Tardis Group

What Tardis Group does

Tardis Group is a privately held, founder-led global executive search and recruitment consultancy founded in 1989 in London by Neil MacLean and Jeremy Francois. The firm operates eight offices across four continents (Sydney, Perth, Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo, London, New York, and Texas) and serves enterprise clients across nine sector verticals: Finance, Technology (Tardis Tech), Legal, Healthcare, Energy & Resources, Commerce, Commercial Shipping, Consulting, and Construction & Infrastructure. A small Diversity & Inclusion advisory practice is offered as an add-on service. The firm has no proprietary technology platform; its delivery model is built on a lean specialist-consultant structure where senior recruiters control candidate information distribution to protect confidentiality.

The company's revenue model is a contingency-based B2B transaction-fee structure: clients (employers) pay a success fee of up to 100% of the placed candidate's first-year annual salary upon successful hire, with no fees charged to job seekers. Services span permanent, contract, and interim placements in both executive search and professional recruitment. The go-to-market motion is consultative, direct enterprise engagement supported by a job portal, a News & Insights content channel, an active LinkedIn presence, and industry-event networking.

Ownership is concentrated with the co-founders and remains independent after 35+ years, with no disclosed parent company, PE/VC backing, or external funding rounds. Geographic expansion has been steady since the 2000 Sydney launch, with the Singapore and Texas offices added in 2019 and ongoing regional team build-out in Singapore through 2024-2025, including new hires in technology and maritime recruitment under a recently appointed Managing Director.

Name

Tardis Group

Legal name

Tardis Group

Website

https://tardis-group.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1989

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

Tardis Group is a global executive search and recruitment consultancy, founded in 1989, operating eight offices across four continents to place permanent, contract, and interim talent across nine sectors including finance, technology, legal, healthcare, energy, and consulting.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Executive Search & Recruitment Services

NAICS

Executive Search Services (561312), Employment Placement Agencies and Executive Search Services (56131), Employment Placement Agencies (561311)

SIC

Services-Employment Agencies (7361)

akta.pro primary industry

General Permanent Placement (Multi-Industry) (BPACAFAA)

akta.pro secondary industry

Healthcare & Life Sciences Leadership Search (BPACAAAE)

Keywords

• Executive search services
• Recruitment consultancy
• Talent acquisition
• Contingency recruiting
• Headhunting services

Headquarters

HQ city

Sydney

HQ country

Australia

HQ region

Oceania

Offices8 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Contingency Recruitment / Executive Search Fees: Tardis Group operates on a contingency recruitment model where fees are charged upon successful placement. For Japan operations, the standard success fee is up to 100% of the candidate's annual starting salary within the first year of employment, payable by the employer/recruiter. This success-based model applies to permanent placement services across all sectors they serve.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Tardis Group provides executive search and recruitment services, placing permanent, contract, and interim professionals across nine sector verticals: finance, technology, legal, healthcare, energy & resources, construction & infrastructure, commerce, commercial shipping, and consulting. Engagements are delivered by specialist sector consultants through direct B2B relationships with employer clients, with candidates sourced via proprietary networks and an online job portal.

Product overview

Tardis Group is a global executive search and recruitment consultancy offering sector-specialized talent acquisition services. The portfolio consists of eight core recruitment verticals (Finance, Technology/Tardis Tech, Legal, Healthcare, Energy & Resources, Commerce, Commercial Shipping, and Consulting) plus a Diversity & Inclusion advisory module. Each vertical operates as a specialized practice area with dedicated consultants serving distinct industry segments, all underpinned by shared global offices and a consultative, relationship-driven recruitment methodology.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Tardis Tech: Technology recruitment specialization serving financial institutions, hedge funds, quantitative trading firms, digital asset firms, and investment banks across US, EMEA, and APAC
• Tardis Consulting

Quantifiable outcome

• 90%+ candidate stick rate

Segments8 records

Ideal customer profiles8 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves11 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• Korn Ferry: Global organizational consulting firm combining executive search with talent assessment and advisory services. Overlaps with Tardis's executive search verticals and its D&I advisory module, but at significantly larger scale with integrated HR consulting offerings.
• Russell Reynolds Associates: Global executive search firm focused on senior leadership across financial services, technology, healthcare, energy and industrial sectors. Directly comparable to Tardis's executive-level finance, technology, healthcare and energy search practices, with deeper resources and global brand.
• Egon Zehnder: Privately held global executive search firm operating across industries with a partnership-led, non-contingency model. Comparable to Tardis in sector breadth (financial services, technology, healthcare, energy) and its independence, but typically at the very top of the executive search market.
• Robert Half: Large publicly listed staffing and recruitment firm with finance, technology, legal and administrative specializations. Comparable to Tardis through its finance and technology verticals, but with a heavier temporary/contract staffing mix and much broader SMB focus.
• Heidrick & Struggles: Global executive search leader with strong finance, technology, legal and healthcare verticals and proprietary talent intelligence tooling. Overlaps with Tardis's vertical mix and contingency-style retained search, but operates at much larger scale with a heavier tech investment profile.
• Spencer Stuart: Long-established global executive search firm covering board, CEO and senior functional leadership across sectors including financial services, technology, healthcare and energy. Comparable to Tardis at the executive-level mandate tier, particularly where both serve finance and energy transition clients.

Direct peers

• Hays: Global specialist recruitment firm covering multiple professional disciplines and sectors with both permanent and contract placement. Comparable to Tardis through its multi-sector specialism, international office network, and contingency/contract blend, though substantially larger and listed.
• PageGroup: Parent group of Michael Page and Page Personnel, a publicly listed global recruitment group operating multi-sector permanent and interim placement. Closely comparable business model and sector coverage to Tardis, though with much broader geographic and segment reach.
• Robert Walters: Global mid-market professional recruitment and executive search firm operating across finance, technology, legal and commerce verticals. Most directly comparable to Tardis by sector mix, mid-market positioning and fee model; notably, one of Tardis's senior consultants (Daragh Lindsay) joined from Robert Walters.
• Michael Page: Listed global recruitment group with sector-specialized practices (finance, technology, legal, healthcare, engineering) and a contingency model. Overlaps directly with Tardis's eight verticals and similar mid-to-senior mandate focus, though at materially larger scale.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/tardis-group
• Xx.com/tardisgroup

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles10 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Tardis Group