Senior hires that bring digital assets inside the institution.
Digital assets, tokenisation, product and regulatory leadership for banks, asset managers and market infrastructure providers.
Tokenisation has moved from pilot to production. The talent to run it is scarce.
Running a digital asset programme inside a regulated institution takes someone who understands the balance sheet and the blockchain, and who can move a risk committee.
These leaders are rarely on the market. We find them inside global banks, asset managers and infrastructure providers, and in the digital-native firms that serve them.
Senior mandates across Financial Institutions with Digital Exposure.
Leadership
Product & Engineering
Regulatory & Risk
Three things decide whether a hire here works.
Institutional fluency
Comfort with capital, risk frameworks and the governance a regulated balance sheet demands.
On-chain literacy
Hands-on knowledge of tokenisation, custody and settlement in live products.
Change leadership
A record of taking new products through committees, controls and launch inside a large organisation.
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 financial institutions.
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 at institutions.
What roles do you hire for at financial institutions?
Heads of Digital Assets and Tokenisation, digital programme and product leadership, engineering leaders moving from TradFi to on-chain, custody and settlement leads, Chief Compliance Officers, digital asset risk leads and policy leadership.
Who do you work with in this specialism?
Banks, asset managers and market infrastructure providers building digital asset and tokenisation programmes.
What makes a strong Head of Digital Assets?
Institutional fluency with capital and risk frameworks, hands-on knowledge of tokenisation, custody and settlement, and a record of taking new products through committees and controls to launch.
Where do you find these candidates?
Inside global banks, asset managers and infrastructure providers, and in the digital-native firms that serve them. Most are not on the market.
Can you hire for tokenisation programmes moving to production?
Yes. We look for leaders who have already taken tokenised products from pilot to live.
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 institutional digital assets happen in private. We handle those.
Or call +44 (0)20 3873 9433
London · Dubai