Vivid Optical

What Vivid Optical does

Vivid Optical is a UK-based specialist recruitment consultancy serving the optical and optometry industry. It operates as a trading name of Vivid Executive Search Limited (Company Number 07576748), a UK-registered private limited company that sits within the broader Vivid Group, a multi-vertical recruitment group. The firm provides permanent and locum placement services for optical professionals — including executive (C-Suite, VP, Director), commercial (sales, marketing, business development), and technical (engineers, scientists, designers) roles — to employers across retail optical chains, independent practices, and optical-adjacent technology businesses. Its go-to-market is sales-led, proactive headhunting rather than reactive job-board advertising, with consultants building long-term candidate relationships and approaching talent when vacancies arise, producing shortlists of 2–4 candidates focused on cultural fit.

The firm is headquartered at 131 Finsbury Pavement, London (EC2A 1NT), with a team of approximately 10 employees including directors, an associate director, team leaders, principal/senior consultants, recruitment consultants, and a head of support services. Revenue is generated exclusively through contingency placement fees billed to employers on successful hire, with fees negotiated per placement and not publicly disclosed. Product surface comprises a core Optical Recruitment Service plus a free CV Review add-on, segmented operationally into Candidate Services and Partner Services sub-brands. Named enterprise clients include Boots and Vision Express, with additional testimonials from placed candidates and hiring managers. Technology stack is intentionally light: a recruitment CRM, encrypted hosted desktop/Outlook on UK servers, and Google Sheets — there is no proprietary technology, no AI/ML capability, and no external integration ecosystem.

Marketing is content-led via a blog, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter, focusing on optical-industry thought leadership. The firm holds ICO registration (ZA111586) and is GDPR compliant. Ownership remains private and founder/management-controlled within the Vivid Group umbrella, with no external investment or public-market signals; the company has operated steadily for over a decade without disclosed funding events, M&A activity, or geographic expansion beyond the United Kingdom.

Name

Vivid Optical

Legal name

Vivid Executive Search Limited

Website

https://vivid-optical.co.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

2011

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Vivid Optical is a UK-based specialist recruitment consultancy placing optical industry professionals — executive, commercial, and technical — into retail optical chains, independent practices, and optical-adjacent technology employers, generating revenue via contingency placement fees from named enterprise clients including Boots and Vision Express.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Specialist Recruitment Services

NAICS

Optical Goods Retailers (45613)

SIC

Services-Employment Agencies (7361)

akta.pro primary industry

Optical Dispensing & Eyewear Retail (Glasses/Frames/Lenses) (HLAKAKAL)

akta.pro secondary industry

Optical Dispensing & Eyewear Devices (Frames, Lenses, Lens Edging/Finishing Equipment) (HLAHAJAD)

Keywords

• Optometry recruitment
• Optical staffing agency
• Executive search optometry
• Permanent placement optical
• Locum optometry hiring

Headquarters

HQ city

City Of London

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: Vivid Optical generates revenue through placement fees for matching candidates with employers in the optical industry. As a contingency recruitment firm, they place candidates in permanent roles and earn a fee upon successful placement.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Vivid Optical is a specialist recruitment agency focused exclusively on the UK optical and optometry industry. It proactively headhunts candidates and matches them with optical employers (including retail chains like Boots and Vision Express), placing optical professionals in permanent and locum roles and earning contingency placement fees upon successful match.

Product overview

Vivid Optical operates as a specialized recruitment agency under the Vivid Group, offering a unified recruitment service portfolio for the optical industry. The core offering is Optical Recruitment Services, supported by a CV Review Service as an add-on career guidance tool. Their service delivery is segmented into two sub-brands: Candidate Services (for job seekers) and Partner Services (for employers), both focused exclusively on the optometry marketplace with over 10 years of industry experience.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Optical Recruitment Services Full-service contingency recruitment agency connecting optical and optometry candidates with employers (including retail chains like Boots and Vision Express), offering permanent and locum placement services across executive, commercial, and technical optical roles.

Quantifiable outcome

• Placed candidates have stayed and thrived in their roles at top optical employers

Named customers4 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered minor.

• Volunteer's FoundationminorOthersVivid Optical is a proud partner of Volunteer's Foundation, which aims to improve quality of life for the disadvantaged community of Kibera by providing quality education, nourishment, and healthcare to children and basic literacy skills to parents.
• Vision FoundationminorOthersVivid Optical supports Vision Foundation, which works alongside those less fortunate helping restore sight where possible or transforming lives of those with sight loss. Over 2 million people in the UK are living with sight loss.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Others

• Indeed: Indeed is a global job search platform and an alternative channel for optical employers to source candidates directly. It represents a structural alternative to specialist recruitment agencies like Vivid Optical and a competitive pressure on placement fees.
• LinkedIn: LinkedIn is a professional networking platform with LinkedIn Recruiter talent solutions. It is both a marketing channel for Vivid Optical (their top-of-funnel channel) and a structural competitor for direct-employer sourcing of passive candidates.

Broad incumbents

• Michael Page: Michael Page is a global specialist recruitment firm with significant UK presence in professional, healthcare, and commercial roles. It overlaps with Vivid Optical for senior-level placements and executive search mandates in optical businesses.
• SThree: SThree is a publicly traded specialist STEM recruitment firm operating across multiple technical verticals. While it does not specialize in optical, it represents the broader specialist recruitment model that competes for technical and engineering talent placement.
• Head Medical: Head Medical is a UK-based medical recruitment agency specializing in placing doctors and healthcare professionals. While it serves a broader healthcare vertical rather than optical specifically, it overlaps with Vivid Optical's healthcare-adjacent recruitment DNA and similar specialist positioning.
• Reed: Reed is one of the largest UK generalist recruitment firms with optical and healthcare practice areas. It competes for mid-market and entry-level optical roles where specialist depth is less critical to the hiring decision.
• Robert Half: Robert Half is a global staffing and recruitment firm with UK operations. It competes for finance, administrative, and commercial roles in optical retail employers as an alternative to Vivid Optical's specialist service.
• Hays: Hays is a global recruitment firm with significant UK operations across multiple sectors including healthcare and professional services. It competes for optical and adjacent talent pools at the mid-to-senior level as a broad incumbent.

Direct peers

• Zest Optical: Zest Optical is a UK-based specialist recruitment agency focused exclusively on the optical and eye care industry. It directly competes with Vivid Optical for the same pool of optical candidates and employer clients in the UK market, making it the most comparable peer.
• Inspired Selection: Inspired Selection is a UK specialist recruitment agency operating in the optical, eye care, and pharmaceutical sectors. It offers overlapping services to Vivid Optical in the optometry vertical and is a direct competitor for both candidates and employers.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/vivid_optical
• Facebookfacebook.com/Vivid.Optical.Recruitment
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/vivid-executive-search

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles13 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 Vivid Optical