Intelligent recruitment solutions in Risk, Compliance and Finance

Trusted partners for executive careers in Finance

Domain expertise and extensive industry networks

Personal, professional, committed

Alteris Partners is an innovative Search and Interim Management Firm, offering creative recruitment solutions to the Financial Services industry.

We work with a broad cross-section of clients and have proven success in the SME sector, particularly FinTechs, Challenger Banks and boutique investment businesses who value our consultative and agile approach.

The last decade has seen an exponential increase in the demands placed upon Financial Services organisations by domestic and international regulators. Firms are increasingly looking for their Risk, Governance, Compliance and Audit functions to evolve to meet these needs. In response to these demands, to support our clients further, we specialise in the recruitment of Executive, Senior Management and Subject Matter Experts across the regulatory landscape.

About Us

Having worked in the recruitment industry for 30 years, I have witnessed many changes in the way the industry operates. What hasn’t changed, however, is my absolute personal and professional commitment to doing my very best for everyone I work with – whether as an employer, client or candidate.

You may have noticed that our company logo is the Tree of Life. This reflects our view of employment in a holistic context, as being happy in our working lives is critical to our wider well-being. In this sense, both as a business partner with our clients and as a facilitator of important career moves, we have a duty of care. That duty is to be empathetic, open and plain speaking; to understand the dynamics of our market sector and share our knowledge and networks in a collaborative way amongst our valued clients and candidates. We constantly endeavour to be creative and flexible in our operations to ensure we deliver a ‘best in class’ service to all.

This is the guiding principle behind Alteris Partners.

Karen Cresswell, Founder and Director Alteris Partners

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Government statistics indicate the average person will change career 5-7 times during their working life.

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A recent report by Advisor Perspectives, focusing on senior executives, found that nearly one in three of the 65-69 age group and one in five of the 70-74 age group remain in the workforce.

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Government statistics record that in 2018/19 stress, depression or anxiety accounted for 44% of all work-related ill-health cases and 54% of all working days lost due to ill-health.

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Our Approach

For Clients

Yes, of course, we want to partner with our Clients – but what does that really mean in recruitment terms? To us, it means we engage as equals. We don’t claim to understand your business as well as you; we are recruitment experts and we don’t pretend to be anything else.

Open communication with clients about the culture, challenges, goals and aspirations of their company is imperative in ensuring that we identify the perfect candidates for their business. In return, we share our network of candidates; our understanding of the prevailing market dynamics; the availability of skills; aligned salaries.

We will work hard for you. As a small business, failure is not an option, therefore we do not commence any search – retained or otherwise – without absolute agreement on the brief, salary and recruitment timescales.

We are not afraid to say no. If we don’t feel we have the expertise to deliver on a mandate, we will say so and will endeavour to refer you to companies that can better support your needs. As an experienced team, we collaborate with recruitment professionals in our network whose professionalism and integrity we respect. As Alliance Partners, they have market and sector expertise that complements our own and we will affect an introduction.

For Candidates

You’re unique; we acknowledge and value you as an individual. Our many years of dealing with Executive and Senior appointments give us detailed insights into the support required when making an important career move. We will present you with opportunities that match your skills and expertise: our meeting and subsequent communications with you are designed to understand your aspirations in a broader sense.

You may be seeking to gain niche experience from a technical, sector or global viewpoint. Equally, you may simply be seeking a better work-life balance. No career move should be a leap of faith and we therefore present you with opportunities on a “warts and all basis” and our Clients understand that.

Finally, there have never been more ways to identify a new role, but ironically, it’s never been more difficult. We support you in the navigation of direct applications, job-boards and make introductions to our Alliance Recruitment Partners where relevant.

Karen combines domain expertise in her field with assured and confident representation. Her guidance, support and advise was tremendously helpful. She draws from a deep knowledge of the industry and has constant interactions with a network of senior executives to keep abreast of developments and opportunities.
UWE SEEDORF, PhD, Chief Credit Officer & Chief Risk Officer, Former Client

I have known Karen for a few years now and found her to be extremely professional, helpful and engaging. Karen maintains the right level of contact with clients and my interactions with her have been enjoyable and informative. Her style is very much about building relationships and she has a great network of contacts. I would highly recommend Karen as someone to work with on any assignment.
JAMES WILSON, Chief Risk Officer at Premium Credit Ltd

Karen’s style combines a forensic analysis of requirements, deep domain knowledge and an extensive network. She has natural warmth, a sharp intellect and is a real pleasure to work with. Thoroughly recommended and a valuable asset to any project in which she is engaged.
MARC PHILIPPO, Digital Lending Trasformation @ezbob!

Karen is one of the very few people in the recruitment industry that I have engaged with who has delivered in a manner exactly as you would hope and expect, but these days, rarely receive. From the identification of a correct role, to preparation and planning for interviews, through to on-going support with any contract/role. All too often people seem to be delivering for themselves but with Karen it is definitely best foot forward for the individual she is supporting. I would whole-heartedly recommend her if you are looking for your next opportunity. She will do good for you.
IAIN CHESHIRE, Credit and Operations Director at Ampla Finance

Karen is great, with outstanding sector expertise and contacts. This together with her empathy with the client ensures the brief is tight and candidates relevant and interesting. Her professionalism and evident credibility in the market makes me very happy to refer my contacts to Karen.
DAVID RENDELL, Non Executive Director at Allium Lending Group

Karen is a gem! She has in-depth knowledge of the Financial Services job market and the ability to match profiles from both a company and candidate point of view. I have found my new position through her job network offering. Not only did she present me with the key aspects of the company, but she also shares industry insights and regularly follows up after placement. She is a caring professional, who can be trusted to work for the interest of both parties. She provides great advice, is a good negotiator and I would recommend her to applicants, as well as companies, looking for someone to support their recruitment needs with a great professional.
SEBASTIEN GUICHON, Finance Manager at Starling Bank

I have known Karen for over two years now, initially as a candidate and latterly as a client. Karen has been the go-to recruiter for the majority of our recent roles. Karen builds strong and supportive relationships and through this, is extremely effective in bringing the right candidates to us. She has a collaborative way of working with both candidates and clients and is at all times very responsive to our needs. Additionally, Karen’s close relationships with us and other clients means that she is able to provide a diverse range of candidates; knowing how they might fit in with our culture. This is critical for a small, but rapidly growing investment management business where we need new colleagues to make an immediate contribution and where recruitment needs can arise at short notice. We have used Karen successfully for both permanent and interim roles.
BRIAN CRIPPS, Head of Risk and Compliance, Omnis Investments

Specialist Areas

We recruit for a range of roles in Financial Services that require either senior leadership or specialist skills.

Typical roles in Risk and Compliance:

CRO
Head of Enterprise Risk
Head of Operational Risk
Head of Credit Risk
Head of Lending
Head of Collections
Underwriting Specialists
Risk Assurance
Head of Compliance
Compliance Managers/Officers

Finance:

CFO
Head of Finance
Financial Controller
Audit Managers

Non-Exec:

INEDS, Risk/ Governance background
Chairman

Recent placements. All in London unless indicated otherwise:

Head of Risk – Wealth Manager Dublin
Interim CRO – Fintech
Head of Compliance – Private Equity
Head of Operational Risk – Fintech
Head of Credit Risk – Challenger Bank
Head of Underwriting – Challenger Bank
Head of Collections – Fintech (lending)
Head of Risk and Compliance – Fund/Investment Manager
Risk Assurance Officer – Corporate Bank
Compliance Manager – Broking business
Compliance Officer – Wealth Manager-Bristol
Financial Controller – Challenger Bank
Financial Controller – Fintech Hampshire
Interim Risk Manager – Private Equity
Chairman – Fintech
INED – Fintech

Partnerships

We are committed to finding ways to add value to our clients by sharing details of businesses that are trusted partners that we work collaboratively with. This ranges from Executive Search businesses operating within disciplines that Alteris doesn’t cover, or businesses that simply compliment our Executive focus. If their services look to be of interest we’d be delighted to put you in touch, if you reach out directly please mention our connection.

Toby Foxcroft – Motivate International

Toby has vast experience working with myriad cultures, religions, countries, regions and governments. Turkey, US, Middle East, Asia, Europe, UK and Africa.

Developing performance cultures for today’s challenges in business, requires re-invention, a new learning in leadership alongside courage and creativity. We help managers and leaders navigate the latest challenges in culture change and leadership for this new world order.

Specialists in: Leadership, Culture Change for optimum performance, Executive coaching, Life Coaching, Team Building. Management Consultancy and Business Intervention. Event design and production.

The Orion Consultancy

Set up by Simon Treadgold in 2007, following a long and successful career in the British Army, The Orion Consultancy specialises in identifying security experts for corporate and private sector security.

Orion is adept at finding the most appropriate talent from within the commercial sector and those leaving the Armed Forces, Security Services and Police. Orion offers a global service to provide clients with access to the best and most talented individuals, at Chief Security and Regional Security Officer level, as well as the more specialist requirement across a broad portfolio of skills. These include physical security, crisis management, business continuity, fraud, investigations, IT and Cyber specialists.

Stefan Ciecierski – Newfound

Stefan Ciecierski has been helping clients find the people they need, either to manage and develop the technology they use, or by searching for key staff and management for technology companies themselves. Stefan has had his own CEO career alongside, for more than 20 years, and he has worked all over the world growing businesses and building valuations. Currently Stefan works mostly for Tech scale-ups who need help growing their businesses overseas, and also with private clients on projects to develop their management teams.

Patrick Healy – Merlance Consulting

Patrick Healy has extensive experience in risk management in industry and in financial services. His work is dedicated to providing practical and strategic risk management to companies and other organisations. At EY he led the internal risk management function, was the risk lead for Brexit and headed the Strategic Risk Outcomes Group.

He has expertise as a board advisor and risk management leader as well as providing services around risk identification, appetite, culture, governance and the successful embedding of effective risk management frameworks.

He has provided pragmatic risk management for numerous FTSE 100 and equivalent organisations and is dedicated to credible, practical and relevant solutions that are both useful and actually used

Diversity

At Alteris Partners, we strive to create a culture where diversity and inclusivity is a reflex, not an objective. We work alongside our clients to develop outstanding teams, realising that different ideas, perspectives and backgrounds create a stronger and more creative work environment delivering better results. Our candidates are assessed entirely on their own merit, as we are committed to providing fair treatment and equal opportunities to all.

Contact us

Notcutt House,
36 Southwark Bridge Road,
London SE1 9EU

M 07961 321 888
T 020 3814 3333

karen@alterispartners.com