Moving into Private Equity: Finding the Right PE Opportunity

Private equity can offer senior executives a compelling next chapter: the opportunity to lead growth, transform performance and share in the value they help create. But moving into PE is about more than securing a new role. It means understanding what an investor needs to achieve, where a business is in its investment journey and whether your leadership experience matches the challenge. In a market where investors are selective and focused on value creation, finding the right investment situation can be as important as demonstrating your credentials.

Here, we look at what a PE-backed role offers, the different situations you might step into and how to judge whether a particular investment is right for you.

The Private Equity Market in 2026

European private equity deal value fell 10.9% to €149.15bn in Q3 2026, according to PitchBook, while UK-managed private equity and venture capital funds held around £207bn in committed but uninvested capital, according to UK Private Capital.

With capital to deploy but fewer deals getting done, investors are selective, with a growing focus on operational improvement and value creation. Bain & Company reports that buyout holding periods at exit now average around seven years, compared with five to six years between 2010 and 2021.

For executives, this means understanding what an investor needs to achieve, how the business must improve and what leadership capabilities are required to deliver the plan.

What Private Equity Leadership Roles Offer

Equity participation can be a significant attraction of a PE-backed role. Vardis research puts the average management equity pool at around 8.9% of fully diluted equity, although individual allocations vary considerably by role and deal structure.

The potential reward is linked to the value created during the investment. Leaders are expected to deliver measurable improvements, whether that means growing revenue, improving margins, integrating acquisitions or preparing the business for its next stage. The opportunity can be significant, but so is the accountability for results.

The Potential Pitfalls of Private Equity

PE-backed leadership can be demanding. Investors work to a defined plan, often with debt to service and a target exit in mind. When performance falls short or the plan changes, leadership changes may follow. In AlixPartners’ 2026 Private Equity Leadership Survey, nearly two-thirds of PE firms said they had replaced a portfolio-company CEO during the holding period.

Equity participation also needs careful scrutiny. Its eventual value depends on factors such as business performance, the terms of the incentive structure and the investor’s return. A headline equity percentage alone tells you little about what you might ultimately receive.

Before committing, consider what the investor needs to achieve and by when, how realistic the business plan is, why the role is open, and what resources, authority and incentives you will have to deliver results.

How Executives Move into Private Equity

“Moving into PE” is not a single career choice. Joining a founder-led business after its first investment is very different from taking over a company preparing for sale, or one whose original investment plan has fallen behind. Each situation brings different priorities, pressures and expectations of its leadership team.

For executives exploring this market, understanding those differences matters as much as securing an introduction. The most valuable opportunities are those where your experience, leadership style and ambitions align with the needs of the business and the investor’s objectives.

Previous PE experience is not always essential. Investors continue to appoint leaders from outside the private equity environment, provided they can demonstrate the capabilities needed to deliver the investment plan.

To make that case, identify the part of the value-creation plan you could deliver and support it with evidence of results. Present your experience in terms investors recognise: the challenges you have tackled, the improvements you have delivered and the value you could bring to their investment.

Rialto coaches are seeing growing interest from senior leaders who want to position their experience for PE-backed roles. If you are considering a move into private equity, talk to a Rialto consultant about how your experience and ambitions might translate to a PE-backed leadership role. For more on the market, the potential pitfalls and how to assess whether an opportunity is right for you, download our full guide to moving into private equity leadership.

4 minute read

Most organisations have a technology programme that delivered everything it promised and changed almost nothing in the accounts. The platforms are integrated, adoption looks healthy and teams say they are faster. Yet the finance director still cannot find the return.

It is a familiar pattern. Among UK businesses using AI, 75% report higher workforce productivity, yet 77% have not yet seen any change in revenue. A board can approve an investment, but it takes skilled, integrated leadership to convert one.

The reason is rarely the technology. It is that the digital core and leadership capability are treated as two separate programmes, run by different people, on different timelines and from different budgets. In reality they are one system, and each makes the other more valuable.

How do the digital core and leadership capability work together?

A stronger digital core provides better information, greater connectivity and the ability to redesign how work is done. Leadership capability enables people at every level to use those capabilities effectively: to decide what stops, where freed capacity goes and which decisions stay with a human. Together, they create the conditions for a different operating model.

For boards, the test of a digital core is simple: can a decision taken in one part of the business take effect everywhere else without being argued or approved all over again? If it cannot, you have systems, not a core. And because people in every function and at every level use a core, it is only ever as good as their collective capability.

The value chain is straightforward:

better data → better decisions → redesigned workflows → improved productivity → greater capacity → scalable growth → stronger financial performance

Technology sits throughout that chain. So does leadership. Invest in one without the other and the chain breaks somewhere along its length; invest in both, together, and each link strengthens the next.

Why do AI productivity gains fail to reach revenue?

Most of the decisions that turn productivity into profit are taken below board level, by operations directors, finance managers and team leaders. When nobody claims the capacity the core frees up, work expands to fill it, bottlenecks move, informal checking layers appear and run costs quietly persist. None of these is a technology failure.

Each of those decisions is small, but together they are the entire return on the investment. The organisations getting most value make them deliberately. McKinsey’s 2026 State of AI survey found that nearly three quarters of AI high performers had fundamentally redesigned workflows because of AI, against roughly a quarter of other respondents.

Confidence also tends to stop at the top. Korn Ferry’s Workforce 2025 survey found that 78% of leaders believed they had AI figured out, while only 39% of workers agreed. Where capability thins out through the management layers, the dashboard can show strong adoption while the way work is done barely changes.

The prize for getting it right is growth, not just efficiency. An organisation that can serve more customers, launch new offers or enter new markets without adding cost at the same rate has changed its economics, not just its efficiency.

The cost of getting it wrong is high. Gartner predicts that more than 40% of agentic AI projects will be cancelled by the end of 2027, citing escalating costs, unclear business value and inadequate risk controls. None of those reasons is about whether the technology works. And each failure makes the next attempt harder: an organisation gets a limited number of chances to ask its people to work differently.

There is a slower risk too. AI absorbs the analytical work through which future leaders used to build judgement, so the leadership pipeline can thin long before anyone notices.

An organisation that automates the training ground without replacing it is spending its succession pipeline to fund this year’s productivity gain.

What should boards do to turn digital investment into growth?

• Treat leadership development as part of the digital-core business case, funded and measured alongside the technology.
• Equip the board as a team, so it can lead, challenge and support the investment with shared confidence.
• Give the people who own workflows a mandate to redesign them, not just to run them faster.
• Report a conversion rate: productivity claimed against financial impact banked.
• Rebuild the developmental experiences automation removes, so tomorrow’s leaders still learn to make the calls.

Why is 2027 the test for the digital core and leadership?

The technology can be built in months; the leadership to convert it takes years. Start both together, as one system, and each strengthens the other. For businesses seeking stronger growth and financial performance in 2027, the case for bringing these agendas together has become hard to ignore.

Read the full insight here or to explore how Rialto builds leadership capability alongside digital investment, get in touch to speak to one of our team

4 minute read

Whether making an outside hire to fill an emerging gap or seeking to replace an outgoing executive, forward-looking company boards know the specifications for the perfect candidate have changed dramatically with the fast-evolving landscape. Many may not be able to articulate exactly what they do need, but they will know when they see it.

Senior leaders navigating a career progression or executive career transition therefore need a far more nuanced understanding of where the market is going, their place in it and to be able to demonstrate their value through compelling storytelling, not just impressive names, numbers and previous job titles.

A role specification is not a complete description of what the board requires and executives can no longer simply answer questions. They must learn to read what sits behind the brief and then build a leadership narrative around their genuine experience and skill sets that answers it directly to get ahead in this tight and selective market.

What Boards Really Look for When Appointing an Executive

A job description passes through a chair, a nomination committee, an interim or outgoing incumbent, a human resources director and a search firm, and each of them removes the thinking that would have been most useful to you. What does reach you is a list of capabilities everyone could agree on; it describes the shape of the job but leaves out the argument that produced it.

The order of that list still carries information, because the capability a board is genuinely anxious about is usually either the first item or the one specified in unusual detail. In published records, you can also see what the organisation has committed to in front of shareholders; the remuneration committee’s choice of performance measures is the clearest statement any listed company makes about what it intends to pay for.

To respond to those signals, build an interpretation of your own career that speaks to them.

How to Build an Executive Leadership Narrative

Two executives can hold near-identical records and receive very different receptions on the strength of that alone. Both may have spent 20 years in global consumer businesses, run international divisions and delivered double-digit growth.

One offers a commercially focused international leader with extensive experience in growth, transformation and operational excellence, which is accurate and entirely interchangeable.

The other says they help established consumer businesses find their next growth curve when the existing model has started to plateau, combining commercial discipline with organisational change.

Same career, two interpretations, and only the second gives a board something to engage with.

The test of any executive narrative is whether a search consultant can describe you accurately to a chair in two sentences. That conversation will happen without you. It happens more often the further you progress, and it can influence whether you make the shortlist.

Of course, it is absolutely essential that you can deliver what your narrative promises. Embellishment might get you part of the way but it will trip you up in the end. McKinsey has reported that two years after an executive transition, 27-46% are regarded as failures or disappointments. The story you tell during a process becomes the mandate you are held to once you arrive.

Understanding your own valuation and presentation is difficult, and reading a board’s subtext while you are personally invested in the outcome is harder still. Executive career coaching and mentoring give leaders an outside read on both and build a proposition that holds under scrutiny while still describing work you actually want to do.

2 minute read.

AI is changing more than how organisations work. It is changing what the market values in the executives who lead them.

The question, then, is not simply which leaders understand AI. It is which leadership capabilities will become most market-relevant as AI reshapes growth, operating models, work, investment and governance.

To explore that question, Rialto surveyed senior professionals across organisations ranging from under 500 to more than 10,000 employees. Respondents included Board Directors, C-suite executives, HR and Talent leaders, and senior functional leaders.

We asked a deliberately forward-looking question:

By 2030, how will the most market-relevant executives be best described?

Rialto analysed the responses and identified six distinct leadership archetypes.

None were defined primarily by technical AI expertise. Instead, the profiles combine AI fluency with something more consequential at executive level: the ability to create value, build organisational adaptability, redesign how humans and technology work together, translate technology into business value, deliver transformation at scale and ensure adoption happens responsibly.

The strongest signal was commercial. The AI-enabled Growth Strategist emerged as the leading archetype, accounting for 25% of responses. But the next two profiles, the Builder of Adaptive Learning Organisations at 20%; and the Human–AI Collaboration Leader at 19% suggest that AI leadership is not simply about identifying opportunities or funding technology. It is about building organisations capable of learning, redesigning work and making better decisions as the technology evolves.

The remaining three profiles the Commercial Translator of Technology into Value (14%), Enterprise Transformation Architect (13%) and Ethical Steward of AI Adoption (9%) provide the mechanisms through which those ambitions become real, scalable and trusted.

These are not six new job titles. They are six forms of executive value that are becoming increasingly important as AI changes the basis on which organisations compete.  Most leaders will have a natural centre of gravity in one or two. However, you must now consider whether the profile that has made you successful to date is the profile that will remain most relevant as the decade progresses.

Read the full download below.

4 minute read.

For senior leaders, September has always functioned as a kind of second January when the pace of business returns, priorities sharpen and the final stretch of the year comes into view. Here we consider two consequential questions executives should be asking right now: what do I need to further strengthen my leadership and, what does my organisation need to do differently to deliver the strategy?

Read the summary below or download the free full report here.

The first half of 2026 has provided plenty of evidence. AI has moved rapidly from experimentation towards production. Geopolitical uncertainty is becoming an operating condition rather than an exceptional disruption. Boards are demanding greater evidence of transformation and execution. And for executives considering their next career move, the leadership market is becoming more selective about the experience it values.

For executives considering transition: how to prepare for a more selective leadership market

In 2026, the traditional September reset matters for executives considering a transition more than ever because the leadership market has changed immeasurably in a matter of months.

The UK labour market remains subdued. Vacancies fell to around 707,000 in the three months to July, their lowest level outside the pandemic period since 2014.

For an executive considering a transition, this is not a market to sit out until conditions improve. The opportunity is to become much clearer about the problem a board would hire you to solve.

The first H1 trend to consider is executive hiring becoming more selective, not simply tighter.

Boards continue to use external appointments but are increasingly discriminating about the experience they buy. External CFO hiring hit a global high for the first quarter of 2026, at 47% of appointments, and boards recruiting externally are increasingly choosing candidates who have already held the title elsewhere: 42% of newly appointed CFOs in Q1 2026 had prior public-company CFO experience against a historical average of 35%.

“Experienced commercial leader” is no longer a compelling proposition. “I have led two international restructurings, rebuilt an underperforming operating model and taken a business through an acquisition” is much more useful to a board facing one of those situations.

The second lesson is that when boards do go outside, they are increasingly paying for directly relevant experience rather than for outside perspective alone. Anyone preparing for a leadership transition should therefore define their market by the business problems they can credibly solve, rather than by their current or previous job title.

Resetting Business Strategies

Aside from the geopolitical and wider economic concerns which we examine in our regular quarterly executive outlooks, arguably the biggest developments over H1 2026, which should now be snapping into focus and into action across all sectors, were:

• The shift of AI, and especially agentic AI, from pilot to production
• Leadership capability and change-readiness as the real transformation bottleneck

By mid-2026, leading organisations are building towards having agentic AI systems running in full production and making or directly influencing operational decisions across supply chains, HR processes and strategic planning.

The key strategic question has now moved on to whether organisations have the governance, oversight and accountability structures to manage what is already running.

External auditors reviewing AI systems have repeatedly found meaningful gaps between what boards believe is running and what actually is, with evidence that a portion of deployed systems may not be formally registered, owned or governed at all.

Almost three-quarters of boards have only moderate or limited AI expertise, according to KPMG’s Global AI Pulse Survey. So, the first priority of the autumn board cycle should therefore be a detailed audit of what AI is running in the organisation across every function, who owns the governance of each system, and what the oversight framework looks like.

Leadership capability is becoming the transformation bottleneck

The next question is more fundamental: does the organisation have the leadership capability and change-readiness to turn these technologies and strategic ambitions into results?

Any company can buy the tech, but transformation programmes will only deliver value with leaders who can translate strategic intent into organisational action.

That requires a different kind of leadership capability: the ability to make difficult decisions with incomplete information, redesign operating models, and maintain accountability when the organisation is under pressure. That makes change-readiness a strategic capability, not an HR initiative.

Boards and executive teams should therefore be asking: do we have the leadership capability required to deliver the strategy we have approved? The organisations that answer these questions honestly will be better placed to convert AI investment, operating-model change and strategic ambition into measurable outcomes. Those that do not risk accumulating transformation programmes without transformation.

Read the download to see what leadership capabilities will matter most in H2 2026.

The most valuable thing an executive can pack this summer is permission to stop.  For many, the summer months bring a holiday, a change of scene or simply a few quieter weeks as colleagues, clients and customers take time away. For others, it may be business as usual but with a slightly different rhythm and, perhaps, a little more space to think. Wherever you find yourself this summer, that space is worth protecting.

Senior leadership runs on judgement, and judgement can degrade when the calendar never lets up. Time away from the immediate demands of the role restores the energy, perspective and creative range that boards are paying for. The leaders who protect their recovery return sharper than those who spend every quieter moment answering emails.

We made a similar point in our leadership lessons from the World Cup: organisations that invest in resilience before a crisis are the ones still standing when it arrives. The same discipline applies to individuals. Creating space to step away, recharge and see things differently is part of sustaining good leadership over the long term.

A break, however you take it, can do more than restore energy. It can also feed curiosity. The best holiday material entertains first and instructs almost by accident: a podcast that introduces a new perspective, a book that quietly reframes how you think about talent, or a series about a family empire imploding that somehow leaves you thinking differently about power, culture and succession.

So, whether you are heading abroad, staying close to home, working through the summer or simply finding a little more breathing room in the diary, here is our summer list for the journey, the garden, the commute or the quieter evening. A mix of the entertaining, the substantial and the technical, with details of where to find each one.  You don’t need to be on a beach to take a break. You just need to give yourself permission to stop and perhaps something interesting to think about when you do.

For the pool, the garden or the commute: what to listen to

Founders, with David Senra. The podcast loved by some of the world’s most powerful CEOs, according to a recent Fortune profile, it counts Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Dell CEO Michael Dell and Spotify’s Daniel Ek among its fans. Senra reads one business biography a week, pen and ruler in hand, and distils what history’s great operators actually did. He recorded for more than five years to almost no audience before it took off, and the show itself is a lesson in his favourite theme: keep control, obsess over quality and the money follows. Find it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or at founderspodcast.com, and look out for his new long-form interview show featuring what he calls “extreme winners”.

The Rest Is Money. Robert Peston and Steph McGovern make sense of the week’s business and economic stories twice a week for Goalhanger, from what fiscal devolution under Andy Burnham means for markets to interviews with authors and traders. It is sharp enough for a professional audience and light enough for a beach walk. Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Amazon Music.

The Bottom Line. Evan Davis’s long-running Radio 4 conversation show gets bosses to explain how their industries really work, from keeping oil flowing after the closure of the Strait of Hormuz to the economics of record-breaking trainers. Perfect 28-minute episodes for airport queues, with the Decisions That Made Me spin-off for career-defining moments. Thursdays on BBC Radio 4 and any time on BBC Sounds.

For the beach, the sofa or the quieter hours: what to read

Open, by Andre Agassi. The memoir David Senra returns to more than almost any other book: the story of a man who hated the thing that made him famous and had to find his own reasons to keep going. For any executive wrestling with motivation, reinvention or the gap between success and satisfaction, it is the most enjoyable leadership book ever written that never mentions leadership. Widely available in paperback and on Audible.

Apple: The First 50 Years, by David Pogue. One of the most talked about business books of 2026, the CBS journalist’s history of Apple zooms out from Steve Jobs to the brilliant, bizarre cast who built the company, and to its impact on how we communicate, pay, listen and design. Packed with nostalgia and genuinely fun, with focus as its central lesson. In hardback, ebook and audio from all the usual retailers.

The Infinity Machine, by Sebastian Mallaby. An instant New York Times bestseller and the standout AI book of the year. The biography of Demis Hassabis, the North London chess prodigy turned Nobel laureate now running Google DeepMind was built on more than thirty hours of interviews. It is the story of a rare figure who is both world-class scientist and world-class competitor, and a window into who is actually shaping the technology reshaping board agendas. Published by Penguin.

Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman’s Open AI by Karen Hao. The technical pick. Drawing on more than 260 interviews, Hao traces OpenAI’s founding tensions, the 2023 board crisis and the labour, water and compute infrastructure underneath the products, winning the National Book Critics Circle award for nonfiction. This offers a deep, instructive background in AI governance to take back to your board.

For the journey or evening wind down: What to watch

Industry (BBC iPlayer). All four seasons of the BBC and HBO finance drama are streaming, and the latest run shifts into full thriller mode as a splashy fintech collapse rips through the London markets. Beneath the noise it is a study of ambition without guardrails and of what happens to institutions when incentives and ethics part company. Written by two first-timers who formerly worked in finance, it gives an inside view on how the City works and its murkier side showing burnout, addiction and corruption.

House of Guinness (Netflix). Steven Knight’s drama about the heirs to the Guinness brewery, likened to a frothy-topped Succession, begins with a will that forces four reluctant siblings to run the empire together. It is a masterclass in succession planning gone sideways, wrapped in 1860s Dublin and filmed across the North West of England and Wales. A second season has just been confirmed, so now is the moment to catch up.

The Studio (Apple TV+). The Emmy-winning satire of Hollywood leadership follows a newly promoted studio boss trying to please talent, investors and his own ambitions all at once. Every executive who has ever inherited a big job with impossible stakeholders will laugh with a wince of recognition.

Control, succession, reinvention, governance: the themes running through this list are also the themes shaping the executive agenda. Senra’s founders guarded quality obsessively; Hassabis pairs scientific depth with competitive drive; The Guinness siblings show what happens when succession is imposed rather than planned. These are the same capabilities boards are testing for right now, a point we explored in The Rise of the AI Strategist.

Whether you’re taking an extended break or simply finding a little more space in the summer months, protect that time fiercely and let the ideas do their work while you rest, recharge and think.

Summer reading, podcasts and watching: frequently asked questions

Why should executives properly switch off over summer?

Because judgement, creativity and stakeholder patience are finite resources.  They are harder to sustain when the calendar never lets up and only replenish when you create genuine space to step away. A leader who returns rested and refreshed is better placed to make good decisions after returning from a break than one that continues to work non stop.

What should I read, listen to or watch if I only have a few hours?

Start with three episodes of Founders or consider Open by Andre Agassi. Both entertain first and teach almost by accident, which is exactly what good holiday material should do.

Do I need a technical background to read the recommended AI books?

Not at all. Mallaby and Hao are journalists writing for general readers, and the value for executives is in the people, power dynamics and governance questions rather than the maths. If boards expect AI literacy that is specific, these two get you a long way there.

3 minute read

Global growth is slowing, AI is reshaping what boards need from their senior leaders, and executive mobility is accelerating in response. Our Q3 global economic outlook covers the hiring picture across the US, Europe, MENA and Asia, and explains what executives in each region need to do to be well-positioned for future career opportunities.

The IMF projects global growth of 3.0% in 2026, down from around 3.3% across 2024-25 (IMF). ManpowerGroup’s Q3 Employment Outlook Survey puts the global Net Employment Outlook at 26%, with outlooks weakening in 33 of 42 countries. Hiring is not contracting evenly, however. Specific geographies and sectors are generating intense executive demand while others stagnate. The executives finding opportunity are those who understand where the demand is and what it requires.

Where the demand is

The US leads with the strongest hiring intentions in nearly five years, NEO 45%, up 15 points year-on-year. 78% of US companies now use AI in at least one function and the race to find executives who can govern and scale it is intense across technology, healthcare, financial services and energy.

India records among the strongest Net Employment Outlook globally and projects demand for over one million AI roles against a 53% skills deficit.

The Gulf states collectively need 2.5 million skilled professionals over three years; 56% of GCC employers are expanding headcount.

Europe is the weakest region at NEO 16%, but the EU AI Act, with general compliance obligations from August 2026, high-risk system obligations from December 2027, and fines up to €35 million for prohibited uses, is generating specific and urgent executive demand for AI governance, data compliance and risk leadership.

What boards actually want

A leadership narrative that travels. The ability to communicate complex transformation credibly across geographies, cultures and stakeholder types is the capability most consistently cited as the differentiating factor.

Commercial judgement beyond your home market. Executives who understand capital allocation across currency environments and regulatory frameworks are in short supply at senior level.

Cross-border positioning. Growth is concentrated by both geography and sector. Executives who can demonstrate what they bring to a specific market, not just what they have done at home, move faster and achieve better terms than those offering undifferentiated international experience.

What this means for Executive positioning  

What this means for your positioning

• US: The US is the strongest hiring market in nearly five years, but the competition is global and US boards are buying sector depth, not international experience in general. Pick your entry point – technology, healthcare, fintech, energy – and position around it specifically. The AI leadership gap is real; if you can show specific outcomes (which tools, which decisions, what commercial result), you are addressing something US organisations cannot easily fill domestically. Get into US search firm networks before you need them.
• Europe: AI governance is the EU’s defining executive opportunity. The EU AI Act’s extraterritorial scope means you do not need to relocate to be relevant – any organisation whose AI touches EU markets is in scope. Lead with compliance-to-operations capability and position it as a board-level asset, not a legal function. The Netherlands and Nordics offer more accessible entry than Germany or France for non-EU executives.
• MENA: In Gulf markets, direct introduction is a prerequisite. Build relationships with regional search firms before you need them. In Saudi Arabia, board-level familiarity with Vision 2030 priorities is expected; know the agenda before the first conversation. The financial case is real: £1m AED annual salary in the UAE (equivalent to £220,000) requires a UK gross of approximately £385,000 to match in take-home terms.
• Asia: Singapore and India require completely different positioning. Singapore suits executives who can lead regional operations across diverse, geographically dispersed teams; India suits those who can translate technology investment into commercial growth at scale. In both markets, introductions and network visibility come before opportunity; work with search firms that have genuine local presence, not global mandates run from London.

Read the full Rialto Q3 2026 Global Executive Outlook below, the Rialto Q3 UK Outlook here or get in touch for a free initial consultation on your career strategy.

3-minute read

Amid tumultuous geopolitical issues, fluctuating energy prices, inflation worries and AI disruption causing a human workforce crisis, the UK is facing more upheaval and uncertainty with its seventh Prime Minister in a decade. What does it all mean for executives seeking transition, progression or just trying to stay ahead of the ever-changing landscape?

This quarter’s Rialto Executive Outlook examines what the economic trends and data really mean – and how senior leadership can best respond and prepare.

Redundancies are rising, visible vacancies sit at a five-year low and Andy Burnham’s arrival as Prime Minister has added political uncertainty to an already complex landscape. Yet Q3 hiring intentions are the strongest in two years. The UK’s Net Employment Outlook of 37 (ManpowerGroup) places it fourth in the world. The contradiction is the story: organisations are eliminating roles AI can automate while urgently seeking executives who can lead that transformation. Structural change is sharpest at the top.

Where the market is moving

Growth is real but concentrated. Defence, cybersecurity, fintech, healthcare technology and green energy are generating the strongest executive demand. Technology and Information leads sector hiring intentions at NEO 46. The fastest-growing titles are Chief AI Officer, Chief Information Security Officer and Chief Transformation Officer.

70 to 80% of senior appointments are still made without a public vacancy. The hidden market is active. Interim placements rose 29% year-on-year globally in 2025 and the supply-demand balance for interim leadership is among the most favourable in five years.

What boards actually want

AI literacy that is specific. Generic claims about embracing AI are dismissed. Boards want to know which tools you have used, what decisions they changed and what guardrails you put in place.

A transformation narrative that travels. The ability to communicate complex change credibly across board, investor, employee and regulator audiences is the capability search partners most frequently cite as the differentiating factor.

Commercial judgement beyond one function. Executives who can read the full P&L and speak to capital allocation consistently outperform those who cannot.

Sector versatility. Executives who can credibly cross from legacy to growth sectors, with a clear articulation of what transfers, are moving faster and achieving better terms.

What this means for your positioning

• AI-literate candidates are achieving materially better terms than peers with equivalent functional experience. If AI is a gap, close it before your next search conversation.
• Search firms are assessing AI and transformation capability before presenting shortlists. Your profile is reviewed before any approach is made. Have specific examples ready.
• The executive who appears in search firm networks before a role exists has a structural advantage. Build those relationships now, not when you need them.
• NED fees on FTSE 350 boards run from £40,000 to £70,000 per year. For executives in transition, a NED or advisory appointment maintains visibility and drives the network activity behind most senior appointments.
• Burnham’s agenda on water, energy, transport, housing and infrastructure is still forming. Boards in those sectors need to be mapping exposure now rather than waiting for the detail.

Five actions for executives in Q3 2026

1. Audit your AI literacy against board expectations.
2. Develop a transformation narrative that goes beyond your function.
3. Build visibility in the hidden market before you need it.
4. Consider interim, advisory and NED routes alongside permanent roles.
5. Position around growth sectors rather than legacy sectors.

Read the full Rialto Q3 2026 UK Executive Outlook below, the Rialto Q3 global outlook here or get in touch for a free initial consultation on your career strategy.

The Value of Strategy, Team-building and Adaptability and Trust

4 minute read

When established giants fall and underdogs outperform expectations at the highest level of competition, it is rarely through chance.  Whether seeking an executive transition or leadership through transformation, leaders can learn as much from the gutsy and spirited fight of the minnows as they can from the slick performances of the favourites.

The FIFA World Cup is more than football’s biggest tournament. It is one of the world’s clearest demonstrations of leadership under pressure, where strategy, resilience and decision-making are tested in full public view. Every match mirrors challenges executives face every day: responding to unexpected setbacks, adapting plans in real time, making high-stakes decisions and leading teams through uncertainty.

England’s win over Mexico showed the value of composure under pressure, adapting to adversity after a red card threatened to derail their campaign. Cape Verde, the smallest nation ever to reach the knockout stage, pushed reigning champions Argentina to extra time through preparation and self-belief. Meanwhile, traditional powerhouses Germany, Brazil and the Netherlands were eliminated by emerging contenders who were better prepared – and perhaps more committed – on the day; who proved greater than the sums of their parts.

These results weren’t simply footballing upsets. They were the product of preparation, adaptability, disciplined execution, intelligent leadership and exceptional teamwork, the same qualities now separating organisations that keep growing and stay relevant from those coasting on past success as AI and constant disruption reset the competitive landscape.

1. Prepare for every challenge with focused intentionality.

England’s manager Thomas Tuchel adapts fixture by fixture rather than applying a fixed system regardless of opponent. Facing Mexico with ten men, he ripped up his plan, switched to a back five, and held a one-goal lead for half an hour in the thin air of the Azteca. It worked because the response was built for the situation in front of him, not the one he’d prepared for.

A fixed playbook is a liability in a fast-moving, AI-driven market. The leaders who win reassess continuously, adapt quickly and stress-test themselves against the challenges they aspire to overcome.

2: Don’t mistake reputation for current form.

Brazil are out, beaten by Norway. Germany went out on penalties to Paraguay, the Netherlands to Morocco, and two-time champions Uruguay never recovered from being held by debutants Cape Verde.

Market leaders fail the same way. Rank, history and brand may earn a place in the competition, but they don’t guarantee success in the next fixture. Leadership requires continual self-reflection and the willingness to challenge assumptions before the market does.

3. Recruit beyond your immediate pool – and hold on to your talent.

Cape Verde (population around 525,000) and Curaçao (around 156,000) built their squads largely from the diaspora, treating their talent pool as global rather than local. Cape Verde’s defender Roberto Lopes was first approached through a LinkedIn message he ignored as spam. And the story has a human heart: 40-year-old goalkeeper Vozinha made seven saves to shut out Spain, then took Argentina to extra time, saving even from Messi, before a deflection settled it.

The strongest candidate is rarely the one already inside the building.  Finding exceptional people is only half the job; keeping them through culture, loyalty and meaningful experiences creates an advantage competitors cannot easily buy.

4. There is real strength in defence.

Football is usually about the goals and the strikers who score them, just as business can fixate on the bottom line and the obvious performers. This tournament has rewarded defensive discipline just as much as attacking brilliance: England defending a lead with ten men at a ferocious Azteca, Cape Verde snuffing out Spain, goalkeepers performing heroics.

In business, governance, data security and the other less visible defence mechanisms are what keep you in the game.  The same applies to leadership capability. Organisations that invest in coaching, resilience and judgement before a crisis are the ones still standing when it arrives.

5. Build for what outlasts the immediate campaign.

The US Soccer Federation and Major League Soccer have planned for this World Cup since winning hosting rights in 2018, treating it as a launchpad for lasting growth rather than a six-week spike in attention.  Creating lasting value is what matters in business. Organisations that invest in long-term capability, rather than short-term momentum, create advantages that outlast any single campaign or initiative.

6. Make AI tools accessible to all to lift performance.

FIFA and Lenovo’s Football AI Pro gives all 48 competing nations, not just the wealthiest federations access to advanced performance data, helping smaller teams compete more effectively.

For executives, the constraint has shifted from access to strategic clarity. The organisations gaining the greatest advantage are combining AI with strong leadership, governance and the capability to ask better questions.

7. Stakeholder trust in your personal or organisational brand is everything.

The tournament organisers and team worked so hard to build the reputation of US soccer – but their organisation and performance disintegrated in their last 4-1 loss to Belgium with many suggesting the overturned red card furore played its part. It also brought FIFA and its embattled President Gianni Infantino into disrepute. Executives cannot afford to bend compliance for quick wins.

What connects all seven?

The game is football. The lessons are leadership.
Success belongs to the organisations that prepare with intention, adapt faster than their competitors, build capabilities that outlast the immediate challenge. They widen the talent pool, embrace shared tools, defend as seriously as they attack and invest for the long term. The executives that lead them understand the value of trust and carry a healthy respect for the competition; they treat their careers as a continuous learning process where success is earned every day, not deserved.

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2 minute read

AI is now deployed in at least one function in 88% of organisations. Yet 56% of CEOs report capturing neither revenue nor cost savings from it.   The gap between AI deployment and business value is rarely caused by the technology itself. It is more often the result of a missing strategic framework that links AI investment to business priorities, measurable outcomes and executive accountability.

Crucially, this is not a middle-management execution issue. It sits at the top of organisations, where strategic direction, prioritisation and ownership of outcomes are set. In many cases, AI is being deployed without the level of executive clarity required to convert activity into value.

This challenge is now showing up at the leadership level. In an exclusive Rialto survey of professional clients, supported by feedback from our strategy consultants and executive career coaches, the single biggest capability gap threatening executive relevance was said to be the inability to connect AI to commercial strategy. Forty-four per cent of respondents named it as their primary concern.  Nothing else came close.

What AI strategy actually means

Strategy, in this context, is not a slide deck or a digital transformation roadmap. It is the answer to four specific questions that every board should be asking at a minimum and every C-suite executive should be able to answer clearly:

1. What commercial problem is AI solving, and for whom?
2. Which measurable outcomes define success, and over what timeframe?
3. Who is accountable for delivery, and how is that accountability embedded in leadership reviews?
4. What governance structure ensures that AI decisions are made with appropriate oversight?

Through its work with senior leadership teams, Rialto has consistently observed that organisations unable to answer these four questions often struggle to convert well-intentioned AI experimentation into a defined route to measurable business value.

Once these foundations are established, organisations are better positioned to address the practical challenges of implementation, including managing governance, accelerating decision-making and cross-functional collaboration.

The question for any executive reading this is whether their ability to align AI with commercial objectives, set measurable outcomes and govern for results is visible to the people who make decisions about leadership, succession and future organisational capability. In a market increasingly shifting from experience-based to skills-based evaluation, boards are asking not only what leaders have achieved, but whether they possess the capabilities required for the next phase of growth and transformation. Demonstrable AI leadership capability is rapidly becoming one of those differentiators.

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