has shifted from niche to normal.
Brands have realised that expertise doesn’t always need to be full-time. A fractional CFO to prepare for an exit. A CMO to lead brand reset ahead of investment. A digital lead to guide platform integration.
For private equity and venture-backed consumer brands, this model brings flexibility and impact without the fixed cost. It also means leadership teams can evolve quickly as the business changes.
For candidates, it’s attractive too — senior leaders get to use their experience across multiple brands, stay commercially active, and avoid burnout.
What the Data’s Showing
The broader recruitment market remains cautious, but leadership search in consumer has stayed relatively resilient.
- Demand is strongest in finance, marketing, and operations — the core disciplines needed to stabilise and scale.
- The UK remains a leadership hub, with London still the go-to base for creative-commercial crossover talent.
- Cross-border hiring is climbing, especially for Middle East and North American expansion roles.
We’re also seeing a rise in replacement hiring — businesses using leadership transitions to reset culture or modernise structure, rather than purely to backfill roles.
One of the more overlooked effects of the last few years is the exhaustion in senior teams.
Boards are now paying closer attention to emotional intelligence, team health, and personal sustainability in leadership candidates. Those conversations, which used to sit quietly at the end of interviews, now happen up front.
We’ve seen more assessment briefs that include leadership style audits, cultural mapping, and wellbeing indicators — a sign that the market is finally acknowledging what burnout costs.
The best-performing leaders right now are the ones who’ve learned to manage both performance and pace. They’re pragmatic, consistent, and credible. And they tend to attract loyal followings because of it.
There’s no surge in leadership hiring — but there’s momentum.
The frantic post-pandemic correction is over. The mass layoffs have levelled out. And in their place, a more sustainable market is taking shape. We’re seeing stronger pipelines, more passive leaders willing to take calls again, and boards who are clearer about what they need.
The tone of those conversations has changed. Less “fix this now”, more “build this properly. The smartest consumer brands are realising that the next phase of growth won’t come from headcount, but from headspace.
AI, data and automation will continue to shape how we work — but the real differentiator will always be leadership. The kind that combines commercial instinct with calm, that can make decisions when things are uncertain, and that still knows how to motivate people.