Proof, not promises
Real specialist searches. Real outcomes. Long after the placement.
The strongest recruitment firms are judged less by how quickly they fill a role and more by what happens long after. Since 2014 we have helped insurers, reinsurers, banks, consulting firms and capability centres hire actuarial, analytics, audit, risk, finance and leadership talent. The stories below are all real searches. Clients and candidates remain anonymous because much of this work is confidential, but every example reflects a genuine mandate, a genuine challenge and a genuine outcome.
What kind of roles does EliteRecruitments actually fill?
Specialist roles in financial services. The work centres on actuarial hiring, which is the firm’s origin, and extends across analytics and data, audit, risk and financial advisory, finance leadership, and technology and cyber. Clients include insurers, reinsurers, banks, consulting firms and the global capability centres that serve them. Roles run from analyst level to function head and board level, in India and across the UAE, the UK and other markets the firm serves.
Since 2014
A specialist financial services search firm, not a generalist agency.
Specialist BFSI focus
Actuarial, analytics, audit, risk, finance and technology.
Analyst to board
From early career specialists to function heads and leadership.
India and beyond
India, the UAE, the UK and selected international markets.
Long term retention
Most of the people we place stay and grow for years.
Actuarial searches
The firm’s core
A director level actuarial hire for a global insurer, within a tight budget
- Challenge
- A global insurer’s services centre needed a director level actuarial leader, but the budget sat below what that level of niche skill usually commands, which pushed the rejection rate high in early screening.
- Approach
- Rather than keep submitting profiles that would be rejected on cost, we built a shortlist that blended actuarial and analytics strength so the client got genuine quality inside the budget, and we kept the bar high throughout.
- Outcome
- The leader was onboarded within three to four months.
- Since then
- They are still in the role two years on, and the client now comes back to us for repeat roles. That relationship began with a candidate we had approached years earlier who was not then looking, and who later, in a hiring seat, brought us in as a recruitment partner.
A head of actuarial for a global insurer’s India centre
- Challenge
- A senior, hard to fill actuarial leadership role, drawing on a small candidate pool, with an opening budget below the market for that level.
- Approach
- We mapped close to the entire relevant candidate universe within about fifteen days, and used that market picture to advise the client honestly on what the role would realistically cost and who was genuinely available.
- Outcome
- The mandate closed within about four weeks, once the client and the market were aligned on a competitive package.
A mid level actuarial hire for an Indian insurer, against budget
- Challenge
- The roles the client wanted were priced, in the open market, at the same level as their whole budget, so a straight search would have stalled.
- Approach
- We advised the client on the trade offs: for one to two year experience briefs, to consider slightly junior talent with internship experience and train them, to interview strong candidates who sat a little above budget rather than screen them out on cost alone, and to look at good junior profiles from outside the core insurance pool.
- Outcome
- We placed a high potential candidate, early in their career, who joined and settled well.
- Since then
- Retention has been strong, and the client gives us repeat roles every year.
A relocation sensitive mandate that had stayed open
- Challenge
- An Indian insurer’s actuarial role had been open for a long stretch, held up by relocation sensitivity and a limited pool of people willing to move.
- Approach
- We found an immediate joiner who was based outside India at the time but genuinely open to relocating, and we took the time to make sure they understood the role and the move before anything was committed.
- Outcome
- Onboarded in about three months, after a long search by others.
- Since then
- The same client has since trusted us with more senior roles.
Building an actuarial team for a global capability centre
- Challenge
- A volume actuarial requirement at a global insurer’s capability centre, drawing on a specialised and limited talent pool, where sourcing and engagement are operationally hard.
- Approach
- We mapped actuarial talent across insurance, consulting and capability centre ecosystems and ran sustained, targeted outreach over an extended programme.
- Outcome
- A series of actuarial hires placed across the programme.
Across these actuarial searches the pattern is the same: a clear read of the market, honest advice on budget and availability, and persistence on the roles that are genuinely hard. There is more on this work on our Actuarial specialty page, and on how we run retained and volume hiring on our Retained Search and RPO pages.
Analytics and data
Built at speed
Analytics talent for a new centre, built at speed
- Challenge
- A group standing up a new centre of excellence needed an analytics team built quickly, in a market that was newer to us at the time and during a period when very few people were willing to change jobs or relocate.
- Approach
- We ran fast, targeted market mapping across analytics talent in consulting, professional services and technology, focusing on covering the market quickly and keeping submission quality high.
- Outcome
- The roles closed within about four weeks from opening to offer, and the work led the client to open up hiring discussions with us in India as well.
Insurance grade data engineering, several hires at once
- Challenge
- A global insurer needed data engineering talent with a genuine insurance background, which narrows the pool sharply, and needed several hires inside a set timeline.
- Approach
- We mapped across insurance organisations and analytics talent pools, then ran structured sourcing and rigorous screening to keep the shortlist moving.
- Outcome
- Several data engineers placed within about four weeks, all aligned to the insurance domain requirement.
There is more on this work on our Analytics specialty page and our Data Engineering and Cloud page.
Audit and risk
Volume and speed
Recurring IT audit hiring, with niche skill combinations
- Challenge
- A Big Four firm had a recurring need for IT audit professionals with hard to find combinations of controls, SOX, cyber and code review exposure.
- Approach
- We worked our built audit database and our network of past applicants to reach qualified people quickly and close roles in volume.
- Outcome
- A large set of IT audit positions filled across roughly a year of continuous hiring.
Statutory audit leadership, against competition and notice periods
- Challenge
- A global consulting and advisory firm needed experienced statutory audit professionals at manager and associate director level, in a competitive market where long notice periods slowed everything down.
- Approach
- We drew on our audit network, our database and targeted sourcing to find and engage the right senior people while protecting quality and timelines.
- Outcome
- Several senior audit professionals joined over the following months.
An urgent internal audit hire, closed in fifteen days
- Challenge
- A Big Four firm’s UK practice had an urgent need for an internal audit professional with both consulting exposure and specific insurance industry experience.
- Approach
- We leaned on our existing audit network and moved fast on screening and interview coordination.
- Outcome
- The role closed within fifteen days.
Our wider audit work is set out on our Audit specialty page.
Finance, cyber and specialist leadership
Beyond the core
A head of finance for an insurance services firm
- Challenge
- An insurance services and technology firm needed a head of finance with both insurance domain knowledge and IFRS 17 exposure, a rare combination, with an initial budget below the market for that leadership level, and a tight timeline.
- Approach
- We headhunted across insurers and Big Four firms with relevant finance leadership, mapped the market quickly, and advised the client on realistic compensation so the role and the market lined up.
- Outcome
- The position closed within fifteen days, at a revised, market aligned package.
Cyber forensics specialists, on niche tools and to budget
- Challenge
- A Big Four firm needed cyber forensics specialists with specific tool experience, immediate availability and a fit inside a constrained budget.
- Approach
- We mapped organisations active in cyber forensics and digital investigation and focused on people with genuine hands on tool experience and quick joining timelines.
- Outcome
- Several specialists placed within about four weeks, inside the client’s budget.
Building out a senior business support team at scale
- Challenge
- A global consulting and advisory firm was expanding a senior business support team across several units, where rejection rates were high and the same candidates were being shown by many vendors.
- Approach
- We ran broad market mapping across consulting and professional services, working to reach the widest possible pool quickly and to keep our submissions distinct and high quality.
- Outcome
- Many of the people we put forward were hired and joined over a period of several months.
These searches sit alongside our work in Risk and Financial Advisory, IT and Technology, and Management Consulting.
Where the people we placed are now
Placements that stay, and grow
This is the part that matters most to us. A few of the people we placed, kept anonymous, and where they are now.
An actuary we placed at a global insurer has stayed with that organisation for close to a decade, growing from a reserving role into senior reinsurance reserving leadership across regions.Reserving → regional reinsurance leadership
An analytics leader we placed in the insurance sector went on to be recognised among the country’s leading analytics professionals, and now holds a chief analytics and artificial intelligence role.Analytics hire → Chief Analytics & AI
An actuarial leader we placed into a global insurer’s capability centre now runs an actuarial team of more than two hundred people.Leader hire → 200+ person team
A senior actuary we placed has progressed through manager and assistant vice president roles into a vice president, actuarial operations position at a global insurer.Senior actuary → VP, actuarial operations
None of this is unusual for us. Most of the people we place stay and build their careers where we placed them, which is why so few of our fees have ever had to be returned. That retention is the heart of how the firm has grown since 2014.
The common thread
Different brief, same method
Across every story on this page, the details change but the pattern stays the same. A difficult brief. A limited talent pool. Honest market advice. Careful assessment. Consistent communication. And a willingness to stay with searches that others had struggled to close.
That approach has helped us build long term relationships with clients and candidates alike. Many of the organisations that work with us today first came to us through a single difficult search. Many of the people we placed years ago are still with those organisations today. On senior and strategic searches, our founder, Shagun Gupta, stays close to the work herself.
If you are facing a specialist hiring challenge, there is a good chance we have seen something similar before. Read how we work →
Questions, answered
Frequently asked questions
Are these real placements?
What kinds of roles do you place?
How quickly can you fill a role?
Do the people you place tend to stay?
Can you share references for work like this?
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If you are facing a specialist hiring challenge, there is a good chance we have seen something similar before. Tell us about the role, and it reaches the relevant practice head directly.