CLIENT STORY · SPECIALIST HIRING

A partnership that moved with the stakeholder.

How a single hiring relationship built in 2016, grew into nearly a decade of specialist delivery across three firms, two continents, and a vast range of skill sets.

2025 TIARA AWARDS·SPECIALIST RECRUITMENT COMPANY OF THE YEAR

LEAD CONSULTANT

Ben Farr · COO

GEOGRAPHY

London · New York · Texas · Connecticut

MANDATE

Multi-firm, Multi-function

OVERVIEW

The strongest signal in specialist recruitment isn't the placements you make. It's what clients do when they don't have to work with you anymore.

This case study traces a relationship created by our COO, Ben Farr, in 2016 with a senior hiring leader at a global proprietary trading firm. Over the following years, she moved firms more than once, and each time, she brought Ben and the Radley James team with her.

The work has spanned software engineering, infrastructure, quantitative research, and front-office trading, delivered across the U

01 THE CHALLENGE

Hiring into an unforgiving market.

The upper end of the trading and quant market is unforgiving. Technical bars are high, interview processes are long and the margin for pass-to-fail can be very small. This particular contact has been a Radley James partner for 12 years. Her interest in consistently working with Radley James is down to our understanding of the business, the quality of candidates, and our qualification of key interests. However, due to this particular contact being very clear in what was required, and our persistence with searches, this led to multiple placements.

Tower had a high bar. The calibre of profile they wanted was stellar and very specific. However due to the strength and efficiency of our relationship, we stuck with it and enjoyed significant success over multiple years.

BEN FARR COO RADLEY JAMES

02 APPROACH

Three principles that held the relationship together.

Specialist market coverage. Technology, quant research, and trading require separate networks and separate credibility. Ben and the team resourced the account accordingly.

Clear communication. The information shared by client and agency was on point. Therefore there were no mixed messages and lack of clarity on searches. It allowed Radley James to consistently deliver relevant profiles to roles.

Persistence. When only a small share of candidates convert, volume isn’t the answer. Long processes without placements were sometimes the cost of holding a high bar, however Ben and the team persisted.

Over nearly a decade, these principles compounded. The client’s trust survived two firm changes, three different business models, and consistent challenging searches of varying types.

03 COVERAGE

Delivery across functions and regions.

FUNCTION 1

Front-Office Trading

Quantitative trading hires, the most selective category, with fifteen-plus interview stages routine.

FUNCTION 2

Quantitative Research

Researcher and senior researcher mandates supporting systematic strategies.

FUNCTION 3

Software & Infrastructure

The technology foundation that trading businesses depend on.

04 EXPANSION

How the relationship expanded over time.

What began as a single-firm partnership evolved as the client’s career did. Three firms. Two continents. One sustained working relationship.

2016

RELATIONSHIP BEGAN

3

FIRMS · ONE STAKEHOLDER

12

YEAR FIRM PARTNERSHIP

4

SPECIALIST FUNCTIONS

In her first tenure, across roughly four years, Radley James became one of a small group of trusted agencies. She later joined a European and US commodities trading group. There, she advocated for Radley James to be added to the PSL. This enabled Ben’s team to support her hiring in Texas.

When she returned to her original firm, the relationship resumed naturally. She moved again towards the end of 2022, and Radley James was once more onboarded at her request. That engagement included a senior frontoffice trading placement in the Connecticut region, placed by Ben personally. It also included support for an oil trading team in London.

05 THE CONSULTANT

The relationship was led by
Ben Farr, COO.

A Radley James consultant since 2013 and recently promoted to COO, Ben leads specialist recruitment across technology, infrastructure, quantitative research, and data science. His coverage spans hedge funds, proprietary trading firms, banks, and fintechs across the UK and US markets.

He is one of the key individuals managing the firm’s largest accounts, and is consistently cited by clients for the quality of his hires, the clarity of his communication, and his understanding of highly selective mandates

06 OUTCOME

Trust that held through three firm changes.

Trust that survives a firm change is a function of judgement, not contract. The client continued to choose Ben and his team because the work held up: candidates matched the bar, communication held through long processes, and when roles were genuinely difficult, they stayed with them.

The measurable outcomes speak for themselves: successful hires across engineering, technology, quantitative research, and trading; onboarding onto two additional preferred supplier lists on the basis of prior delivery; and nearly a decade of continued engagement across three different businesses.

Technology & Quant Trading