PHM recruits for the consulting and design practices themselves — the discipline leads, project managers, associates, and principals who win the work, seal the drawings, and carry the client relationships. A different search from hiring an engineer into industry, and we treat it as one.
The ownership path narrowed. Morrison Hershfield — 950 people in Ontario, employee-owned since 1946 — was absorbed by Stantec in February 2024, and Colliers has since built Englobe into a platform that has bought four more Canadian firms. Equity has not disappeared so much as moved up a level: a practice lead can still hold shares, just of a national platform rather than the office whose numbers they actually run. Salary is rarely what moves these people, and most of them are part-way through a vesting schedule.
A principal leaves with the client relationships, the technical authority and the reason juniors stayed. Replacing all three at once is the hardest search in the sector.
Our consulting engineering recruiters know which firms still have equity to offer and which cannot, and run confidential succession searches for practices — including approaches nobody inside the firm needs to know about.
In a consulting practice, technical ability is table stakes. What separates a hire is whether they can run a project profitably, sign off on risk, and bring clients with them. A sample of where we place:
Recruiting a technical specialist rather than a practice leader? The six engineering disciplines each have their own page, and their own market.
Retained-level rigour, on an exclusive basis, for a fee paid on the hire — no upfront retainer and the delivery risk on us. We also work standard contingency where a role suits it. How we engage →
Consulting hires are relationship hires as much as technical ones, and the candidate population is small, visible, and largely under non-solicit. An exclusive mandate gets our full bandwidth and a discreet approach — which matters when the person you want sits at a firm you compete with.
Discipline and project leadership inside firms carrying civil, structural, mechanical, electrical, and environmental teams under one roof.
Boutique and single-discipline firms where one senior hire visibly moves capacity, capability, and reputation.
Associates and principals brought in to open a region, build a service line, or take over a book from a retiring partner.
Consulting and design firms hiring into their own business — not an owner or contractor hiring an engineer. The intake, the candidate pool and what makes someone attractive are all different. Miss that distinction and the shortlist is technically sound but cannot run a practice.
From project engineers and design leads through project managers and associates to principals, practice leads, and partner-track roles. We also handle discreet succession searches where a founder or retiring principal needs replacing without the market learning about it.
Yes. In a consulting practice the person who brings the work is often as hard to replace as the person who does it — and harder to assess. We screen for a demonstrable, portable client following rather than a claimed one.
Exclusive contingency. Nothing is invoiced until someone is hired, which puts the delivery risk on us rather than on the company that already has the problem.
Carefully, and with the candidate’s own position protected. We approach discreetly, we do not put anyone forward without their explicit consent, and we flag restrictive covenants early so a hire does not unravel at the offer stage.
Yes. We provide real-time compensation insight for the specific role, region, and seniority — including the bonus, profit-share, and equity structures that make senior consulting offers hard to benchmark against industry salaries.
An advisory conversation about the consulting hire ahead of you — and where the right person is likely to come from. Not a commitment.