Contingency search for senior and mid-senior roles

Mid to senior management across FMCG, retail, automotive, real estate, engineering, private equity, and group of companies, covering sales, marketing, general management, finance, and specialist commercial functions across Dubai, Riyadh, and the wider GCC. FMCG is our core. The others we know well enough to place into with the same confidence.

Contingency search is a pay-on-placement model. You brief us, we search, you pay when the right person starts. No upfront fees. No exclusivity requirements.

What makes it work is not the model. It is what sits behind it. We do not send a shortlist of people who applied. We go to the professionals already performing in the role you are trying to fill, inside the sector you operate in, and we have a conversation they will take.

Contingency and retained are two ways of paying for a search, not two standards of work.

Contingency is pay-on-placement. You brief us, we search, the fee is due when the right person accepts and starts. It suits mid to senior mandates where the market has depth and speed matters, and it carries no upfront commitment.

Retained is an engaged search. A fee is agreed at the start, the mandate is exclusive, and the work is reported at each stage. It suits senior and board-level mandates, confidential appointments, and roles where the field is narrow and the search has to be exhaustive rather than fast.

Mindfield runs both. Which one is right depends on the seniority of the seat, how confidential the mandate is, and how deep the market is for that profile. We will tell you which model fits before you commit to either. The model changes what you pay and when. It does not change the work: 22 years of sector knowledge across FMCG, retail, automotive, real estate, engineering, private equity, and group of companies, and a process that storyboards every candidate before they meet you.

Contingency recruitment works when you understand the industry, not just the job description.

The mid-to-senior professionals we place in FMCG companies, retail groups, automotive businesses, real estate firms, engineering organisations, and private equity-backed entities across Dubai, Riyadh, and the GCC are not found through job boards. They are in our network because we have spent 22 years inside these sectors, placing people, watching them grow, and staying close to them. Our database spans 400,000+ professionals across MENA and Africa.

We reach them through direct relationships and referrals from within the same industry circles. When we call, the conversation happens because the relationship already exists.

The network is what makes contingency search work at this level. It is built slowly, and it is the reason a five-day shortlist is possible at all.

Contingency recruitment is a pay-on-placement hiring model. You brief a firm, they search, you pay only when the right person accepts and starts. No upfront fees, no retainer, no exclusivity required.

It works best for mid-to-senior roles where the talent market has depth and speed matters. The firm takes the search risk. You take on only what converts.

At Mindfield, contingency search covers mid to senior management across FMCG, retail, automotive, real estate, engineering, private equity, and group of companies across Dubai, Riyadh, and the wider GCC and Africa. 22 years in market. 400,000+ professionals in our database. You pay when the right person starts.

You brief us on the role, the team, the business context, and what good looks like. We debrief, agree on the search parameters, and go to market immediately.

Within five working days, you receive a shortlist of qualified candidates. These are not people who applied. They are professionals our team has identified and spoken to, inside the sector and seniority level you are hiring for, across Dubai, Riyadh, and the wider MENA and Africa.

You interview, select, and make the offer. We manage the process throughout. You pay a placement fee when the candidate starts. No placement, no fee.

The model is straightforward. What sits behind it is 22 years of sector-specific relationships and a 400,000+ professional database across 32 markets.

Speed, risk transfer, and market access.

Speed: a qualified shortlist within five working days. Risk transfer: you pay only when the right person starts, no upfront commitment. Market access: a firm like Mindfield brings 22 years of sector-specific relationships across Dubai, Riyadh, and the GCC that an internal team or a generalist agency does not have.

In the UAE and Saudi Arabia, the mid-to-senior talent market is relationship-driven. The best candidates in FMCG, retail, automotive, real estate, and engineering are not on job boards. Contingency search reaches them through direct networks. That is where the value sits.

Mindfield: 22 years, 670+ clients, 32 markets, 75% still in role at three years.