Education and EdTech Executive Recruitment

Education and EdTech Executive Recruitment

Exec Capital provides senior executive search for UK education and EdTech firms across independent schools and school groups, higher education institutions and university spin-outs, EdTech scale-ups and platforms, training and professional development providers, language schools, and broader education-adjacent businesses. The UK education sector spans substantively different commercial environments — from charity-status independent schools and universities operating under Office for Students oversight, through commercial education businesses (including PE-backed school groups and listed-tutoring platforms), to fast-growing EdTech scale-ups operating in genuinely international markets. Senior hiring across this range warrants substantively different approaches calibrated to the specific sub-sector context.

Our practice covers UK senior appointments across CEO, Bursar, Chief Operating Officer, Chief Financial Officer, Chief Technology Officer, Director of Studies, Head of Admissions, and broader senior leadership at education and EdTech firms. Senior NED and Chair appointments at education governing bodies and EdTech boards also covered. Every search is run by our specialist team, with Adrian Lawrence FCA overseeing each mandate.

We also recruit the executive layer of multi-academy trusts — the trust CEO who acts as accounting officer, the chief financial officer, and the combined chief finance and operating officer (CFOO) role that many trusts now use — together with senior finance, operations and digital leaders in further and higher education. Whether you are an independent school governing body replacing a Bursar, a trust board planning CEO succession, or an EdTech founder looking for a CTO who can scale a learning platform, the brief starts with the same question: what does this organisation actually need its next leader to do in the next three years?

How an education or EdTech executive search works

Every search follows the same six stages. What changes between a school, a trust and an EdTech business is who sits on the panel, which checks apply and how the timetable fits around terms, board meetings and funding rounds. We agree the timetable with you at briefing rather than promising a fixed number of days.

If you want to understand how our approach compares with other firms before you brief us, our executive search methodology sets out each stage in more detail.

Sub-sectors we cover

Independent schools and school groups. Single-school appointments and senior leadership at multi-school groups. Distinct governance environments (charity status, ISI inspection regime) and senior team patterns (Head, Bursar, Director of Studies). Increasing PE-backed activity in this sub-sector creates additional commercial dimensions.

Higher education and university spin-outs. Senior appointments at UK universities (typically governance bodies and senior leadership teams), at university spin-out commercial businesses, and at higher education-adjacent firms.

EdTech scale-ups and platforms. Venture-backed and PE-backed EdTech firms operating in genuinely international markets — learning platforms, K-12 EdTech, higher education technology, professional development EdTech, language learning, assessment technology.

Training and professional development. Commercial training providers, executive education firms, professional qualifications providers, and corporate L&D businesses.

Language schools and English language teaching. UK language school operators, ELT publishers, and the senior leadership of these firms typically operating in international markets.

Broader education-adjacent. Education publishers, assessment firms, education services and consulting businesses.

Multi-academy trusts. Executive leadership of academy trusts of every size, from small trusts taking on their first schools to large regional and national trusts. The roles we see most often are the trust CEO, the CFO or CFOO, the chief operating officer, and directors of estates, HR and IT. Trusts are charitable companies with a funding agreement with the Secretary of State, so their senior hires sit inside a specific governance and financial framework, set out in the Academy Trust Handbook.

Further education and sixth-form colleges. Senior finance, operations, estates and digital leadership at colleges and college groups, where funding, financial health and estates are recurring board agendas. Principals and chief executives are usually appointed through the governing body; we support corporation boards with search where they want an external process.

Senior roles we recruit

Chief Executive Officer. Independent school heads, EdTech firm CEOs, training provider CEOs. Substantive variation by sub-sector — independent school heads typically have substantive prior senior school leadership; EdTech CEOs typically have substantive technology and commercial credentials. For multi-academy trusts the CEO is normally also the accounting officer, personally responsible to Parliament for the trust’s use of public funds. Our wider CEO recruitment practice covers chief executive appointments across commercial sectors, which helps when an education business wants a leader from outside the sector.

Bursar / Chief Financial Officer. Independent school Bursars (typically combining finance and operations leadership), and CFOs at EdTech and commercial education firms. Cross-portfolio with our sister firm FD Capital. For trusts, colleges and education businesses that want a finance leader with board-level experience from a wider pool, see our CFO recruitment service.

Chief Operating Officer. Senior operations leadership at multi-school groups, EdTech firms with substantive operational complexity, and education services businesses. In larger trusts the COO typically owns estates, HR, IT, procurement and central services, and frees the CEO to lead on education. Our COO recruitment page covers the role across sectors.

Chief Technology Officer / Head of AI. Particularly central in EdTech firms where technology is the substantive product. Increasingly relevant in independent schools and universities as digital learning capability matures. We run CTO recruitment for EdTech businesses at every stage, and specialist Head of AI recruitment where a platform is building AI into tutoring, assessment or content.

Senior commercial leadership. Director of Admissions, Director of Marketing, Head of Sales — senior commercial roles particularly central in commercial education businesses.

Non-Executive Directors and Chairs. Independent school governors, university council members, and NED/Chair appointments at EdTech and commercial education firm boards. Our non-executive director recruitment and chair recruitment teams handle board appointments, including trustees with the financial expertise that trust and school boards are now expected to hold.

Which leader does an education or EdTech organisation need?

Most education and EdTech briefs start with a trigger: a retirement, a merger, a funding round, an inspection outcome or a financial warning. The table below maps common triggers to the leader who usually solves them and the format worth considering first. It is a starting point for the briefing conversation, not a rule.

If the organisation is a charity rather than a commercial business, our charity and not-for-profit executive hiring guide covers the governance points that apply to charitable schools and trusts. For a detailed walk-through of each education role, the companion education and EdTech executive hiring guide goes further than this page.

What is changing for education leadership hires

Policy has moved quickly in English education since 2024, and it changes what boards look for in senior leaders. The points below are the ones we see shaping briefs most often. They apply to England unless stated; Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have their own frameworks.

Independent schools: VAT on fees

From 1 January 2025, education and boarding services supplied by private schools have been subject to VAT at the standard rate of 20%, as confirmed in the government’s VAT on private school fees policy paper. For governing bodies, that has moved the Bursar role further towards commercial finance: pricing, VAT recovery, cash flow, admissions forecasting and, for some schools, merger or group membership. Schools are increasingly asking for Bursars and finance directors with commercial or group experience alongside school knowledge, and for admissions and marketing directors who can protect pupil numbers.

Academy trusts: the Academy Trust Handbook 2026

The Academy Trust Handbook 2026, effective from 1 October 2026, sets the financial framework every trust must follow, and several of its requirements bear directly on executive hiring:

• The board must appoint a chief financial officer, who must be appropriately qualified and/or experienced, and the accounting officer and CFO roles should not be held by the same person.
• For larger trusts (over 3,000 pupils), the CFO should hold a professional accountancy qualification, and recruitment to those posts from 1 October 2026 should specify it.
• For new appointments where remuneration exceeds £174,000, Department for Education approval is required before the post is advertised; executive pay must also go through an evidence-based process with independent board scrutiny.
• The handbook places more weight on trustees’ financial knowledge and on going-concern reporting, and asks trusts to work towards the DfE’s digital and technology standards by 2030.

In practice, this means trust CFO briefs need to state the qualification requirement up front, CEO and CFO packages need to be planned with the approval threshold in mind, and trust boards are recruiting trustees with finance and audit backgrounds more deliberately than before.

The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026

The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026 received Royal Assent on 29 April 2026 and is being brought into force in stages. For academy trusts, it brings academies closer to maintained schools in areas such as teachers’ pay and conditions, the national curriculum and admissions, and gives local authorities new roles in school places. Trust CEOs and COOs will be implementing these changes over the next few years, so candidates who understand how they affect workforce costs, curriculum planning and admissions are in demand.

Higher education: financial sustainability

The Office for Students’ annual financial sustainability report for 2026 warned providers against persistent over-optimism in their forecasts and found institutions under continued financial pressure. That has made university and college CFO, COO and transformation roles some of the most consequential appointments in the sector, and it has increased the use of interim leaders to steady finances while permanent appointments are made.

EdTech: AI, procurement and international growth

EdTech businesses are being asked harder questions by schools, trusts and universities about data protection, safeguarding and the evidence behind their products, and by investors about the route to profitability. The leaders who succeed now combine product and technology depth with a clear understanding of how education buyers procure, and many platforms are building AI into tutoring, marking and content. That shapes CTO, Chief Product Officer and commercial briefs alike.

Multi-academy trust leadership: CEO, CFO and COO appointments

Trust executive appointments are among the most structured in education. The trust CEO is usually the senior executive leader and the accounting officer, answerable for regularity, propriety and value for money. The CFO leads financial management and reporting and works closely with the audit and risk committee. In many trusts a CFOO combines finance with operations; in larger trusts the roles are separated and a COO leads estates, HR, IT and central services.

What trust boards usually need from a CEO

Trust boards typically want a CEO who has led school improvement across more than one school, can build a central team and can explain the trust’s finances to the board, the DfE and the regional director’s team. Growth trusts look for experience of taking on schools, including schools with inspection concerns; mature trusts often prioritise consolidation, leadership development and financial resilience. Candidates may be serving trust CEOs, deputy CEOs or directors of education, or executive headteachers ready to step up.

What trust boards usually need from a CFO or CFOO

A strong trust CFO combines technical accounting, budget planning across a group of schools, and the credibility to challenge headteachers on spending. Qualification matters more now that the handbook expects it in larger trusts. We search beyond the existing pool of trust CFOs, including finance leaders from local government, housing associations, charities and commercial groups, and test their understanding of public funding and the academies accounts direction. Where a trust needs cover, our interim CFO service can place an experienced finance leader while the permanent search runs.

Central team and trustee appointments

As trusts grow, the central team usually needs directors of HR, estates, IT and governance. Boards also need trustees with financial, legal, estates and safeguarding expertise. We recruit both, and we can help a board plan the order of appointments so that the central team is built in a sequence the trust can afford.

Independent schools and school groups: Head, Bursar and commercial leadership

Independent schools range from single-site charitable schools to international groups. Governing bodies appoint the Head, usually after a lengthy process involving governors, staff and sometimes parents; we work alongside governors on that process where they want an external search, and more often on the Bursar, finance, operations and admissions appointments that sit beside the Head.

Since VAT on fees was introduced, Bursar briefs have changed. Governors want someone who can model fee scenarios, manage cash and borrowing, run procurement and estates efficiently, and support decisions about bursaries, partnerships or mergers. In larger schools and groups the role is often split between a Chief Operating Officer and a Finance Director, or combined into a Chief Operating and Finance Officer. Admissions, marketing and development directors have also moved up the agenda, because protecting pupil numbers and fundraising now have a direct effect on financial sustainability.

School groups, including those backed by private equity, need leaders who can integrate acquisitions, standardise systems and report to investors. Our private equity recruitment practice supports investor-backed groups with CEO, CFO and COO hires, and with operating partner and board appointments.

Further and higher education leadership

Colleges and universities are large, complex organisations with significant estates, regulated funding and a mix of public and private income. Their senior professional services roles — Chief Financial Officer, Chief Operating Officer, Registrar or University Secretary, Director of Estates, Chief Information or Digital Officer, and Director of HR — are where most of our further and higher education work sits.

The priority in most briefs is financial resilience: leaders who can produce realistic forecasts, lead cost and transformation programmes, manage international student income risk, and work with lenders and regulators. Universities in England are regulated by the Office for Students, and further education colleges answer to the DfE and its funding agencies, so candidates need to be comfortable reporting to boards and regulators as well as running operations. The mix of mission and commercial pressure matters here too: a strong candidate will want to understand the governance structure, the realistic financial agenda, the existing senior team and anything in the institution’s recent history that bears on the role. Briefs that address those points openly attract better candidates and produce fewer mismatches. Candidates often come from other universities and colleges, but also from the NHS, local government, housing and large charities, and we search across all of them.

University spin-outs and HE-adjacent businesses need a different profile: commercial CEOs and CFOs who can raise investment, protect intellectual property arrangements with the university, and build a company that can stand on its own. These briefs usually look more like EdTech or deep-tech searches than university appointments.

EdTech executive search: CEO, CTO and commercial leaders

EdTech hiring is closer to software and SaaS hiring than to school hiring, but with an extra test: does the candidate understand how schools, trusts, universities and employers actually buy, implement and renew? Many promising EdTech leaders fail on sales cycles tied to the academic year, procurement frameworks, safeguarding and data protection expectations, and the gap between a teacher liking a product and a budget-holder paying for it.

EdTech CEO

EdTech boards usually want a CEO with a track record of scaling a technology business, ideally with education buyers, who can raise capital and manage an international go-to-market. Founder-to-CEO transitions are common, and investors often ask us to search for a CEO who will work alongside a founder who stays on the board or in a product role.

EdTech CTO and Chief Product Officer

The CTO is often the most important hire after the CEO, because the product is the business. Briefs typically cover platform architecture and scale, data protection, accessibility, AI capability and the ability to build and lead an engineering team. Early-stage businesses often start with a fractional CTO to set technical direction before hiring a full-time leader.

EdTech commercial and finance leadership

Chief Revenue Officers, sales directors and marketing leaders need experience of education procurement and of selling into multi-school trusts, local authorities, universities or employers. Finance leaders need SaaS metrics, fundraising experience and, increasingly, the discipline to show a path to profitability. Our scale-up executive recruitment service covers these hires across technology businesses, and venture-backed EdTech boards can add independent directors through our VC-backed NED recruitment service.

Permanent, interim or fractional: choosing the format

Not every education leadership gap needs a permanent appointment straight away. The right format depends on the urgency, the budget and how settled the role is.

Other ways to hire: if you need a chief executive quickly, our interim CEO service places experienced leaders for transition periods, and early-stage EdTech businesses often start with a fractional CFO before a fundraise. This page focuses on the sector; those pages cover each format in detail.

What a new education or EdTech leader typically delivers in the first 90 days

A good first 90 days look different in a trust, a school and an EdTech business, but the pattern is similar: listen, diagnose, secure early wins and agree a plan with the board. Typical outcomes we see agreed at briefing include:

• Trust CEO: visits to every school, a review of school improvement priorities and central services, a clear view of the trust’s financial position and risks, and a growth or consolidation plan for the board.
• Trust CFO or CFOO: a review of financial controls against the Academy Trust Handbook, a refreshed three-year budget and cash forecast, an assessment of the finance team, and a plan for the next audit and accounts return.
• Bursar or school finance director: updated fee and pupil-number scenarios, a cash and borrowing review, a procurement and estates cost review, and clear reporting to governors.
• College or university CFO: a realistic forecast, a review of income risks (including international recruitment), and the first stage of any cost or transformation programme.
• EdTech CEO: a review of product, pipeline and runway, a refreshed go-to-market plan for education buyers, and an agreed set of milestones with investors.
• EdTech CTO: an architecture and security review, a data protection and safeguarding check, an engineering team assessment and a product roadmap linked to commercial priorities.

Our executive onboarding guide sets out how boards can support a new leader through this period.

Compensation and Package Structure

Pay in education varies more than in most sectors because of the mix of public, charitable and commercial employers. We discuss package expectations at briefing and test them with candidates early, rather than quoting figures here.

• Academy trusts: executive pay must follow the trust’s pay policy, with independent board scrutiny, and must not increase faster than teachers’ pay without justification and DfE approval. New posts paying above the threshold in the Academy Trust Handbook need DfE approval before advertising, so the package should be settled before the search goes live.
• Independent schools: packages usually combine salary, pension and benefits such as fee remission or housing for some roles. Pension arrangements need careful handling when a school has left or is reviewing the Teachers’ Pension Scheme.
• Further and higher education: senior pay is set by remuneration committees and published in annual accounts, so boards are cautious about outliers and candidates expect transparency.
• EdTech: packages usually combine salary, bonus and equity or options, and the balance shifts with funding stage. Candidates from larger technology companies often trade salary for equity, which needs to be explained clearly.

For benchmark data by role, our C-suite salary guide and technology salary guide are updated regularly.

Engagement and fees

Most senior education and EdTech appointments are run as retained searches, because the candidates who fit these roles are usually employed and need to be approached directly and confidentially. Contingent recruitment can work for some roles below executive level. Our retained vs contingent executive search guide explains the difference.

• Permanent search: the fee structure is agreed with you at briefing, alongside the scope, timetable and selection process.
• Interim and fractional: leaders are engaged on a day-rate basis, and the day rate includes our fee.
• What is included: the brief, market mapping, direct approaches, candidate assessment, shortlist reports, interview co-ordination, referencing support, offer management and contact through onboarding.

For searches that must stay confidential, for example where a Head or CEO is being replaced before an announcement, our confidential executive search guide explains how we protect the process.

Who we place

Our education and EdTech clients typically include:

• Multi-academy trusts and their boards, from small and growing trusts to large regional groups
• Independent schools, school groups and their governing bodies
• Further education colleges, sixth-form colleges and college groups
• Universities, university spin-outs and higher education service providers
• Venture-backed and private equity-backed EdTech platforms, from seed stage to international scale
• Training providers, apprenticeship businesses, professional qualification bodies and corporate learning companies
• Language schools, publishers, assessment businesses and education consultancies

The roles we place range from chief executives and accounting officers to CFOs, Bursars, COOs, CTOs, commercial directors, non-executive directors, trustees and chairs, on permanent, interim and fractional terms.

Looking for an education or EdTech leadership role? If you are a senior leader interested in future appointments, please register with us as a candidate and see our current executive opportunities.

Further reading

For role-specific senior hiring guides, see our CEO hiring guide, COO hiring guide, CTO hiring guide, and the rest in our Knowledge Centre. For senior CFO appointments at education and EdTech firms specifically, see our sister firm FD Capital. For PE-backed and VC-backed education firm senior hiring, see our PE Executive Hiring Guide and our Scale-Up Hiring Guide.

For UK education sector context, see the Department for Education, the Office for Students for higher education, the Independent Schools Inspectorate for independent schools, and (for EdTech industry context) the British Educational Suppliers Association.

Frequently asked questions

What does an education executive recruitment firm do?

It finds and assesses senior leaders for schools, trusts, colleges, universities and education businesses, usually through retained search. That means approaching people who are not actively looking, testing them against a clear brief and managing the process through to appointment. Exec Capital covers both the education and the EdTech sides of the market.

Do you recruit multi-academy trust CEOs and CFOs?

Yes. We recruit trust CEOs, CFOs, CFOOs and COOs, and central team directors. We work with the trust board on the brief, the package and the governance route, and we search beyond the existing pool of trust leaders where that helps.

Does an academy trust CFO need to be a qualified accountant?

Every trust must appoint a CFO who is appropriately qualified and/or experienced. Under the Academy Trust Handbook 2026, the CFO of a larger trust (over 3,000 pupils) should hold a professional accountancy qualification, and recruitment to those posts from 1 October 2026 should specify it. Smaller trusts must still consider whether the role needs a qualification based on their risk, scale and complexity.

What is the difference between a Bursar and a CFO?

In an independent school, the Bursar usually combines finance with operations, estates, HR and compliance, and often acts as clerk or secretary to the governors. A CFO is typically a pure finance leadership role in a larger school group, trust or education business. Many schools now split or rename the role as it grows.

Can you run EdTech executive search for a CEO or CTO?

Yes. EdTech CEO and CTO searches are a core part of the practice, alongside Chief Product Officer, CRO and CFO hires. We look for leaders who understand both technology scale-up and how education buyers procure. If your platform also handles payments or credit and is FCA-regulated, we can help with compliance leadership too, including a fractional compliance officer or a fractional MLRO.

Should an early-stage EdTech business hire a fractional CFO or CTO first?

It depends on the next milestone. If a fundraise is close, a fractional CFO usually adds most value; if the product needs rebuilding or scaling, a fractional CTO often comes first. We can help you decide at briefing and place either.

How long does an education leadership search take?

It varies with the role, the market and the selection process, and school and trust timetables often work back from term dates and notice periods. We agree the timetable with you at briefing and keep you updated throughout, rather than promising a fixed number of days.

Can you run a confidential search to replace a Head or CEO?

Yes. Confidential searches are common in education, especially where a leader is retiring or leaving before an announcement. We approach candidates discreetly, limit what is shared until there is mutual interest, and agree communication plans with the chair.

Do you appoint governors, trustees and non-executive directors?

Yes. We recruit NEDs and Chairs for EdTech and education business boards, and trustees and governors with specific expertise — finance, audit, estates, technology, legal or safeguarding — for trusts, schools and colleges.

How are your fees structured?

For permanent searches the fee structure is agreed at briefing. Interim and fractional leaders are engaged on a day rate that includes our fee. Call 0203 834 9616 or tell us about your hire to discuss your appointment.