CUSHMAN & WAKEFIELD

Senior Researcher, Executive Talent Acquisition

Chicago, Illinois, USA Full time

Job Title

Senior Researcher, Executive Talent Acquisition

Job Description Summary

The Senior Researcher will support the Executive Recruiting team and senior business leaders in identifying top talent to drive growth across Cushman & Wakefield’s business lines. In partnership with Executive Recruiters, this role will define ideal candidate profiles, develop sourcing strategies, and enhance executive research/sourcing capabilities by building new talent research and market intelligence offerings to strengthen the firm’s executive search function.

Job Description

Key Responsibilities

Strategic Talent Sourcing & Partnership:

  • Partner with Executive Recruiters and business leaders to define role requirements, develop ideal candidate profiles, and align sourcing strategies with organizational priorities.

  • Develop and execute targeted sourcing strategies to identify, engage, and present qualified and diverse executive-level talent across multiple business lines.

  • Build and maintain strong talent pipelines through proactive research, networking, and relationship cultivation with passive candidates.

Talent Research & Intelligence

  • Conduct, build and enhance talent and market mapping research to surface insights on industry trends, competitor activity, and emerging leadership talent.

  • Collaborate on the development of new talent research and market intelligence products that enhance stakeholder decision-making and strategic workforce planning.

  • Proactively identify and gather competitive intelligence relevant to supported business areas and share insights with the broader Executive Recruiting team.

Systems, Data & Continuous Improvement

  • Manage and optimize the use of CRM system(s), research databases and other subscription-based intelligence tools to ensure accurate data capture, tracking, and reporting.

  • Deliver data-driven insights, dashboards, and pipeline analytics that highlight trends and inform sourcing effectiveness.

  • Identify and implement innovative sourcing tools, techniques, and technologies that strengthen executive talent acquisition capabilities.

  • Support special projects and continuous improvement initiatives that enhance the firm’s executive search and sourcing function.

Required Experience & Qualifications

  • Bachelor’s degree

  • AESC-Certification preferred not required. 

  • 5+ years’ executive-level research/sourcing and competitive research experience.

  • Background in research techniques with expertise in developing and analyzing market intelligence research, talent mapping reports, confidential candidate search experience, data base management and on-going research strategy and development

  • Strategic thinker, ability to develop, evaluate and articulate HR strategies that address business and operational goals

  • Search agency or internal executive talent acquisition experience

  • Strong skills in client relationship management at the executive level

  • Energy and drive to present a compelling story to a passive candidate

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Cushman & Wakefield also provides eligible employees with an opportunity to enroll in a variety of benefit programs, generally including health, vision, and dental insurance, flexible spending accounts, health savings accounts, retirement savings plans, life, and disability insurance programs, and paid and unpaid time away from work. In addition to a comprehensive benefits package, Cushman and Wakefield provide eligible employees with competitive pay, which may vary depending on eligibility factors such as geographic location, date of hire, total hours worked, job type, business line, and applicability of collective bargaining agreements.


The compensation that will be offered to the successful candidate will depend on factors such as whether the position is covered by a collective bargaining agreement, the geographic area in which the work will be performed, market pay rates in that area, and the candidate’s experience and qualifications.


The company will not pay less than minimum wage for this role.


The compensation for the position is: $ 102,000.00 - $120,000.00

Cushman & Wakefield is an Equal Opportunity employer to all protected groups, including protected veterans and individuals with disabilities. Discrimination of any type will not be tolerated.

In compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act (ADAAA), if you have a disability and would like to request an accommodation in order to apply for a position at Cushman & Wakefield, please call the ADA line at 1-888-365-5406 or email HRServices@cushwake.com. Please refer to the job title and job location when you contact us.

INCO: “Cushman & Wakefield”