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Placing Cityheart’s first Marketing Director to lead brand transformation
Our recruiters began working with Cityheart, a specialist public sector property developer, in 2024. Ready to pivot into a new market, they needed to bring onboard their first marketing hire to lead the development.
Specialist marketing recruiter, Andy Larkin, connected the business with consultants and candidates to make the right appointment for business growth. The CEO has since described this recruit as “transformational” for the company.
The story of Cityheart
Cityheart is a real estate development company with a growing reputation for creating mixed-use and regeneration schemes across the UK. Historically focused on working with local authorities and partners, Cityheart’s business model is evolving to include a consumer-facing element.
As the company pivots towards selling and letting properties directly, the need for a customer facing brand presence became clear. Having identified the requirement for a Marketing Director, Cityheart partnered with our specialist recruiters to guide them through the process for their first marketing hire.
Challenge: Defining and delivering their first marketing hire
With no prior in-house marketing function, Cityheart needed to hire its first ever Marketing Director. This individual would lead the transition from publicly tendered derived work, to a private sector, consumer focused approach.
They'd never hired a marketer before, so needed guidance not just on sourcing talent, but on shaping the role and attracting the right profile. That's where Andy Larkin stepped in, with a body of work of placing first senior hires in the North West.
Solution: A retained search backed by expert advice
Andy began by connecting the team with a number of senior marketing consultants in the property sector to help scope the role. Through live conversations with candidates and examples from the market, it became clear that the business needed someone with greater seniority and strategic experience than initially anticipated.
We ran a retained search, taking an upfront investment from Cityheart to:
- Map out the market for senior property marketers in the North West
- Introduce a tailored shortlist of six high-calibre candidates
- Design a structured, staged process to give the business the best chance of securing their preferred hire
Although timelines were impacted due to multiple stakeholders and external investors, we kept the process moving and candidates engaged. Andy maintained contact with all in process to ensure that momentum wasn’t lost during inevitable delays.
Result: A transformational appointment
Cityheart hired their first Marketing Director - a move the CEO has since described as “transformational” for the business.
Andy played an instrumental role in both shaping our first marketing hire and securing the services of the right person. As our business model has evolved, Cityheart required an experienced senior marketing leader who could take our brand more consumer facing. Andy introduced us to property marketing consultants to scope out the role, mapped out the market for potential talent, and then delivered a tailored shortlist of the best senior marketers in North West property. He advised on the interview process to secure our preferred candidate in as robust a timeframe as possible. We secured the services of Penny as our first Marketing Director, who has already come in and made strides from day one. Cityheart will be working with 3Search again.
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