Cogs
Cogs is a boutique digital recruitment and executive search agency, founded in 2004 in London, placing permanent, contract, and executive digital talent for agencies, consultancies, and corporates across six offices in Europe and Asia.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2004
- HeadquartersLondon, United Kingdom
- Headcount101–250
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
What Cogs does
Cogs Agency Ltd is a privately held boutique digital recruitment and executive search firm founded in London in 2004. It places permanent, contract, freelance, and executive digital talent across agencies, consultancies, technology companies, and corporates undergoing digital transformation — spanning industries such as auto, aerospace, FMCG, FinTech, retail, luxury, insurance, manufacturing, and financial services. The firm operates six offices across Europe and Asia (London, Berlin, Singapore, Tokyo, and Shenzhen), with local consultant teams handling cross-border placements and bilingual digital talent sourcing, particularly in Japan and APAC.
The company monetizes through four revenue streams: contingency permanent placement fees, freelance/contract placement fees, fully retained executive search fees, and ancillary professional services (talent consultancy, training, and on-site embedded recruitment). Pricing is quote-based and negotiated per engagement rather than publicly disclosed. Service delivery is human-expert-led, with no proprietary technology platform; differentiation rests on consultant expertise, cross-border network density, and bilingual candidate pools. Marketing is content-led via blog, salary surveys (notably Japan), social channels (LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook), and industry event sponsorship.
Cogs Agency is founder-controlled (co-founder Chris Frost leads APAC), with no disclosed external investors, funding rounds, or M&A activity. The firm holds regulatory licenses including EA Licence 17S8932 in Singapore and maintains GDPR-compliant data practices across UK and German entities (Cogs Agency Ltd and Cogs Agency GmbH respectively). Customer logos — unnamed in case studies but described as the "world's most valuable brand," global management consultancies, and multinational digital agencies — are exclusively enterprise tier.
Cogs firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Cogs
- Legal name
- Cogs Agency Ltd
- Website
- https://cogsagency.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2004
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 101–250 employees
- Short description
- Cogs is a boutique digital recruitment and executive search agency, founded in 2004 in London, placing permanent, contract, and executive digital talent for agencies, consultancies, and corporates across six offices in Europe and Asia.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Cogs industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Recruitment Services
- NAICS
- Employment Placement Agencies (561311), Employment Placement Agencies and Executive Search Services (56131)
- SIC
- Services-Employment Agencies (7361), Services-Management Consulting Services (8742)
- akta.pro primary industry
- General Permanent Placement (Multi-Industry) (BPACAFAA)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Global / Multi-Country RPO (BPACABAE), Contractor of Record (COR) / Global Contractor Management (BPACAHAE)
Keywords
Where Cogs is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- London
- HQ country
- United Kingdom
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices5 records
Markets served
Cogs business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Permanent Placement Fees: Contingency and retained search fees for placing permanent candidates. Core recruitment business matching candidates with full-time positions at client organizations.
- Freelance/Contract Placement: Placement fees for temporary contractors and freelance professionals. Cogs handles rates, notice periods, and contract details for freelancers.
- Executive Search: Fully retained executive search services for senior-level and C-suite placements.
- Ancillary Services: Talent and business consultancy, training, and on-site services provided to clients.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Transaction based/ take rate | Multi-year contract | Recruitment services with negotiable fees based on service type |
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels3 records
Marketing channels7 records
Cogs product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Cogs is a boutique digital recruitment and executive search agency that places permanent, freelance, and contract talent across digital, marketing, creative, technology, and senior leadership roles. It serves clients ranging from digital agencies and consultancies to start-ups and multinationals through six international offices across Europe and Asia, offering contingency recruitment, retained executive search, embedded recruitment, and team build projects.
Product overview
Cogs is a boutique digital recruitment and executive search agency offering multiple service models including contingency recruitment, freelance/contract staffing, fully retained executive search, embedded in-house teams, part-retained niche role searches, and team build projects. The company specializes in placing talent across digital, marketing, creative, technology, and executive roles for clients ranging from startups to multinational corporations. Services are delivered through their network of international offices spanning London, Singapore, Tokyo, Berlin, and China.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Contingency Recruitment
Quantifiable outcome
- Singapore office grown to team of 6 consultants within 3 years of establishment
- +2 more outcomes
Companies that use Cogs
Customer profileNamed customers8 records
Segments4 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
Cogs technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Cogs partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
One partnership is on record.
- Entheo NetworkminorLeadership innovation company providing consultancy and training services. Partnered with Cogs for a 3-part interview series on innovation and digital transformation. Monika Steimle (Europe) and Shoba Chandran (Asia) from Entheo contributed expertise on innovation frameworks and developing innovation culture in organizations.
Scale indicators5 records
Recent moves11 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Cogs competitors and assessment
Company assessmentBroad incumbents
- Hays: Hays is a global recruitment and workforce solutions provider operating across multiple specialisms including technology, digital, and professional services, making it a broad incumbent competitor to Cogs in permanent and contract digital hiring.
- Michael Page: Michael Page is a large global recruitment firm with a broad multi-sector practice that includes dedicated digital, technology, and marketing desks. It competes with Cogs on enterprise mandates but at significantly greater scale and across many more geographies.
- Robert Half: Robert Half is a large global staffing and consulting firm with significant presence in finance, technology, and digital talent, positioning it as a broad incumbent that overlaps with Cogs' mid-market and enterprise digital hiring work.
- Korn Ferry: Korn Ferry is a global organizational consulting firm with a major executive search practice, comparable to Cogs' fully retained executive search offering but at far greater scale, brand, and with a much broader advisory services portfolio.
- Heidrick & Struggles: Heidrick & Struggles is a global executive search and leadership advisory firm, comparable to the executive search arm of Cogs but operating at a much larger scale and across virtually all senior leadership and board-level mandates globally.
Direct peers
- Xcede: Xcede is a specialist digital and technology recruitment agency operating across Europe with practice areas spanning data, engineering, and product, closely comparable to Cogs' niche in digital transformation talent for agencies and consultancies.
- Salt (Salt Search): Salt is a global digital recruitment firm placing talent across digital, technology, marketing, and creative roles, with offices across EMEA, APAC, and the Americas, making it a close direct competitor to Cogs in bilingual and digital transformation hiring.
- Twenty Recruitment: Twenty Recruitment operates as a digital and technology recruitment specialist with offices in London and other major hubs, focusing on permanent and contract placements into agencies and in-house teams in a manner directly comparable to Cogs.
- Major Players: Major Players is a UK-based digital, creative, and marketing recruitment agency placing talent into agencies, brands, and consultancies — a near-identical service mix and customer base to Cogs' UK and European operations.
- Aquent: Aquent is a global staffing and recruiting firm specializing in creative, digital, marketing, and design talent, directly mirroring Cogs' core focus on placing digital professionals into agencies, consultancies, and in-house brand teams.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses6 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Cogs social profiles
Digital presenceCogs financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Cogs leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles6 records
Cogs funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Cogs M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Cogs
What does Cogs do?
Cogs is a boutique digital recruitment and executive search agency that places permanent, freelance, and contract talent across digital, marketing, creative, technology, and senior leadership roles. It serves clients ranging from digital agencies and consultancies to start-ups and multinationals through six international offices across Europe and Asia, offering contingency recruitment, retained executive search, embedded recruitment, and team build projects.
Is Cogs a public or private company?
Cogs is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was Cogs founded?
Cogs was founded in 2004. It employs 101 to 250 people.
Where is Cogs based?
Cogs is headquartered in London, United Kingdom, in the Europe region.
How does Cogs make money?
Four revenue lines are on record. Permanent Placement Fees are the primary driver. The others are freelance/Contract Placement, executive Search and ancillary Services.
Who are Cogs's main competitors?
Broad incumbents on record are Hays, Michael Page, Robert Half, Korn Ferry and Heidrick & Struggles. Direct peers are Xcede, Salt (Salt Search), Twenty Recruitment, Major Players and Aquent.
Does Cogs have an API?
No public API is recorded for Cogs.
What industry is Cogs in?
Cogs's product category is Recruitment Services. Its primary akta.pro industry code is BPACAFAA, General Permanent Placement (Multi-Industry), with a secondary code of BPACABAE, Global / Multi-Country RPO. Its NAICS code is 561311 and its SIC code is 7361.