Executive search position specification template: what goes in it, with a filled example
On this page
- What goes in an executive search position specification?
- The position specification template
- A filled example
- Required or preferred: how do you write criteria that actually screen?
- How is a position specification different from a job description or requisition?
- Should the position specification include compensation?
- How do you write a spec for a confidential search?
- Who approves it, and when does it change?
- Common mistakes
- Questions people ask
An executive search position specification (often shortened to "position spec") is the document a search firm writes after the kick-off meeting and the client approves before any candidate is contacted. It sets out the company's situation, why the role exists now, the reporting line and scope, what success looks like in the first one to two years, required and preferred experience, the compensation structure, location, and the selection process and timeline. Unlike a job description, it does two jobs at once: it is the standard every candidate will be assessed against, and it is the pitch a senior person who is not looking reads before agreeing to talk.
Several of our retained search pages refer to the position specification: the proposal checklist says to expect it after signing, the agreement template makes it deliverable 2.1, and the candidate report assesses finalists against it. This page is the specification itself.
What goes in an executive search position specification?
| Section | What it says | Why candidates and the client need it |
|---|---|---|
| The company | What it does, size, ownership (public, private equity, founder-led), stage and recent events | Senior candidates judge the company before the role |
| The mandate | Why the role is open now and the two or three problems the hire must solve | The most read section; it turns a title into a reason to move |
| Reporting line and scope | Who the role reports to, direct reports, budget or P&L, geography, board exposure | Scope decides the level of candidate who will be interested |
| Success measures | What will be true at 12 and 24 months if the hire works | Becomes the assessment criteria in candidate reports |
| Required experience | Three to five things a candidate must have done, stated as evidence | The screen; a candidate without these is not presented |
| Preferred experience | What strengthens a candidate but does not exclude one | Stops the search narrowing too early |
| Leadership qualities | How the person must lead in this company, described as behavior | Gives interviewers something observable to test |
| Compensation | Structure (base, bonus, equity or long-term incentive) and, where required or agreed, the range | Saves weeks with candidates who cannot move for the package |
| Location and travel | Base location, hybrid expectations, relocation support, travel | The most common reason senior candidates decline |
| Process and timeline | Stages, who interviews, assessments, target dates | Candidates plan around notice periods and other processes |
| Contact and confidentiality | The consultant's name and how approaches are kept confidential | Senior candidates respond to a named person, not a firm |
The position specification template
Copy it, replace the brackets, and keep it to two or three pages. Anything longer stops being read past the mandate.
POSITION SPECIFICATION
[Role title], [Company name or "a [sector] company" if confidential]
Location: [city / hybrid / remote] Prepared by: [Firm], [date]
Version: [n], approved by [client name] on [date]
1. THE COMPANY
[Two short paragraphs: what the company does, size (revenue range,
employees), ownership, stage, recent events that matter to this
hire - acquisition, new CEO, funding, restructuring.]
2. THE MANDATE: WHY THIS ROLE, WHY NOW
[One paragraph on why the role is open.]
The first priorities will be to:
- [Problem 1, stated as an outcome]
- [Problem 2]
- [Problem 3]
3. REPORTING LINE AND SCOPE
Reports to: [title] Direct reports: [number, titles]
Budget / P&L: [scope] Team size overall: [n]
Geography: [ ] Board or investor exposure: [ ]
4. WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE
At 12 months: [2-3 observable results]
At 24 months: [2-3 observable results]
5. REQUIRED EXPERIENCE (a candidate must show all of these)
- [Has done X at Y scale, e.g. "led a finance team through ..."]
- [ ]
- [ ]
6. PREFERRED EXPERIENCE (strengthens a candidate; not required)
- [ ]
- [ ]
7. LEADERSHIP QUALITIES (as behavior we can test)
- [e.g. "Tells the CEO and board bad news early, with options"]
- [ ]
8. COMPENSATION
Structure: base salary, [annual bonus target], [equity / LTIP],
[benefits highlights].
Range: [base range and target bonus, where required by law or
agreed with the client] [Discussed with the consultant]
Relocation: [supported / not supported / hybrid alternative]
9. LOCATION AND TRAVEL
[Base location, days on site, travel percentage.]
10. PROCESS AND TIMELINE
- Confidential conversation with [consultant]
- Assessment interview with [firm]
- Interviews with [titles], [format]
- [Assessment, case or presentation, if any]
- References, taken only with the candidate's agreement
Target: shortlist [date], first interviews [date], decision [date]
11. CONTACT
[Consultant name, title, email, phone]
All conversations are confidential. [Firm] will not share a
candidate's name with the client without the candidate's agreement.A filled example
Example only: a fictional company and role, with invented figures, to show the level of detail.
POSITION SPECIFICATION
Vice President, Operations - a regional food distribution company
Location: Atlanta, three days on site Prepared by: Harbor Search
Version 2, approved by the CEO on September 30
1. THE COMPANY
A privately held distributor supplying about 4,000 restaurants and
schools across five states from three warehouses. Acquired by a
private equity firm last year; a fourth warehouse opens next
spring.
2. THE MANDATE
The current operations lead is moving to run the new warehouse
project. The company needs one leader for all three existing
sites before the fourth opens.
The first priorities will be to:
- Bring on-time delivery at the two older sites up to the level
of the newest one
- Put one warehouse management system and one set of KPIs across
all sites
- Build a bench of site managers able to run the fourth warehouse
3. REPORTING LINE AND SCOPE
Reports to: CEO Direct reports: 3 site general managers,
director of transportation
Team size overall: about 600 Budget: operating budget for three sites
4. WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE
At 12 months: one KPI set reported weekly for all sites; delivery
performance gap between sites closed by half.
At 24 months: fourth site opened on schedule with a manager
promoted from within.
5. REQUIRED EXPERIENCE
- Ran multi-site warehouse and distribution operations with more
than 300 people
- Led a warehouse management system rollout across sites
- Developed site managers who were later promoted
6. PREFERRED EXPERIENCE
- Food service or cold chain
- Private equity ownership
7. LEADERSHIP QUALITIES
- Spends time on the floor and on night shifts, not only in reviews
- Reports problems to the CEO early, with a proposed fix
8. COMPENSATION
Base salary, annual bonus, equity in the private equity plan.
Range discussed with the consultant. Relocation supported.
10. PROCESS AND TIMELINE
Shortlist by November 7; CEO and operating partner interviews in
the week of November 17; site visit for finalists.Required or preferred: how do you write criteria that actually screen?
The required list is the section that decides who gets presented, so it needs the most care:
- State evidence, not traits. "Led a warehouse management system rollout across sites" can be checked in a screen; "strong operator" cannot.
- Keep it to three to five items. Every extra required item shrinks the market. If the client has ten must-haves, ask which candidates they would still meet without each one; the rest are preferred.
- Move credentials and sectors to preferred unless the work needs them. A sector requirement is often a proxy for a skill that can be stated directly.
- Avoid proxies for protected characteristics. "Recent graduate", "digital native" or "energy of a young team" read as age preferences; see illegal interview questions for the wording that causes problems later in the process.
The criteria format is the same one we use in the candidate success profile template; the spec adds the company story and the pitch around it.
How is a position specification different from a job description or requisition?
| Document | Written by, for whom | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Position specification | The search firm, for candidates and the client | Selection standard and pitch for one search |
| Job description | The employer, for HR records and postings | Duties and requirements of the role |
| Job requisition | The hiring manager, for approvers | Approval to hire: budget, level, justification |
| Success profile | The hiring team, for interviewers | Criteria and the evidence that meets them |
Should the position specification include compensation?
It should at least describe the structure, because a senior candidate decides whether to take the call partly on whether the package could work. Whether the range must appear depends on where the job is and how the spec is shared. As of October 2026, New York's Labor Law section 194-b says no employer or employment agency shall advertise a job without disclosing the compensation or range, and defines "advertise" as making a written description of an employment opportunity available to a pool of potential applicants. A spec sent to a list of prospects for a role in New York may fall within that. Colorado's labor department says in its INFO #9A (last updated May 29, 2024, as of October 2026) that its pay transparency law covers posts an employer makes or has another party make. State rules differ; the pay transparency laws by state page has the detail. This is not legal advice: agree with the client and its counsel whether the spec carries the range before it goes out.
How do you write a spec for a confidential search?
When the client cannot be named, write the company section without identifying details: sector, size band, ownership type and region, and nothing a candidate could search to find the company (exact revenue, a product name, a recent deal). Keep the mandate and success measures intact, because they are what interests candidates. Tell candidates when the name will be shared, usually after a first conversation and their agreement to keep it confidential. When the search replaces someone still in the role, the extra steps are in how to run a confidential replacement search.
Who approves it, and when does it change?
- The consultant interviews the hiring executive and two to four stakeholders at kick-off.
- The consultant drafts the spec, including the questions stakeholders disagreed on.
- The hiring executive approves it in writing, with a version number and date, before outreach.
- If calibration changes a required item, the spec is re-issued as a new version and the change is noted in the progress report.
Candidates who were assessed under an earlier version should be reassessed against the new one, not silently dropped.
Common mistakes
- Pasting the job description and calling it a spec: no mandate, no success measures, nothing to interest a candidate who is not looking.
- Ten required items, so the shortlist is empty or the firm quietly ignores half of them.
- Leadership qualities written as adjectives ("visionary, collaborative") that no interviewer can test.
- No compensation information at all, which wastes the first call with most candidates.
- No version control, so the client and the firm assess against different documents.
Questions people ask
What goes in an executive search position specification?
A position specification usually covers the company and its situation, why the role exists now (the mandate), the reporting line and scope, what success looks like in the first one to two years, required and preferred experience, leadership qualities, the compensation structure, location and travel, the selection process and timeline, and how to contact the search firm confidentially.
How is a position specification different from a job description?
A job description lists duties and requirements for a role and is often an HR record. A position specification is written by the search firm for a specific search: it explains the company's situation and the mandate, sets the criteria candidates will be assessed against, and is written to interest senior people who are not looking. It is both the selection standard and the pitch.
Who writes the position specification in a retained search?
The search consultant drafts it after the kick-off interviews with the hiring executive and stakeholders, and the client approves it before outreach starts. Many retained agreements make the approved specification the first deliverable.
Should an executive position specification include the salary?
It should at least describe the compensation structure, and in some places the range may be legally required. New York's pay transparency law covers employers and employment agencies that advertise a job, and defines advertising as making a written description available to a pool of potential applicants, so check the laws where the role is based with counsel before sharing a spec without a range.