As a charity delivering public benefit, the Royal Academy of Engineering brings together an unrivalled community of leaders across every part of engineering and technology. At the time, it was establishing its National Engineering Policy Centre and required a number of innovative new roles, alongside a few replacements.

• Newly defined roles. Several roles had no precedent, including a brand new policy area. Systems thinking in government was a new concept for the Academy, as was the Head of Enterprise Hub.
• Expanding capacity. Two policy areas needed more expertise, and a new digital and physical infrastructure programme needed additional support for its senior manager. 
• Volume and timing. Eight roles of mixed seniority, all London-based, were briefed collectively and needed filling in eight weeks. 
• Niche roles. Nuanced job titles meant low application numbers, so candidates would rarely find the roles on their own.

The Academy wanted a fluid and accessible recruitment process, rather than a prescriptive approach, while encouraging a diverse talent pipeline to apply.

As exclusive recruitment partner, the Murray McIntosh team adopted their unique and robust retained solution, with a goal to fill all eight roles in an eight-week period.

About our retained method

Our retained engagement solution is a three-part process based on the key milestones of an assignment: commencement, shortlist and appointment. Clear timeframes and deliverables manage expectations and promote accountability, driving guaranteed results. We committed to finding the best talent in the market, not on the market. To support the Academy’s D&I agenda, all candidates were funnelled through the same retainer process, ensuring a consistent and unbiased approach.

Each stage draws on our heavily invested tech-stack and personnel expertise, including:

• Stakeholder briefings
• Market mapping
• Campaign media
• Search
• Candidate management
• Video interviewing
• Reference validity

• Project team. Anna Kelly ran and managed the project, supported by Lauren Maddocks, Associate Director, Policy, Public Affairs, Communications & Economics, and a recruitment consultant. Anna reviewed every CV and curated the shortlist.
• Concurrent, prioritised delivery. All eight roles ran at once, in priority order, so the most important were progressed first.
• Weekly updates. A shared project tracker, updated weekly, showed the Academy progress on every role. We reviewed the process with them once the project was complete.

We began with a single two-and-a-half-hour online briefing with the hiring managers and talent manager, then went deeper, role by role.

• Culture and projects. We learned about the Academy’s cultural refresh, its benefits and the work each policy area was delivering, and researched its history, so we could describe it accurately to candidates.
• Challenging and refining. Where a brief needed sharpening, such as the Digital and Physical Infrastructure roles, we went back to the hiring manager to clarify it, while sending example CVs to refine our understanding of the perfect fit.

For the Programme Officer, Systems Approach in Government, as a brand new role and concept, the Academy sought our help to define the capabilities it needed. We stripped the role back with targeted questions on its main components, its non-negotiable skills, what the appointee should achieve first, and which academic or extracurricular experience would show an understanding of systems thinking. The appointee combined a high-level degree from a leading university with a placement where they developed an innovative idea and mapped its delivery. We took the same approach for the Head of Enterprise Hub.

With so many roles briefed at once, we shared early market insight on salary. After the first week of market mapping, we showed the Academy the profiles available at different salary levels, so it could make informed decisions on each role.

Headhunting was essential, as the space is so niche – even for junior roles. We combined referrals from our network with wide-ranging market mapping, approaching people in institutes, universities, think tanks, consultancies and charities. Appointees included a Policy Advisor whose humanities-centred degree covered both the infrastructure and the human side of the role, and a Senior Policy Advisor from a political research consultancy.

Running so many roles at once meant far more candidate engagement than usual, with regular check-ins to confirm continued interest. Every role was filled first time and none returned to market.

All eight roles were filled in eight weeks, with six CVs sent for every successful placement and every offer accepted. Six of the eight appointees remain in post.

Founded in 2015, Murray McIntosh was established to offer a research-led, specialist recruitment service. Since then, we’ve earned a reputation as a trusted partner, working with clients ranging from innovative start-ups to global multinationals to secure the talent needed to deliver.

Our Policy, Public Affairs, Strategic Comms & Economics team deliver highly targeted support, backed by genuine insight and sector knowledge.

We also offer strategic, complementary advice across recruitment process design, employer branding, and workforce planning. Our services cover both permanent and contract recruitment, tailored to meet the specific needs of each client.

We remain embedded in our markets by actively participating in industry events, panels, and working groups, keeping us informed, engaged, and always one step ahead.

If you are planning your next policy, public affairs or communications hire and want to see how this approach could work for you, we would be glad to talk it through.