Anderson Knight

What Anderson Knight does

Anderson Knight is an independent, founder-owned recruitment consultancy established in 2001 and headquartered at 126 West Regent Street, Glasgow. Operating as a private limited company (Anderson Knight Limited), the firm serves employers across Scotland and the wider United Kingdom through six specialist sector divisions: Accountancy & Finance, HR, Business Support, Technical (Utilities, Engineering & Renewables), Procurement & Supply Chain, and Executive Search. Its clientele spans public limited companies (PLCs) through to small and medium enterprises (SMEs), with the Executive Search practice — led by Directors Gillian Pate and Steven Woods — focused on board-level and senior leadership appointments including CFO, CEO, and COO roles. The firm was founded by John Shane and remains under founder ownership with no disclosed external investors or parent company.

The consultancy generates revenue exclusively through transactional placement fees. Permanent placement fees are calculated as a percentage of the placed candidate's first-12-month Remuneration (base salary plus bonus, allowances, company-car benefit — to which a notional £3,000 is added — and other taxable emoluments), with a minimum fee of £2,000 and tiered breakpoints by salary band; refund guarantees apply within 8 weeks of engagement. Contract/temporary placements are billed on similar terms, with a 50% cancellation fee on withdrawn offers and a 6-month re-engagement trigger for full fee reinstatement. The underlying technology stack is a conventional recruitment management platform — a candidate database, applicant tracking system, and a third-party timesheet portal (savetrees) for temporary workers — with no disclosed AI/ML components or proprietary models.

Anderson Knight's go-to-market combines enterprise field sales (dedicated specialist consultants for each sector conducting direct client engagement, including executive search) with a direct-to-consumer candidate acquisition motion (career site registration, CV submission, and LinkedIn outreach). The firm invests in multi-channel marketing including its website, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter/X, and Instagram, supplemented by thought-leadership content drawn from KPMG/REC labour market reports. It holds Living Wage Employer accreditation from the Living Wage Foundation and is a member of the Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC). With 11–50 employees and 25 years of operating history, the firm is positioned as a relationship-led, sector-specialist SME rather than a technology-platform recruitment business.

Name

Anderson Knight

Legal name

Anderson Knight Limited

Website

https://andersonknight.co.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

2001

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Anderson Knight is an independent UK recruitment consultancy founded in 2001 and headquartered in Glasgow. Operating across six specialist divisions — Accountancy & Finance, HR, Business Support, Technical, Procurement, and Executive Search — it serves PLCs and SMEs throughout Scotland and the wider United Kingdom.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Glasgow

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Permanent Placement Fees: Anderson Knight charges placement fees calculated as a percentage of the placed candidate's Remuneration during the first 12 months of engagement. Remuneration includes base salary, guaranteed/anticipated bonus and commission earnings, allowances, inducement payments, benefit of a company car, and all other taxable emoluments. Where a company car is provided, a notional £3,000 is added to the salary to calculate the fee. A minimum fee of £2,000 applies. Fee tiers are structured by salary band: up to £19,999; £20,000–£29,999; £30,000–£39,999; and £40,000+. A 50% refund is available if engagement terminates within 4 weeks, and 25% if within 4–8 weeks (excluding redundancy).
2. Contract/Temporary Worker Billing: The company also places temporary workers and charges fees for these placements. If a client withdraws a job offer after it has been made, a minimum cancellation fee of 50% of the annual Remuneration is payable.
3. Re-engagement Fee: If a client or any subsidiary/associated company re-engages an Applicant within 6 calendar months of termination, a full fee becomes immediately payable with no entitlement to refund. If an Agency employee joins the Client within 3 months of leaving, an introduction fee is also payable.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels9 records

Core offering

Anderson Knight is an independent recruitment consultancy providing permanent placement, temporary/contract staffing, and executive search services across six specialist divisions: Accountancy & Finance, HR, Business Support, Technical (Utilities, Engineering, Renewables), Procurement, and Executive Search. The firm charges percentage-based placement fees calculated on the placed candidate's annual remuneration and serves clients ranging from PLCs to SMEs across Scotland and the wider UK.

Product overview

Anderson Knight is an independent recruitment consultancy offering a unified service portfolio across six specialist divisions: Accountancy & Finance, HR, Business Support, Technical (Utilities, Engineering, Renewables), Procurement, and Executive Search. The company provides permanent placement, temporary/contract staffing, and executive search services primarily across Scotland and the wider UK. Its Executive Search offering, led by Directors Gillian Pate and Steven Woods, focuses on board-level and senior executive appointments. Supporting services include candidate registration, timesheet management, and post-placement support. The consultancy was established in 2001 and serves a diverse clientele ranging from PLCs to SMEs.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Quantifiable outcome

• Sustained recruitment activity across sectors despite economic uncertainty, with the UK job market showing approximately 1.6 million active job adverts in March 2026
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Regional players

• Nine Twenty Recruitment: Scotland-based independent recruitment consultancy with multi-sector coverage. Comparable as a Scotland-anchored competitor of similar size, serving overlapping sectors (Accountancy & Finance, Engineering, Business Support) with similar SME/mid-market client focus.
• Eden Scott: Independently-owned Scotland-based recruitment consultancy serving Accountancy & Finance, HR, Technical, and Executive Search sectors. Most directly comparable peer — similar size, multi-sector model, Scottish/UK geographic footprint, and independent ownership structure.

Broad incumbents

• PageGroup: Global listed recruitment firm with specialist divisions across Accountancy & Finance, HR, Technical, Procurement, and Executive Search. Comparable because it operates the same multi-sector specialist recruitment model that Anderson Knight has built at a smaller scale, though PageGroup is far larger and listed on the LSE.
• Reed: UK-headquartered generalist recruitment firm with permanent, temporary, and executive offerings across multiple sectors. Comparable business model to Anderson Knight's six-sector diversified approach, though at significantly larger scale and with broader geographic reach.
• Hays: UK-headquartered global recruitment firm placing professionals across Accountancy & Finance, HR, Technical, and Construction/Property sectors. Directly comparable multi-sector recruitment consultancy model serving UK and international clients, with similar fee structures and candidate/client segments.

Direct peers

• Morgan McKinley: Specialist recruitment firm focused on finance, accountancy, and professional services placement. Directly comparable to Anderson Knight's Accountancy & Finance division, with similar salary-banded percentage fee structures and PLC-to-SME client profiles.
• Goodman Masson: UK recruitment specialist in finance, accountancy, and HR roles. Comparable to Anderson Knight's Accountancy & Finance and HR divisions in candidate profiles served, percentage-of-salary fee model, and mid-market to enterprise client mix.
• Robert Half: Global specialist recruitment firm with deep finance and accounting placement focus (CFO, Financial Controller, audit, tax, transactional roles). Closely aligned with Anderson Knight's Accountancy & Finance division in candidate types served and salary-banded fee model, though Robert Half operates at much larger scale.
• Frazer Jones: Specialist UK recruitment firm focused exclusively on HR, Reward, Talent, and Organisational Development roles. Closely aligned with Anderson Knight's HR Recruitment division in use cases (L&D, Reward, OD) and target candidate profiles.
• Marks Sattin: UK-based specialist recruitment firm focused on finance, accountancy, and commerce roles. Direct competitor to Anderson Knight's Accountancy & Finance division with similar PLC and SME client base, fee structures, and executive search capability.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/Andersonknight0
• Facebookfacebook.com/andersonknightltd
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/anderson-knight

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

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 Anderson Knight