Building the right Leadership foundations with Papillon Talent
Our Services
Talent Acquisition
We create and deliver bespoke hiring strategies that unite your organisational culture with your long-term growth objectives.
Talent Mapping
Our insights-led approach finds key talent gaps and maps the strategic workforce landscape for sustainable scaling goals.
Leadership Assessments
We assess executive potential via rigorous behavioural and cognitive testing to ensure the right leaders are in the right roles.
Defining the Future of Leadership
At Papillon Talent Strategy, we believe that the most impactful organisations are built on the enduring strength of their leaders. Our mission is to provide the strategic clarity and professional precision required for scaling firms to identify, cultivate, and retain the visionary talent that drives sustainable transformation.
The whole leadership table, not one seat.
Papillon Talent cover the full executive team.
Technology & Development
Chief Technology Officer, VP Engineering, Head of Platform, Head of Data, Head of AI
Product & Design
Chief Product Officer, Head of Product Design, Head of Research, Creative Director, Head of UX
Go to Market
Chief Revenue Officer, Chief Marketing Officer, VP Growth, Head of Demand
Sales
VP Sales, Sales Director, Head of Partnerships, Head of Customer Success
Finance
Chief Financial Officer, Finance Director, Head of Financial Planning
Business Operations
Chief Operating Officer, Head of Business Operations, Chief of Staff
People
Chief People Officer, People Director, Head of Talent, Head of Reward
Governance & Risk
Non-Executive Director, Chair, Head of Risk, Head of Compliance
Industry Sectors
Almost every Papillon Talent search in the last five years has been for a founder-led or scaling technology business. The sector changes constantly but the hiring pattern rarely does. A company grows faster than the structure its founders built, and the next three hires shape whether those foundations settle. That is the moment we know well, and the one we are here to help you through.
SaaS and Founder-Led
Where most of Papillon's work sits. Series A through to scale-up, usually with a founder still in the business.
Education Technology
Platforms and services selling into schools, universities and corporate learning.
Health and Medical Technology
Clinical, diagnostic and digital health, including regulated environments.
Social Purpose
Mission-led organisations that still have to hit commercial targets.
Media
Content, publishing and communications businesses adapting their models.
Financial Services
Fintech and established firms building out technology and product functions.
About Papillon Talent
Papillon Talent helps businesses hire, grow and hold on to brilliant people. We balance what a business is trying to do, what it can afford and the processes sitting behind it, without losing sight of the fact that hiring is about people.
We're at our most useful inside smaller and scaling companies, where a single hire can change everything and growth has to pay for itself.
Meet Emma McNamara
Emma builds senior leadership teams. She spent years in digital and staffing, built her own hiring agency and exited it through a management buyout, then moved into workforce planning and people strategy five years ago.
Reading founders is where she does her best work. She understands how founder led businesses run and picks up the "to get done" list behind every conversation, so she hires for the business someone is building rather than the one written into the job spec.
She's had a hand in a significant number of careers, from Lead Creative Directors and Chief Product Directors through to Managing Directors and Heads of Governance, and all of them are still in her network today.
How people are seen and valued at work is what drives her, and what keeps her pushing for people to build exceptional senior leadership careers.
Let’s Build Your Future
98%
Success Rate
150+
Leadership Appointments
40+
Global Partners