About | Layla Barnies

About Us

Founded by Sophie Houstoun-Boswall in 2013, SHB Partners exists to solve the senior talent challenges that keep forward thinking leaders awake at night and which traditional search firms struggle to deliver on. The ones that demand creativity, nuance, and a completely fresh perspective. We're not your typical search firm. We thrive on working with clients who are disrupting the status quo and are genuinely committed to, and passionate about, building values driven businesses with a diverse and mindful leadership team capable of driving innovation, adaptability, and sustainable long term success.

We are "specialist generalists"—and here's why that matters for your most challenging searches. While narrow specialists often approach problems with preconceived solutions, thinking they've seen it all before, our broad perspective and experience allows us to think completely outside of the box. We don't make assumptions based on sector conventions or rely on tired playbooks and rehashed standard processes.

This creative flexibility becomes critical on hard to fill assignments where traditional approaches have failed. We might look at adjacent industries, help you reframe the role entirely, or identify non obvious talent pools that sector focused firms would never consider.

But here's what really sets us apart: every search is delivered personally by a Partner level professional, right down to the initial research and market mapping. While other firms have Partners who win the assignment and junior teams who execute on it, we believe the hardest searches require the depth of experience that only comes from hands on decades in the field. When you're dealing with complex stakeholder dynamics, cultural nuances, or truly unique requirements, you need someone who's navigated these waters countless times before.

Our approach is simple: we really listen and we really get to know you and your business. Your culture, your ambitions, your non negotiables. Then we craft bespoke solutions around what your business really needs, not what we 'assumed' it needed or what was readily available on our database of candidates.

We offer a highly personalised, hands on and transparent service. Because exceptional results don't require sacrificing authenticity, transparency, or dare we say it, enjoyment. The best partnerships happen when people can be genuinely themselves, when trust runs both ways, and when the journey is as rewarding as the destination. We're in this for the long game, building relationships that outlast any single assignment and creating networks that generate value for years to come.

Sophie is very unique in what she does and how she does it. She has all the skills of a Tier 1 Search Firm but with a personal approach that gets results every time. She has taken on some of the hardest assignments for me, ones that others haven’t been able to solve…but she has. She understands a brief and she only puts people forward who she truly believes will get appointed, it’s not just a list! Having worked with her across a number of companies she just gets it. There are very few like her in the industry.

Kathy Callaghan, Group HR Director & NED

John Doe, CEO

Over three decades in senior talent management and executive search has taught me that the most complex talent challenges require more than conventional thinking, they demand a completely different approach and a very broad knowledge base. My career journey has been less about following traditional models and more about questioning them, always searching for a better, more thoughtful way to serve my clients and connect great leaders with opportunities where they can thrive both personally and professionally.

My career began at one of Europe's leading firms, where I was instrumental in growing their executive search practice from startup to IPO, building and leading teams across Europe as well as serving on the Operational Board that successfully took the company public. However after watching priorities shift post IPO, away from client service and toward shareholder returns, I moved on to co found my own firm.

As one of the first 'dot com' boutique search firms, we specialised in helping high growth digital businesses scale rapidly, we were pioneers in disrupting traditional search methodologies, creating new approaches for a new breed of client with entirely different challenges which had not been encountered before. We scaled from start up to an international team of over forty people across London and San Francisco, it still remains a market leader today which I'm incredibly proud of.

Following the sale of the business I became an advisor to various executive search firms, helping them grow and developing their delivery functions to achieve better results. But it was taking a role client side that was the most transformational for me, as EMEA Recruitment & Talent Director for a large global technology business going through major transformation themselves. Sitting the other side of the fence as the client for a change, working with major global search firms, I experienced firsthand what it felt like to be on the receiving end of the process. This gave me a unique insight into how clients and candidates could be much better served not just in terms of results but in respect of the process and journey to arrive at the results. This became the foundation for SHB Partners, where we bring a thoughtful and tailored approach to every search, offering solutions that are as individual as the organisations we partners with.

Over a 30 + year career I have personally delivered assignments, as well as grown and led my own delivery teams, across most global geographies, sectors, functions and corporate ownership structures. From multinational blue chips to scrappy VC backed startups, from traditional corporations to cutting edge disruptors and everything in between. More recently my passion for high performance leadership and culture led me into fascinating territory, working with major sports organisations to solve their senior 'off pitch' appointments. I am also a Coach, Rapid Transformational Therapist, and Hypnotherapist—because I believe success is achieved as much through mindset as skillset.