Your Search Partner

Executive search delivered by real talent experts

External partners, internally minded

Barker Owen is a boutique search company delivering affordable and best practice leadership hiring, inspired by our careers leading talent and executive search at world-class companies like Dyson and Aston Martin Formula One.

We created Barker Owen to be the external search partner we never had ourselves. Providing more value, better experiences and more competitive pricing whilst delivering searches cross-functionally and globally.

Our personal approach is designed to provide the outcomes you need, in the way that works for you. Because we believe working with an external partner shouldn’t feel corporate or removed from your reality - it should be enjoyable and grounded in your culture, internal challenges and long-term business goals.

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  • Leadership Hiring

    • Board, NED & Advisors

    • C-Suite, Executive

    • VP & Director

    • Functional Directors & Heads

    Business Areas

    • Corporate Functions

    • Design & Engineering

    • Research & Science

    • Supply Chain & Manufacturing

    • Robotics & Software

    • Digital, Data & AI

    • Sales & Marketing

    • Academia

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About us

We have decades of first-hand experience hiring world-class talent in over 75 countries in a variety of sectors from Retail, Tech & Media to Research and Formula One.

Our careers have been defined by an ability to deliver complex leadership hires. Ultimately helping companies unlock real commercial success through the leadership teams we built.

After years of working in-house together, we understand and empathise with internal complexity and ambiguity along with the pressure to continually deliver results at pace with tightening budgets.

When you work with us, you have us operating as an extension of you, deeply invested in your goals and challenges.

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Sam Barker | Co-Founder & Managing Partner

Led Talent and built Executive Search at Dyson, Aston Martin F1, BBC Studios,  Fortescue-WAE, Colt Technologies and Danone.

Sam has delivered countless highly confidential, high profile Executive and Board placements partnering some of the most innovative business leaders worldwide. 

Most recently Sam scaled Talent Acquisition at Aston Martin F1 including optimising hyper-niche hiring such as Aerodynamics.

Superpower: Gets straight to the heart of the issue — pinpointing the real performance drivers, stakeholder dynamics and outcomes that matter.

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Dave Owen | Co-Founder & Managing Partner

Executive Search Partner by trade turned Global Head of Talent Acquisition at Dyson in Singapore.

Dave has also been a Hiring Strategy Advisor to the BBC and a handful of innovative Hiring Tech startups including Popp, Hackajob, Talent Spaces and Clu as former VC-backed Founder himself.

Dave’s specialty is researching and sourcing for talent roles that have never existed before.

Superpower: Creatively solving complex hiring problems using tech-powered strategies.

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Get in touch

Interested in working with us? You can connect on LinkedIn or at info@barkerowen.com