Principal Consultant - Construction Freelance

Build the freelance counterpart to a £500k permanent Construction desk and put yourself in the running to lead a growing White Collar Temp division.

There are two very different versions of a “new desk”.

One means a blank database, cold clients and six months trying to convince the market you exist.

This isn't that.

The permanent Commercial Fit-Out desk already bills around £500,000 a year , recruiting into the same contractors, projects and commercial teams this person will target.

The relationships exist.

The reputation exists.

The candidate network exists.

And freelance requirements already arise.

What doesn't exist yet is somebody dedicated to turning that opportunity into a serious contract business.

That's the brief.

Established for more than ten years, this is a 20-person specialist Construction recruitment business with a strong reputation across Commercial Fit-Out, Design & Build and High-End Residential.

Historically, its strength has been permanent recruitment.

That's changing.

The business has made a deliberate move into temporary and freelance recruitment and is now building complementary contract desks alongside its established permanent markets.

Other areas of the business have already begun that transition, while an emerging three-person Trades & Labour team is growing rapidly.

The next major opportunity is Commercial Fit-Out.

The environment reflects the ambition.

It's high-energy, competitive, entrepreneurial and sociable.

Success is visible and celebrated, good performance is heavily rewarded and the business isn't embarrassed about wanting to grow quickly.

There is performance management and commercial accountability, but not layers of meaningless activity KPIs for their own sake.

This is also an office-led business.

The team works together five days a week , and for the right person that's part of the attraction, information moves quickly, consultants collaborate, client intelligence is shared and opportunities are easier to spot when the permanent and freelance recruiters are working alongside one another.

A Construction freelance recruiter with around two years or more of White Collar contract recruitment experience who understands how to develop and maintain a contractor desk.

Your existing Construction niche doesn't necessarily need to be Commercial Fit-Out.

What's more important is understanding freelance recruitment and bringing enough market experience to know how to turn warm relationships into live business.

You may currently be working in a lower-value or lower-margin Construction market and want access to larger commercial projects and a stronger fee environment.

You're comfortable with business development.

There is plenty to leverage here, but this isn't a desk where you can sit back and wait for jobs to arrive.

You might currently be frustrated by high thresholds, poor commission, internal competition, restrictive client ownership or limited room to build something beyond your own desk .

You want access to established relationships without inheriting somebody else's boundaries.

And ideally, you have ambitions beyond remaining an individual biller forever.

You'll build the freelance Commercial Construction offering across the UK, with particularly strong opportunity across London, the South and other major cities with significant commercial investment.

Your market will include roles such as:

across contractors delivering commercial fit-out and interiors projects.

The desk starts without contractors transferring across.

But it does not start cold.

YOUR STARTING POINT

You'll work alongside an established permanent Commercial Fit-Out recruiter whose desk generates approximately £500,000 annually .

The clients you'll target are largely the same contractors and decision-makers already using the business.

You'll have access to existing contacts and candidate intelligence, historic freelance requirements and leads worth revisiting, incoming opportunities, soft introductions and the ability to attend joint client meetings with established consultants.

The intention is for permanent and freelance recruitment to operate as a complete solution for the same client base , rather than as competing desks.

So the foundations are there.

Your job is to activate them.

You'll revisit historic opportunities, convert existing relationships, respond to incoming freelance demand and add your own network and proactive BD engine to build the volume required for a serious contractor book.

THE BIGGER OPPORTUNITY

This role sits inside something larger than one Commercial freelance desk.

The company's White Collar Temp business is still the least-developed part of the organisation, and one of its biggest growth opportunities.

Complementary freelance desks are now being developed across its established Construction markets, creating an emerging division rather than a collection of isolated desks.

There is currently no predetermined No.2.

That opportunity is open to the person who demonstrates they should have it.

The immediate progression from Principal Consultant is Associate Director , achievable through sustained personal performance at around £250,000+ annual billings .

Beyond that, future progression and responsibility are shaped around the commercial opportunity you're developing and the leadership capability you demonstrate.

For somebody who can build a substantial desk, collaborate across the emerging freelance markets and demonstrate the ability to influence others, there is the longer-term opportunity to take broader responsibility for the White Collar Temp division .