The end of
easy money.
The beginning
of talent.
The right senior finance leader transforms a portfolio company. The wrong one costs you the investment thesis. We find, assess, and place CFOs, FDs, VP Finance, and Heads of FP&A who make the difference, exclusively for PE-backed businesses.
The CFO is your
highest-leverage
hire.
In a PE-backed business, the senior finance leader (whether CFO, FD, or VP Finance) is the primary interface between the fund and the portfolio company. They own the financial narrative, the management information, and the pace of value creation. When this hire is right, the investment accelerates. The exit sharpens. The multiple holds.
The challenge is that every senior finance role in a PE-backed business demands a very specific kind of leader: one who can operate at pace, build credibility with the fund, and drive value creation under pressure. That profile is rare at every level, from CFO to Head of FP&A. Finding it requires a search process designed specifically for PE, not a generalist approach applied to a specialist problem.
1 Percent was built for exactly this. A retained search firm operating exclusively in PE-backed businesses, placing senior finance leaders at CFO, FD, VP Finance, Head of FP&A, and Finance Controller level, with a proprietary pipeline of assessed, PE-ready candidates that no other firm can access.
"The right senior finance leader does not just manage the numbers. They shape the outcome of the investment."
Four reasons this
search is harder
than it looks.
The CFO hire in a PE-backed business is not like any other senior appointment. The demands are specific, the window is narrow, and the cost of getting it wrong compounds across the entire investment. Four structural challenges make this search consistently difficult to execute well, regardless of how experienced the hiring team is.
"The cost of a wrong CFO hire is not measured in their salary. It is measured in delayed exits, reduced EBITDA multiples, and lost value creation."
The cost of a wrong hire
The right hire is not a cost. It is the highest-return decision a PE firm makes in the first 100 days.
The Pool Is Smaller Than It Appears
The candidates who look right on paper, the familiar names and trusted referrals, are the same candidates every PE firm is looking at. The truly exceptional operators are rarely visible through conventional channels. They require a different kind of search.
PE-Readiness Is Not on the CV
The ability to operate under PE ownership, to build credibility with the fund, manage the pace, and drive value creation under pressure, is not a credential. It is a capability. It cannot be reliably assessed from a CV or an unstructured conversation.
The Assessment Gap
Structured assessment of senior finance leaders against PE-specific competencies is rare. Without it, even experienced hiring teams are making high-stakes decisions on incomplete information. The confidence feels justified. The risk is real.
The PE Experience Trap
Requiring prior PE experience in a CFO candidate is a natural instinct, and one that significantly narrows the pool. Many of the strongest operators have never worked in a PE-backed business. PE-readiness can be assessed and developed. Prior PE experience is not the only proxy for it.
Three ways to work with us.
Whether you have just completed a deal, are running an active search, or need to find the right senior finance leader from scratch, 1 Percent is built for each of these moments.
You've completed the deal. Now assess what you've inherited.
The first 100 days determine the trajectory of the investment. The finance leader who came with the business may be exceptional, or they may be the single biggest risk to your value creation plan. Our Post-Acquisition CFO Readiness Assessment gives you a structured, independent answer before the clock runs out.
Psychometric profiling. Structured competency interview. Written scorecard with one of three outcomes: Develop (enrolled into FCP PE), Support (structured coaching plan), or Replace (1 Percent conducts the search). Fixed fee: £12,500 + VAT, credited in full against any subsequent engagement.
Book a Confidential AssessmentBenchmark your candidates before you make the hire.
Your shortlist looks strong. Our assessment tells you which candidate is actually PE-ready and how they compare to the best assessed finance talent in the market. Whether you sourced the candidates yourself or through another firm, we benchmark them against the 1 Percent PE finance competency framework.
Psychometric profiling. PE-specific competency interview. Written scorecard with a clear hire or don't hire recommendation. Optional benchmarking against the FCP PE assessed pool.
Discuss Candidate AssessmentFind the right senior finance leader. Retained. Rigorous. From a proprietary pipeline.
When the role is open and the stakes are high, 1 Percent conducts a fully retained search, drawing first from our exclusive FCP PE pipeline of assessed, PE-ready finance leaders, then from a targeted market search. You receive a dossier, not a CV. A recommendation, not a shortlist.
Retained only. Exclusive FCP PE pipeline access. Full psychometric and competency assessment. Dossier presented per candidate. 100% retained search success rate.
Start a Search ConversationRetained Only
We do not operate on contingency. Every engagement is fully retained, which means our entire focus is on your search, not on racing to fill a role for a fee. If we take on your search, we finish it.
Proprietary Talent Pool
Through the FCP PE programme, we maintain an exclusive, continuously assessed pipeline of PE-ready senior finance leaders. These candidates are not on job boards. They are not being presented by your current search firm.
Certified & De-Risked
Every candidate we present has been through structured assessment: psychometric profiling, scorecard evaluation, and peer review from PE-exited executives. You receive a dossier, not a CV.
Radical Transparency
Weekly structured updates. Honest assessments. We will tell you when your brief is wrong. We will tell you when the market does not match your expectations. We are advisors, not order-takers.
Six reasons PE firms
choose us over everyone else.
1 Percent is built to operate on both sides of the market simultaneously: with PE firms who need to find, assess, or develop senior finance talent, and with finance leaders who are building the capability to perform at PE level. Here is what that means in practice.
We own the talent pipeline.
Through FCP PE, we maintain a continuously assessed, exclusive pool of PE-ready senior finance leaders. These are not candidates on job boards or in competitor databases. They are known to us, assessed by us, and available only through us. When you brief 1 Percent, you access talent your competitors cannot reach.
We present dossiers, not CVs.
Every candidate we present has been through psychometric profiling, structured competency assessment, and review by our advisory board of PE-exited executives. You receive a full scorecard with a clear recommendation, not a stack of CVs and a covering note. The decision-making burden on your team is dramatically reduced.
We are advisors, not order-takers.
If your brief is wrong, we will say so. If the market does not match your expectations on salary or experience, you will know before you waste three months finding out. Our value is in the counsel, not just the candidate. We tell you what you need to hear, because that is what the investment demands.
We are retained only. Always.
We do not operate on contingency. We take on a strictly limited number of searches per quarter. This means when 1 Percent is engaged on your search, it has our full attention, not a fraction of it. We finish what we start, with a 100% retained search success rate.
We understand PE from the inside.
Our advisory board includes PE-exited CEOs and CFOs who have lived the journey: buy-and-build, 100-day plans, exit preparation, value creation. We do not just understand the job description. We understand the environment the person is walking into, and we assess candidates against that reality, not against a generic competency framework.
We are PE finance. Nothing else.
1 Percent does not place marketing directors, operations managers, or technology leaders. We place senior finance leaders (CFO, FD, VP Finance, Head of FP&A, Finance Controller) exclusively into PE-backed businesses. This is not a practice within a larger firm. It is the entire firm. That focus is what makes us the best at what we do.
Speed is not a compromise.
It is a signal.
The assumption that senior searches must be slow is wrong. A long, drawn-out process does not mean a thorough one. It means an unfocused one. When the brief is clear, the relationships are trusted, and all parties are committed, a PE-grade search can move at the pace the investment demands.
Group CFO placed in 28 days from engagement to delivery. Seven structured stages including psychometric assessment.
Five candidates presented. All five taken forward by the client. Three reached second stage. Two were appointable. 100% alignment across all parties from day one.
The preconception that senior searches must be long to be rigorous is one of the most expensive assumptions in PE. Time kills deals. Momentum builds them.
Strategic Brief
Day 1We immerse in your investment thesis, the portfolio company's stage, and the specific demands of the role. We challenge the brief where necessary. A wrong brief produces a wrong shortlist.
Proprietary Search
Days 2–10We search our exclusive FCP PE pipeline first, then conduct a targeted market search. We do not post job adverts. Every candidate is approached directly, confidentially, and with a clear understanding of the role.
Shortlist Presented
Days 10–18Shortlisted candidates undergo psychometric profiling and structured competency assessment. You receive a full dossier, not a CV, with a clear recommendation on fit. Our fastest search: five candidates presented, all five taken forward.
Appointment Made
Days 18–30+We manage the process, the offer, and the first 90 days. The pace is determined by alignment, not convention. When all parties are committed and the process is clear, speed is a feature, not a risk.
FCP PE.
The programme
that changes
everything.
Application only. Strictly limited places.
Apply for FCP PEThe Finance Career Programme PE is an exclusive, application-only programme for senior finance leaders who are serious about securing roles in PE-backed businesses. FCP PE serves two distinct cohorts: the Post-Exit Optimiser, an experienced finance leader who has operated in PE and wants to position for the next step with the right firm, and the PE-Ready Aspirant, a high-calibre finance leader who has not yet worked in PE but has the capability, and wants to be assessed, developed, and connected to the right opportunity.
This is not a coaching programme. It is a structured, rigorous pathway built on two decades of executive search intelligence that prepares you for the specific demands of PE finance leadership and connects you directly to the opportunities that never reach the open market.
PE-Exited Mentors
Learn from executives who have lived the PE journey: CFOs and CEOs who have successfully navigated buy-and-build, exit preparation, and value creation in portfolio companies.
Psychometric Assessment
Every member undergoes a comprehensive psychometric assessment and receives a full scorecard, the same assessment we present to PE clients. You know exactly where you stand.
Exclusive Access
FCP PE members are the first to be considered for every retained search we conduct. 87% of the roles we fill never reach the open market. Your access to them starts here.
The Badge of Excellence
FCP PE certification signals to the market that you have been assessed, trained, and endorsed by the search firm built exclusively for PE finance. It is a mark that matters.
Senior people.
Every time.
At 1 Percent, the person who takes your brief runs your search, supported by an advisory board of PE-exited executives who have lived the journey from both sides of the table. No handoffs. No junior teams. No researchers presenting candidates they have never met.
Lawrence Pammen
Founder & Managing Partner
Two decades placing senior finance leaders into PE-backed businesses across the UK, Europe, and the US. The relationships on both sides of this market, with PE partners, operating partners, and the finance leaders who run their portfolio companies, have been built over hundreds of searches. That depth of trust is what makes the 1 Percent model work: clients who know us do not need to be convinced, and candidates who have worked with us refer others without being asked.
Mark Mason-Gallie
Senior Advisor · PE-Exited CEO
A highly experienced CEO with a track record of leading PE-backed businesses through growth, transformation, and successful exit. Mark brings the perspective of someone who has sat on both sides of the table: as a leader being hired into a PE environment, and as an executive who has built and exited businesses with PE backing. His insight into what great finance leadership actually looks like in practice is central to the 1 Percent assessment model.
In their own words.
“By far the best search partner I have worked with. 1 Percent feel much less like recruiters and much more like business partners. They ensure they fully understand the role and the company culture, and their process of asking candidates for a structured self-assessment after interview, then sharing it with us, was a genuinely valuable supplement to our own read. Lawrence placed a strong FD with us and has since done a fantastic job at CFO level. It is a complete pleasure to have them in our corner.”
“Lawrence brings a rare combination of rigour and human judgement to the search process. The depth of preparation, the quality of the candidates presented, and the clarity of the recommendation gave us genuine confidence at a high-stakes moment. This is what a search partner at this level should feel like.”
“The 1 Percent process is unlike anything I have experienced in a search. The structured preparation, the written self-assessments, the challenge to articulate not just why I wanted the role but what value I would create and how, made me a sharper candidate before I walked into the room. I felt genuinely supported throughout, and the quality of the match was evident from day one in the role.”
Two conversations.
One standard.
Whether you are a PE firm with a critical finance hire at any level (CFO, FD, VP Finance, Head of FP&A) or a senior finance leader ready to access the opportunities that never reach the open market, the conversation starts here.