Executive Search in Oxford

Executive search in Oxford for fusion, space, instrumentation and spinout businesses. Clients include Tokamak Energy and Oxford Instruments.

Oxford Executive Search Recruiters

Oryx provides executive search in Oxford and across Oxfordshire, where an unusual share of the local economy is built on technology that does not exist commercially yet. Fusion energy research and the private companies working alongside it sit south of the city, and our work with Tokamak Energy there involved finding leadership capable of moving first-of-a-kind engineering towards commercial deployment. The national space and science campus at Harwell supports satellite, detector and materials businesses, while scientific instrumentation, cryogenics and quantum technology companies cluster around Abingdon and the science parks, among them our client Oxford Instruments. We also work with Kärcher in the county. The university produces one of the country's most active spinout pipelines, so the region has a constant supply of research-stage businesses reaching the point where they need commercial leadership, and alongside all of it runs the motorsport corridor stretching north through Oxfordshire and Northamptonshire and volume vehicle manufacture at Cowley.

Clients we work with in Oxford

Tokamak

Established in 2009, Tokamak Energy is a fusion power research company on a mission to harness the significant potential of nuclear fusion to deliver an abundant, safe and cost-effective source of clean energy to the world. Oryx worked in partnership with Tokamak Energy to recruit a Programme Director who would lead the delivery of their most ambitious programme to date – a £500m demonstrator device which would be a crucial milestone in achieving the organisations aim of delivering grid connected power by the mid-2030s. Key to success would be identifying industries and businesses that were managing and delivering technology-led engineering programmes of a relevant scope and scale. Oryx undertook a thorough, cross-industry search that examined Aerospace, Automotive, Defence, Marine, Nuclear, Power Generation and Rail industries in the UK.

Johnson Matthey

Johnson Matthey is a UK-headquartered FTSE 100 listed business. This multi-national company is a speciality chemicals and sustainable technologies business, focusing on clean air and clean energy processes, and the processing and application of precious metals. The company has operations in over 30 countries and employs around 14,000 people. Over a period of many years we have handled a range of key search assignments for different parts of the group. Roles have included Technology Director, Plant General Manager, Business Unit Manager, Global Technology Manager, and a series of Subject Matter Expert roles in niche industrial materials processing and refining . These assignments have required detailed and highly targeted search activity into very specific technology and chemical sector organisations throughout the UK, Europe, and southern Africa.

Oxford Instruments PLC

Oxford Instruments PLC are a footsie 250 manufacturer and leading provider of high technology products and services to the world's leading industrial companies and scientific research communities. Oryx has handled a range of work over the last 5 years. In 2022 we were asked to conduct the search to recruit a new Global sales and Marketing Director for the Plasma Technology Division. We conducted a global search which resulted in an appointment in Singapore in January 2023.