Cyber Risk Insurance, Sales Directors, Based London

The key challenge here, was finding people who had a good understanding of the re-insurer market (this is a particular hard to find profile), together with enterprise grade sales know how and the smarts to be able to sell cyber risk to a highly informed customer type, who are typically risk averse and slow to move.

Case Study: Executive Search for Cyber Risk Insurance Sales Leaders

Business Challenge

A fast-growing London-headquartered cyber risk insurance solutions provider was expanding its reach within the reinsurance sector. The firm needed two pivotal commercial leaders—a Regional Sales Director and an Account Director—with the expertise to sell advanced SaaS, data analytics, and consulting packages to large, global reinsurers.

Critical requirements included:

• Deep market knowledge of reinsurance and large enterprise insurance buyers.

• A consultative sales approach capable of translating complex technical, regulatory, and cyber risk subjects into compelling, solutions-focused narratives.

• Experience with data-centric SaaS platforms and advisory sales into board-level stakeholders.

• Demonstrable history of influencing the buying journey in a risk-averse, compliance-driven sector.

Headhunting Approach

To meet these high-stakes requirements, the search strategy consisted of:

• Market Mapping and Networking: Extensive research into the reinsurance sector identified executives who had previously exceeded commercial targets selling risk analytics and insurance technology. Focus groups included talent with reinsurance and high-value corporate insurance backgrounds.

• Advanced Assessment: Each candidate’s ability to perform sophisticated customer discovery, adapt sales cycles to regulatory environments, and lead nuanced boardroom conversations was assessed.

• Tech Industry Targeting: Priority was placed on leaders with proven success commercializing SaaS, data intelligence, and consulting offerings addressing cyber risk and operational resilience.

Execution Details

• Direct sourcing through confidential approaches and leveraging industry contacts to ensure discretion, as market perception in the cyber and insurance data vertical is highly sensitive.

• Assessment of not only sales performance, but also strategic thinking, advisory acumen, and the capability to translate technical platform benefits into real business risk reduction for large reinsurance customers.

• Final selection included rigorous role-play scenarios and stakeholder mapping exercises to validate consultative selling and solution-building skills in highly regulated enterprise environments.

Results

• The Regional Sales Director hired brought both deep subject-matter expertise and a transformative sales style, opening strategic dialogues with global reinsurers and accelerating pipeline growth.

• The Account Director possessed strong client stewardship ability and experience driving SaaS adoption among legacy insurance buyers, resulting in a marked uplift in annual recurring revenue from newly-won reinsurance customers.

• Both new hires exceeded their first-year goals, delivering high-value contracts, expanding the company’s reputation in the market, and shaping new solution offerings based on direct insight from reinsurance buyers.