Retained Executive Search — Arizona
When the role is senior, the hire is confidential, or the stakes are too high for a contingent search — retained is the right approach. Prospect Recruiting runs retained searches for CFO, Controller, VP Finance, and HR leadership roles across Arizona.
A retained executive search is an exclusive engagement in which a company pays a recruiter upfront — or in structured milestones — to conduct a dedicated, focused search for a specific leadership role. The recruiter is exclusively committed to your search. They are not running the same role on a contingent basis with three other firms at the same time. Your search gets the full attention, the full process, and a guaranteed outcome.
Retained search makes sense when the role is senior enough that getting it wrong is genuinely costly — a mishire at the CFO or HR Director level can set a company back 12 to 24 months. It also makes sense when confidentiality is essential: a search that can't be posted publicly, that requires approaching candidates discreetly, or that involves replacing someone who is still in the seat.
What you get in a retained engagement with Prospect Recruiting: an exclusive commitment from Aaron Wiese personally, a structured search process with defined milestones, regular progress reporting, a fully vetted shortlist, and candidate management through offer and acceptance. No handoffs. No junior coordinators. The same person who closes the search opened it.
Every retained search follows a disciplined five-step process. You'll know where we are at every stage — no black holes, no "we're working on it" with no substance behind it.
34
Average days to shortlist
300+
Arizona placements completed
Our retained search practice focuses exclusively on senior finance, accounting, tax, and HR leadership. These are the roles where the right hire creates compounding value — and the wrong hire creates compounding problems.
The role most companies get wrong when they try to fill it quickly. CFO searches almost always warrant retained — the talent pool is small, the stakes are high, and the cultural fit with the CEO is non-negotiable. We've placed CFOs for PE-backed companies, family businesses, and growth-stage startups across Arizona.
For companies that need a senior finance leader without the full CFO cost structure, or as a bridge before a CFO search, the VP or Director of Finance is a critical hire. These roles benefit from a retained process when the candidate profile includes FP&A leadership, investor relations, or strategic finance experience.
Controller searches warrant retained when the role involves managing a significant team, overseeing a complex close cycle, or supporting an impending audit or transaction. Companies going through rapid growth or a PE recapitalization need a Controller who's been there before — and finding that person takes a real search.
Typically found in public companies or large private companies with complex reporting requirements, the CAO role sits at the intersection of accounting leadership and corporate governance. These searches are almost always confidential and almost always require a retained process.
Senior HR leadership is harder to find than most companies expect — especially when the role requires experience with PE-backed organizations, rapid headcount scaling, or compensation strategy. We place HR Directors and CPOs across the Phoenix metro through retained engagements.
Tax leadership at the Director level or above is a specialized search requiring deep technical knowledge and often a Big Four or national firm background. These candidates are in high demand and short supply in the Arizona market — retained is consistently the right approach.
A large retained search firm in New York or Chicago will assign your Phoenix CFO search to a team with no meaningful Arizona relationships. We've been building those relationships since before Prospect Recruiting existed. When we call a candidate, they know who we are. That matters enormously in a search.
At most large firms, a senior partner sells the engagement and a 26-year-old researcher runs it. At Prospect Recruiting, Aaron Wiese — 14+ years of experience, 300+ placements — personally conducts every candidate interview, manages every client relationship, and closes every search. What you're sold is what you get.
We don't treat confidentiality as a special service you have to ask for. Every retained search is handled with the assumption that it's sensitive until you tell us otherwise. Candidate outreach is targeted, private, and professional — your opportunity is never broadcast in ways that could embarrass you or alert the wrong people.
300+ placements in the Phoenix and Scottsdale market since 2020. An average shortlist delivered in 34 days. Placed candidates who stay an average of 3.1 years. These numbers reflect a process designed for quality, not volume — and they were built right here in Arizona, not imported from another market.
'Ridiculously efficient' is the phrase that comes to mind. He helped make a stressful process seem effortless.
Aaron really took the time to sit down and understand what my goals were in my career. He is someone I hope to keep in touch with as I continue in my career.
Tell us about the role. We'll follow up within one business day to discuss whether a retained engagement is the right fit — and what the process would look like for your specific search.
All inquiries are confidential. | info@prospect-recruiting.com