A Partner-led practice conducting executive search across real estate private equity, investment and asset management, development and project management. Appointments from Associate through Principal and Director to Senior Executives.
Three things a career recruiter cannot offer.
Partner-led, throughout
Every mandate is run end-to-end by a Partner — no middle-management volume, no research-team hand-offs. The person who takes the brief is the same one who contacts and interviews candidates, building the relationships that lead to a successful conclusion of the Search.
Operators, not just recruiters
We are not career recruiters who learned real estate secondhand. Gareth has built and run his own property development business for over a decade and is Head of Advisory Sales, UK for Escape Developments in Barbados. Fiona is also a Director of the Pangolin Asian equities fund. We have been on the other side of the table, in both Asia and in the UK.
Search & market research
We maintain a live map of the UK property investment industry — tracking over 260 firms across 8 industry verticals.
Four disciplines, searched by specialists with multiple years of experience in these areas.
Acquisitions, asset management, and capital formation / business development talent across value-add, opportunistic, and core-plus strategies.
Fund, asset and portfolio management roles accountable for business plans, returns and investor reporting, including executive hires for listed REITs and property companies.
Development Directors and Heads of Development leading scheme delivery from land acquisition through to completion.
Project and operations management, running cost, programme, and delivery risk across different real estate sub-sectors.
We specialise in Associate to Director — the hires that build a team.
A structured 12-week engagement, run by the Partners, not junior team members.
Week 1
Agreement on scope of role. VC, phone or in-person meeting with client line manager or Human Resources.
Weeks 2–4
Full market map based on client-defined requirements.
Weeks 4–6
Confidential approaches with in-person interviews prioritised. Our tailored and personalised contact differentiates us with candidates to ensure the best results.
Weeks 6–8
After in-person meetings whenever possible, a select number of carefully chosen candidates with CVs and written appraisals are presented for interviews with the client.
Weeks 8–12
Offer structuring, closing, and 12-month integration reviews.
Every engagement carries a 12-month replacement guarantee.
Representative mandates across various practice areas.
Principal and Associate roles, UK
Hires from Associate to Principal completed to build out the UK team for a major London-based European RE PE firm.
Principal and Associate roles, non-UK
RE PE Associate and Principal roles covering DACH and Nordics.
Development Director
Placed from a competing developer to go in-house as the RE Director for a complex multi-asset scheme with a major development programme
Project Director
Placed from a Project Management firm to go in-house as the PM to assist on major development scheme.
Partner-led throughout — one consultant, end to end.
Fiona Somerville
Partner & Consultant
Fiona founded Black Kite Search in Hong Kong in 2011, specialising in fund management and institutional business development roles including real estate private equity. Since 2013 she has been based first in the UK and now Zurich, focused on executive search for real estate investment and business development professionals.
She brings over 25 years of financial experience, following roles at Odgers Berndtson and Eban International in Hong Kong, covering asset management, real estate, and private equity hires across the region. She is a Director of Pangolin Investment Management, an Asian equities fund.
Fiona holds a BA from Oxford University and an MSc Finance from London Business School.
Partner-led throughout — one consultant, end to end.
Gareth Stubbings
Partner & Consultant
Gareth joined Black Kite Search as a Partner in 2012, specialising in retained search across real estate investment, asset management, and property development. He is based in London.
He brings 20 years of senior executive search experience, including seven years as a Partner at Russell Reynolds Associates in Hong Kong, where he set up & managed the Asia Pacific Real Estate Practice. He is Co-Founder and Investment Director of Kelston Knoll Real Estate, acquiring and redeveloping Grade I and Grade II listed properties, and Head of Advisory Sales, UK for Escape Developments in Barbados. His career in property development began as a Project Manager with Claymore Construction Consultants in Asia.
Gareth holds a BA in Geography from Middlesex University.
We are always delighted to meet our potential clients in person or via VC to give our views of the market and to find out how we might help build your business.
We can provide written summaries of available talent by discipline and level, with pay benchmarks.
We look forward to hearing from you