Telecommunications
Telecommunications executive search & headhunting specialists
At Stone Executive, we partner with network operators, mobile businesses and digital infrastructure owners to appoint the leaders who build and run the UK’s fixed and mobile networks. Our telecommunications executive search practice appoints chief executives, managing directors, chairs and non-executive directors, together with the technical, commercial and operational leaders responsible for long-term performance.
Telecoms is a capital-intensive sector in which a small number of senior decisions shape a network for many years. Boards are investing in full fibre and 5G while they also retire legacy services and meet a demanding security regime, and each of these programmes calls for experienced, high-calibre leadership.
As specialist telecoms headhunters, we approach high-performing leaders who are already in post, which gives our clients access to candidates they would seldom meet through traditional recruitment channels. Our Telecommunications practice sits within our wider Technology practice, which supports functional and board-level appointments across the sector.
Telecoms leaders we appoint
We appoint leaders to the boards, executive teams and senior management of telecoms businesses. Each brief reflects how the client earns its revenue, since a wholesale network owner, a retail mobile brand and an enterprise connectivity provider each need a different leadership profile.
- Chief executives and managing directors
- Chief technology officers, network directors and heads of network operations
- Chief commercial officers and sales directors, including wholesale and enterprise leaders
- Chief operating officers and directors of build, field operations and customer service
- Chief financial officers and finance directors
- Chief information security officers and heads of network security
- Chairs and non-executive directors with a telecoms or infrastructure background
Where a brief centres on the technology function itself, it draws on our experience of chief technology officer appointments.
Fixed and mobile networks we cover
Our telecoms executive search covers both halves of the UK market: fixed networks that carry broadband and business connectivity, and mobile networks that serve consumers, enterprises and the operators that buy wholesale access. Leaders often move between the two, so a search for one side frequently draws on candidates from the other.
- Full-fibre and wholesale fixed networks, including alternative network builders
- Mobile network operators and mobile virtual network operators
- Towers, small cells and shared mobile infrastructure
- Business and enterprise connectivity, including managed network services
- Data centres and the fibre that links them
The Ofcom Connected Nations update for spring 2026, based on January 2026 data, found full fibre available to 24.9 million UK homes, or 82%, with gigabit-capable broadband at 89%. Take-up reached 12.4 million premises, 47% of those able to connect, so much of the fixed market is now judged on filling the networks already built.
On the mobile side, the Competition and Markets Authority’s final report on the Vodafone and Three merger named four UK mobile network operators: Vodafone, Three, BT Group’s EE and Virgin Media O2. It cleared the merger, which reduces that number to three, subject to a commitment to invest in the combined network. Mobile virtual network operators such as Sky Mobile, Tesco Mobile and iD Mobile rely on wholesale access to those networks, which makes wholesale leadership a specialism in its own right.
What is changing in Telecoms leadership
Telecoms leadership is changing because three large programmes now run at once: completing and filling full-fibre networks, moving mobile customers onto 5G standalone, and retiring the copper telephone network. A fourth, the statutory security framework, places responsibility for network security at board level.
Ofcom reports that 5G standalone coverage outside premises now ranges from 49% to 85% across the three operators that have deployed it. For mobile operators, that puts network directors and commercial leaders in charge of a new generation of services and the revenue case behind them.
On the fixed side, Openreach states that on 31 January 2027 all traditional phone lines will be going digital as the Public Switched Telephone Network is switched off. Operations, customer and wholesale leaders carry the migration of the remaining lines, including business equipment such as alarms and payment terminals that still depend on analogue connections.
Security is now a statutory duty. The Telecommunications (Security) Act 2021 requires providers of public networks and services to take appropriate and proportionate measures to identify and reduce the risks of security compromises, and the framework came into force on 1 October 2022. The Telecommunications Security Code of Practice, revised as version 1.1 on 14 July 2026, sets out measures for Tier 1 providers, with relevant turnover of £1 billion or more, and for Tier 2 providers between £50 million and £1 billion. The regulations also require a person or committee at board level to take responsibility for supervising the implementation of the provider’s security policy. Many of these appointments overlap with our Cybersecurity executive search practice.
How we run a Telecoms executive search
Every Telecoms executive search is led by a partner, who stays with it from the first briefing to the appointment. The brief starts with the client’s position in the market, whether it owns networks, buys wholesale access or serves enterprise customers, and with the programmes the new leader will inherit, since both shape the experience the role requires.
Many clients engage us after trying to appoint on their own, particularly where demand for proven leaders far exceeds supply. Network leaders are asked to show what they have built, operated and secured, and at what scale, while commercial leaders are judged on how they have grown revenue on networks already in the ground. For board appointments, our searches range from SMEs to AIM-listed and FTSE-indexed organisations, and our non-executive director recruitment work brings chairs and independent directors with the governance experience that a regulated network business requires.
FAQs
Who are the big 3 in telecom?›
In UK mobile, the three network operator groups are BT Group’s EE, Virgin Media O2 and VodafoneThree, formed when the Competition and Markets Authority cleared the merger of Vodafone and Three with remedies. Each runs its own national network and sells wholesale access to virtual operators such as Sky Mobile and Tesco Mobile.
What does a telecom consultant do?›
A telecom consultant advises operators, investors and large organisations on their networks, covering areas such as network design, technology choices, regulation and commercial strategy. Senior consultants often move into leadership roles inside operators, and their experience of several networks often suits a chief technology officer or strategy appointment.
What do you do in executive search?›
Executive search identifies and approaches senior leaders for a specific appointment, most of whom are not actively looking for a move. In telecoms, we map the operators, network builders and suppliers where suitable leaders work, approach them in confidence, assess them against the brief and present a shortlist, with a partner leading the search throughout.
How much does an executive headhunter cost?›
Retained executive headhunters usually charge a fee based on a share of the appointed leader’s first-year remuneration, paid in stages through the assignment. The level depends on the seniority of the role and how scarce the experience is, for example a network director who has led a full-fibre build at scale.
Telecoms organisations planning a senior appointment can speak to our team in confidence on 0333 800 1560.
If you would like to discuss a vacancy, or you're looking for a new opportunity, please send us an email or give us a call - we'd be delighted to hear from you.
