Optima Plus

What Optima Plus does

Optima Plus (legal entity: Optima NCS ltd) is a UK-based, privately held recruitment agency founded in 2011 and headquartered in Stoke-on-Trent. The company originally launched within the healthcare sector under a founder with 20+ years of nursing experience, then expanded its service offering to cover more than 20 industry verticals, including Security, Health & Social Care, Oil & Gas, Aviation, Global Engineering, Technology, Hospitality, Education, Legal, Financial Services, Renewable Energy, Retail, Transportation & Logistics, and Facilities Management. Its revenue is generated primarily via transaction-based placement fees on both temporary and permanent placements, supplemented by premium headhunting, recruiter-to-recruiter (Rec2Rec), and subcontracting services for other staffing agencies.

Service delivery is built around dedicated Divisional Managers per industry vertical, direct client engagement by account managers and recruitment consultants, an internal database of over 100,000 candidates, and a self-serve job board platform (job.optimaplus.co.uk). The company describes itself as UKAS ISO9001 accredited and GDPR-compliant, referencing both as procurement-relevant credentials. No proprietary AI, ML, or matching-platform technology is disclosed; the firm relies on conventional recruiter-led sourcing backed by its candidate database and a basic job posting portal.

The customer mix is unsegmented by enterprise vs. SMB in the source material, and no named end-client logos are disclosed. Distribution to clients is via direct sales through industry-aligned recruitment consultants; distribution to candidates is via the website, the job board, and LinkedIn/Facebook channels. Geographic reach is primarily the UK with explicitly marketed international recruitment capability, particularly across the Global Engineering and Security divisions. The business is founder-owned with no disclosed external investment, M&A activity, or institutional backing.

Name

Optima Plus

Legal name

Optima NCS ltd

Website

https://optimaplus.co.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

2011

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Optima Plus is a UK-based, founder-owned recruitment agency founded in 2011 that places temporary and permanent candidates across more than 20 industry verticals, using a 100,000-strong candidate database, dedicated divisional teams, and a self-serve job board platform.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Recruitment Services

NAICS

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

SIC

Services-Employment Agencies (7361)

akta.pro primary industry

Healthcare Clinical Direct Hire (Nursing/Allied/Physicians) (BPACAFAH)

Keywords

• Staffing services
• Healthcare recruitment
• Permanent placements
• Temporary staffing
• Executive headhunting

Headquarters

HQ city

Stoke-on-trent

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. Recruitment Placement Fees: The company generates revenue by placing candidates (both temporary and permanent) with client organizations. They charge fees for their recruitment services, which include executive search, headhunting, and standard placement. The company also offers subcontracting services to other recruitment agencies.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Optima Plus is a UKAS ISO9001 accredited recruitment agency providing temporary and permanent staffing solutions across more than 20 industries including healthcare, security, engineering, aviation, and technology. The company leverages a database of 100,000+ candidates and dedicated account managers to deliver time-critical placements, with specialist services covering discreet headhunting, Rec2Rec, and subcontracting.

Product overview

Optima Plus is a UKAS ISO9001 accredited recruitment agency established in 2011, offering a comprehensive portfolio of 20+ industry-specific recruitment services. The company provides both temporary and permanent placements across diverse sectors including Security, Health & Social Care, Education, Tech, Oil & Gas, Aviation, Engineering, Hospitality, and more. Their service offering includes core recruitment services organized by industry verticals, specialist services such as Head Hunting, Rec2Rec, and Subcontracting, supported by a proprietary Job Board platform. The company leverages rigorous recruitment processes and an extensive candidate database to deliver tailored staffing solutions.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Health & Social Care Recruitment Recruitment of clinical and support staff for the UK healthcare sector, including nurses, doctors, sonographers, midwives, dentists, pharmacists, surgeons, psychiatrists, healthcare assistants, support workers, and biomedical engineers. Targeted at NHS trusts, private hospitals, care homes, and social care providers.
• Security Recruitment Private security recruitment for close protection officers, residential security, door supervisors, CCTV operators, mobile patrol units, event security, cash-in-transit, and dog handlers. Served clients in the UK and Middle East.
• Technology Recruitment IT and technology recruitment covering cybersecurity, software and web developers, systems analysts, network engineers, IT support, software testers, database administrators, and cloud system engineers.
• Global Engineering Recruitment International recruitment of civil, mechanical, industrial, electrical, and chemical engineers through a global candidate network for projects across multiple continents.
• Aviation Recruitment Recruitment of pilots, cabin crew, engineers, flight paramedics, air traffic controllers, flight instructors, mechanics, ground crew, and airport managers.
• Oil & Gas Recruitment Recruitment of oil and gas engineers, operations managers, technicians, HSE specialists, surveyors, logistics, rigging crews, drilling consultants, and medics.
• Education Recruitment Supply of professors, head teachers, teachers, teaching assistants, supply teachers, and exam invigilators for schools, colleges, and universities.
• Hospitality Recruitment
• Head Hunting Service Discreet headhunting service targeting passive candidates not actively searching for roles, from executives to interns across finance, technology, and sales sectors. Includes screening and discreet talent intermediation.
• Rec2Rec (Recruiter-to-Recruiter) Service Recruiter-to-recruiter placement service for staffing agencies that need external support to fulfil or win contracts.
• Subcontracting Service Subcontract recruitment fulfillment for other staffing agencies, covering both white-collar and blue-collar temporary and permanent placements.
• Optima Plus Job Board Self-service online job board portal where candidates can search and apply to live vacancies across all industry verticals, with filtering by industry, contract type, and location.

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 100,000 potential candidates in database
• +2 more outcomes

Segments20 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Others

• SThree:

Broad incumbents

• Hays plc: Global publicly-listed recruitment firm with deep UK presence across professional and specialist sectors including healthcare, engineering, technology, oil & gas, and construction. Overlaps heavily with Optima Plus's mid-to-senior perm and contract verticals.
• Reed: One of the UK's largest generalist recruitment agencies, founded in 1960. Reed operates across virtually all industries Optima Plus serves, including healthcare, education, technology, and office support, making it the closest broad incumbent comparable.
• Michael Page (PageGroup): Global specialist recruiter focused on permanent placements for mid-to-senior professionals across multiple industries including technology, healthcare, engineering, and finance. Closely comparable to Optima Plus's white-collar perm and headhunting offerings.

Direct peers

• Brook Street (UK): UK-based recruitment firm providing temporary, contract, and permanent staffing across office, industrial, and public sector verticals. Operates a comparable multi-sector UK-focused staffing model with similar candidate-database-driven approach.
• Pertemps: Major UK domestic recruitment agency offering both temporary and permanent placements across a similarly broad multi-vertical mix including industrial, office, healthcare, and professional sectors. Most direct comparable in terms of UK-centric generalist staffing model.
• Blue Arrow: UK-focused staffing agency with strong presence in industrial, warehouse, hospitality, and customer service verticals. Directly comparable to Optima Plus's warehouse & industrial, hospitality, and office staffing lines.
• Cpl Healthcare: Ireland-headquartered specialist healthcare recruiter placing nurses, doctors, allied health, and social care professionals across the UK and Ireland. Most directly comparable healthcare-clinical recruitment peer to Optima Plus's founding vertical.
• Office Angels: UK branch of Office Angels (now part of Talent International) recruiting for office support, secretarial, customer service, and administrative roles. Comparable to Optima Plus's office staff, sales, and administrative vertical offerings.
• ID Medical: UK-focused healthcare recruitment agency supplying doctors, nurses, allied health professionals, and healthcare assistants to NHS and private providers. Directly comparable in clinical and healthcare support staffing, Optima Plus's flagship vertical.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/OptimaPlus
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/optima-nursing-&-care-service-ltd-

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

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 Optima Plus