Insights

By Michael Muir

From the hiring desk.

Recruiter insight on the London buy-side finance market. Market maps, attraction methodology, and the commercial reality of mid-senior search. From fifteen years inside the mandates.

Browse by Pillar

Six pillars

P11 piece

The Recruiter's Read

What we actually see when we read a buy-side finance CV.

Explore the pillar

P21 piece

Attraction

The craft of making roles impossible to ignore.

Explore the pillar

P31 piece

The Market Map

Subsector hiring dynamics, compensation, and tier intelligence.

Explore the pillar

P40 pieces

The Gap in the Middle

Why mid-market buy-side finance falls between the cracks.

Coming soon

P50 pieces

The Interview Room

What happens after the CV lands.

Coming soon

P60 pieces

The Long View

The finance career, beyond the next role.

Coming soon

All Notes

3 pieces

P1The Recruiter's Read1 piece
Essay6 min read

What the fourth CV looks like

Every longlist eventually narrows to four. The first three are usually what you expected — the fourth is where the mandate actually turns. A note on how a buy-side mid-market shortlist gets built and why the outlier candidate so often wins.

73%

Mid-market PE mandates where the hire was not the initial top-three candidate on the longlist (BSR placement data, 2020–2025)

21 April 2026Read
P2Attraction1 piece
Essay5 min read

Narrative beats relationship

The old model of buy-side search ran on relationships. Whoever had the Rolodex won the mandate. Attraction is a different thesis: candidates move for the role, not the recruiter. A note on why narrative-led outreach has quietly overtaken relationship-based outreach in the mid-market.

4.2×

Response rate on narrative-led platform packs vs cold relationship outreach (BSR outbound data, Q4 2025)

20 April 2026Read
P3The Market Map1 piece
Note5 min read

London buy-side finance pay, Q1 2026

Quarterly compensation update across eight buy-side sub-sectors. Where the premium is widening, where it has stalled, and the two seats that have quietly become the hardest to fill in the market. Built on 142 live mandates and 2,100 profile updates from the BSR CRM.

£215k

Median total comp for a Head of Fund Control at a £1bn–£5bn AUM London PE firm, Q1 2026 (BSR CRM, n=64)

19 April 2026Read

From the hiring desk

The writing is free. The mandate is personal.

Every mandate at BSR runs through Michael, from brief to signed offer. Fifteen years, 6,000 profiles mapped, one standard. If you are hiring in London buy-side finance, start a conversation.

Speak to MichaelFounder-led · 6,000 mapped · 36 sub-sectors

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