The people who run the venue decide who trades on it.
Leadership, product, engineering and regulatory hires for trading venues. Spot, derivatives, prediction markets and the hybrid venues joining TradFi and digital assets.
Venue leadership is a small room. We already know who is in it.
The people who have launched a matching engine, secured an exchange licence or rebuilt market structure under a regulator's eye number in the hundreds globally. Most are employed, well paid and not looking.
We reach them through relationships built over 15 years inside electronic markets. Every approach is made in confidence, by the person running your search.
Senior mandates across Exchanges & Venues.
Leadership
Product & Engineering
Regulatory & Legal
Three things decide whether a hire here works.
Market structure fluency
Candidates who understand liquidity, fee design and participant incentives, and can explain the trade-offs to a board.
Regulatory credibility
Leaders a regulator already knows and trusts. On a licence application that shortens timelines.
Built under load
Evidence of shipping and running venue technology at production volume, with uptime to show for it.
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 Exchanges & Venues 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 exchange and venue hiring.
What roles do you hire for at exchanges and trading venues?
Heads of Trading, Chief Market Structure Officers, CEOs and COOs, product and engineering leadership including matching engine and low-latency leads, Chief Compliance Officers, Heads of Legal and market surveillance leads.
Do you hire for crypto exchanges as well as traditional venues?
Yes. We hire for spot and derivatives venues, prediction markets and the hybrid venues joining TradFi and digital assets.
Can you hire the leadership a licence application needs?
Yes. We place Chief Compliance Officers, Heads of Legal and regulatory leaders, and check each candidate's record with regulators before they reach your shortlist.
How do you assess senior exchange candidates?
We test market structure fluency, regulatory credibility and evidence of running venue technology at production volume. Every candidate is interviewed by us before you see them.
Can you benchmark compensation for exchange leadership?
Yes. Market intelligence is one of our 3 services, and exchanges 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 electronic markets happen in private. We handle those.
Or call +44 (0)20 3873 9433
London · Dubai