Institutional leadership for a market that has grown up.
Board, C-suite, regulatory, legal and product hires for exchanges, custodians, issuers and infrastructure providers in digital assets.
Regulation has arrived and institutional capital has followed. Leadership has to catch up.
Firms now need leaders who can satisfy a regulator in the morning and ship product in the afternoon. That overlap is narrow, and most of the people in it are already employed.
Our founder spent 15 years inside digital assets and electronic markets. We know who has built what, who has held a licence, and who is ready for the next seat.
Senior mandates across Digital Assets & Crypto.
Board & C-suite
Regulatory & Legal
Product & Growth
Three things decide whether a hire here works.
Regulatory credibility
Leaders with a record of licence applications, regulator relationships and audits that closed clean.
Institutional standards
Governance, controls and reporting that satisfy banks, auditors and allocators.
Crypto-native judgement
A working knowledge of custody, on-chain risk and market structure that cannot be learned in a quarter.
We are not incentivised to place. We are incentivised to be right.
Relationship depth. No noise.
We work from relationships built over years in these markets. Our shortlists come from people we know personally.
Private signal. No public data.
Market intelligence drawn from confidential conversations with the people doing the work.
Senior-led. No delegation.
The person who takes your brief runs your search, makes every approach and sits in every key conversation.
The search firm that says no.
If the role is mis-scoped, the compensation is off or the candidate is wrong for you, we say so. This costs us fees. It is also why people call us back.
What clients and candidates say about working with us.
“Spearpoint has been a trusted partner on some of our most critical leadership searches. Their market knowledge, professionalism and access to hard-to-reach talent have consistently delivered exceptional results.”
“Without a shadow of a doubt, Sam is one of the most connected people in the market. Every candidate he brought us was exactly who he said they would be.”
“Sam and the team were instrumental in facilitating a board appointment I was a part of. Throughout the process they demonstrated professionalism, discretion, and a strong network across both the public and private sectors.”
Three ways we work with Digital Assets & Crypto firms.
Leadership Search
Retained search for the hires that set direction. Board, C-suite and senior leadership.
Specialist Search
Staff and principal engineers, senior researchers and principal product leaders.
Market Intelligence
Compensation benchmarks, talent maps and competitor insight from confidential conversations.
Questions clients ask about digital asset hiring.
What roles do you hire for in digital assets?
Board and non-executive directors, CEOs, COOs and CFOs, Chief Compliance Officers, Heads of Legal, MLROs, regulatory affairs leaders, Heads of Product, custody product leaders, institutional sales leaders and regional Managing Directors.
Can you hire licence-ready compliance leaders?
Yes. We place CCOs, MLROs and Heads of Legal with a record of licence applications, regulator relationships and clean audits.
Do you hire for board and non-executive roles?
Yes. Board appointments are part of our leadership search work, including appointments at the intersection of AI and digital assets.
Do you place TradFi executives into digital asset firms?
Yes. We assess TradFi candidates for the crypto-native judgement the role needs, including custody, on-chain risk and market structure.
Can you benchmark compensation in digital assets?
Yes. Exchanges, custody and stablecoin infrastructure are covered in our compensation guide at spearpointsearch.com/resources/salary-guide.
What is retained executive search?
A retained search is an exclusive mandate. We work only on your role, map the whole market, approach candidates directly and stay on the search until the hire starts. A contingent recruiter is paid only on placement, which rewards speed over fit.
How long does a search take?
Our standard timeline is 8 working weeks from signature to offer. Approaches go live in week 1, you receive a written shortlist in week 4, and your interviews run in weeks 5 to 7. Notice periods then set the start date.
How are your fees structured?
The fee is a percentage of first-year total compensation, paid in two parts. A retainer is due on signature and covers the market map and shortlist. The balance is due when the candidate starts. If we miss the agreed shortlist date, the retainer is refunded in full.
What happens if a hire does not work out?
If no shortlisted candidate reaches second interview, we restart the search once at no further fee. If the hire leaves within the guarantee period agreed in the mandate, we replace them at no fee.
Where do you run searches?
We work from offices in London and Dubai and run searches globally. Every approach is made in confidence, by the person running your search.
The most important hires in digital assets happen in private. We handle those.
Or call +44 (0)20 3873 9433
London · Dubai