PE portfolio companies effectively fill director and VP roles by partnering with specialist recruiters tailored to their industry and function. Level the seat first.
What to know
- Director and VP searches at portfolio companies sit between two recruiting models. Retained executive search firms often pass on them, and volume recruiters are built to fill many roles from active applicants, not to court one person who isn’t looking.
- The recruiter that fits is a specialist sized to the seat, with recent director or VP placements in your function and in a business that runs like yours.
- Level the seat before you call anyone. Director, senior director, or VP sets the comp anchor, the candidate pool, and the engagement model.
- Decide who owns the search before it starts. The sponsor scopes it, the portfolio company usually runs it, and a recruiter who can stay with you through the hold is worth more than one who fills a single seat.
Private equity portfolio companies fill director and VP roles best through specialist recruiters matched to the function and the industry, rather than the retained firm that placed the CEO or a volume agency working the applicant flow. The fastest path is usually a recruiter who has filled the same seat, in the same kind of business, recently.
The stakes run highest in lower-middle-market and core middle-market portfolio companies, where one VP of finance or director of operations can carry a whole function on a thin team. Upper-market portcos with in-house talent acquisition can run more of this themselves; the leveling and ownership questions below apply either way.
From where I sit in Research and Operations, the seats below the C-suite are where a long hold shows its seams. Altrata’s Portfolio Company Talent 2026 study puts average holding periods at five to six years or more, and found that 74% of US portfolio company leadership team roles were filled through external appointments. Over a hold that long, the director and VP layer under those leaders is likely to change too. That layer is also where a sponsor’s usual recruiting partner may decline to play.
Why do director and VP searches fall between two recruiting models?
Director and VP searches fall between two models because neither one is built for them. Retained executive search runs on C-suite economics: exclusive searches, billed in installments, for seats where the candidate has to be found and courted. Many retained firms decline seats below the level they usually serve. Volume recruiters sit at the other end, built to fill many roles from active candidates, and a strong VP of operations rarely comes from the pool of people already applying.
The result is a seat senior enough to need real sourcing and not senior enough for the firm that placed the CEO. Earlier this year a sponsor brought us exactly this problem. Its executive search firm had turned down a VP of finance search at one of its portfolio companies as outside the work the firm does. The sponsor wanted more than a one-off fill: a recruiter comfortable anywhere in the finance stack, from controller to VP, at that company and at the add-ons still to come.
How do you level a director or VP seat before you call a recruiter?
Settle the level first, because the title on the role decides which recruiters will take the search, where the comp anchor sits, and which candidates will return the call. Buyers often arrive unsure whether a seat is a director, a senior director, or a VP. Four questions usually settle it:
- Who does the seat report to, and does that leader need a lieutenant or a peer?
- Does the seat run an existing team, or build one?
- How far does the scope have to stretch, up to the CEO and the board and down to the people doing the work?
- What does that scope pay in your industry and region today, as opposed to what the seat paid before the deal?
Here is how leveling plays out in practice. At a PE-backed infrastructure services company, an HR seat reporting to the COO had to cover compliance, onboarding, training, and safety, and sat somewhere between a manager and a VP. The sponsor had inherited the role at acquisition and had no market read on comp, so comp calibration became part of what it needed from a recruiter. At a healthcare services portfolio company, an HR operations seat started the scoping call undefined and ended it leveled at director or senior director.
Both searches changed shape once the level was set, because a recruiter who regularly fills senior director seats is often not the one who fills VP seats, and the candidates know the difference before you do.
Which recruiting model fits a director or VP seat?
For one critical seat where the best candidates are not looking, an engaged or retained search usually fits. When several similar seats open at once, contingent usually wins. The choice trades commitment against coverage.
Contingent search pays on placement and leaves you free to run several recruiters and your own sourcing at the same time. Portfolio companies hiring in volume tend to prefer it; one portfolio company leader hiring a dozen or more roles told us a retainer with exclusivity would handcuff the process. The cost is attention. A contingent recruiter splits time across clients and tends to favor the searches most likely to close, which can leave a hard VP search at the bottom of the pile.
Engaged search, sometimes called a container, puts part of the fee up front and the balance on placement. That structure buys commitment and some exclusivity without the full retained model, which makes it a common middle ground for a single director or VP seat that needs active sourcing.
Retained search pays in installments for a dedicated, exclusive search with a mapped candidate universe. At the director and VP level it earns its cost when the search is confidential, when the profile is rare, or when the wrong hire would set the value creation plan back by quarters.
What should you ask a director or VP recruiter before you sign?
Ask for proof that the recruiter has placed this level, in this function, in a business like yours, recently. Five questions surface it quickly:
- “Walk me through your last two director or VP placements in this function.” Listen for business model and company size, not just titles.
- “Are these candidates you already know, or a list you will build?” A warm pool starts faster than a fresh search.
- “What will you need from our team, and how often?” At this level the portfolio company usually runs first screens, and a recruiter who plans around that keeps the search moving.
- “How will you set the comp band for a seat we inherited?” Inherited seats often carry pre-deal pay that no longer matches the scope.
- “What happens if the hire leaves early?” Replacement terms belong in the agreement.
The industry test matters most when the sponsor is new to the space. A sponsor six months into a multi-unit restaurant platform needed a field operations director above its regional managers, in a vertical it had never recruited in. The ask was specific: recruiters who had placed multi-unit operations leaders before.
Who should own a director or VP search, the sponsor or the portfolio company?
The sponsor should scope the seat and set its level, the portfolio company should run the process, and the operating partner or deal team should join at the finalist stage. In practice the split tends to look like this: the sponsor defines the need, portfolio company leaders run the first screens, and someone from the deal team sits in on an interview.
The sharper move is to stop recruiting one seat at a time. Across a long hold, with add-ons folding in along the way, one function may need a controller, then a director, then a VP. A sponsor who finds a recruiter able to cover that whole range in one function builds a repeat partner who already knows the company, the comp, and the culture, so every search after the first starts warmer.
“Below the C-suite is where the plan actually gets run. The CEO search gets the attention, but the VP of finance and the director of operations decide whether the numbers show up in year two or year four. Sponsors who recruit those seats with the same care get there sooner.”
—Scott Bellinger, Managing Director, Head of Client Coverage, BluWave
How BluWave connects portfolio companies with director and VP recruiters
BluWave, the private equity market network and enablement platform, connects PE firms and their portfolio companies with BluWave Vetted™ recruiters matched to the function, the level, and the industry of the seat. Scoping comes first, so the recruiters introduced have filled seats like yours before. Introductions arrive within 24 hours of the scoping call, with no cost to connect, and the recruiter you choose runs the search on the model you choose.
If a director or VP seat is open and your usual search partner has passed on it, tell us about the seat. I can connect you with recruiters who have placed it recently and are ready to start.
Frequently asked questions
Our executive search firm won’t take a VP search. Where do we go?
Go to a specialist recruiter who places director and VP roles in your function and industry. Many retained executive search firms focus on the C-suite and decline seats below it. A recruiter who fills your level regularly usually knows candidates already, and an engaged search can secure their commitment without a full retained structure. Ask for recent placements at the same level before you sign.
Should we use a contingent recruiter or a retained search firm for a VP of finance?
For a single VP of finance seat where the strongest candidates are not looking, an engaged or retained search usually fits, because it buys committed sourcing. Contingent works when several similar finance roles are open at once and you want more than one recruiter working them. Either way, choose a recruiter with recent VP of finance placements in businesses like yours.
What does a recruiter need from us before a director or VP search starts?
A recruiter needs a settled level, a scorecard written for where the value creation plan needs the business to be, a comp band set against your industry and region, and named people at the portfolio company who will run screens and make decisions quickly. Settle those before kickoff so the recruiter starts sourcing instead of scoping.
Can one recruiter handle director and VP hiring across a portfolio?
Often, within a single function. A recruiter who covers the finance stack from controller to VP can fill seats at several portfolio companies and their add-ons, and each search starts with context from the last one. Across functions, one recruiter is rarely the best fit for every seat, so match by function first and industry second.
