About Us
About Cyan Exec
Founded in 2018, Cyan Exec was established to deliver a highly tailored, consultative approach to mid-to-senior hiring, focussed on quality, pace, and long-term impact. Integrity underpins everything we do. We operate with transparency, honesty, and accountability, building trusted relationships to ensure consistently strong outcomes. We are deeply embedded in our core markets and bring over 20 years experience in fintech, payments, financial services, and software & technology.
“Sarah has supported me over a number of years in building leadership teams and strengthening talent at both executive and management levels. She is an outstanding executive recruiter, leveraging a strong network and deep knowledge of the payments and fintech industry to deliver a high-quality pipeline of candidates.
Sarah takes the time to truly understand client requirements, ensuring the shortlist is both relevant and well-aligned. She brings a highly personal approach, is responsive to feedback, and is equally confident in challenging where needed, advocating for candidates she believes will succeed and add long-term value.“
Our approach
Our approach is execution-led, prioritising delivery and moving at pace without compromising on quality. We are commercially focused, recognising that the right hires must do more than fill a position, they must directly contribute to growth, performance, and long-term business success. We build trust-based partnerships grounded in credibility, transparency, and open communication, enabling us to act as an extension of our clients’ leadership teams rather than simply a recruitment provider.
Underpinning everything we do is a high-performance mindset, allowing us to identify and attract individuals who thrive in ambitious, fast-moving environments. This combination enables us to operate not just as recruiters, but as genuine strategic partners in building high-performing leadership teams.
“Sarah and her team have a strong track record of finding outstanding candidates on a consistent basis. They are amongst the very best companies I’ve come across when it comes to interpreting a brief and finding suitable people.
They work extremely hard and have found good people for me very quickly. They negotiate offers with considerable skill and, as a client, I feel as though they are acting in my best interests when it comes to closing out an offer, rather than closing it at any price. Their judgement is excellent; this comes across in their communication style which is appropriate and effective for interaction with the most senior of people and the most sensitive of situations.”
Our relationships
Our relationships with many of our clients and candidates are long lasting and stretch back for years. We are also able to make an impact quickly and from a standing start have become a trusted recruitment partner in a matter of months.
We are seen as an extension of our clients business and support them through the recruitment journey as well as often playing an important active role in strategic hiring plans and recruitment decisions. Importantly, our clients and our candidates trust us to negotiate fairly to reach a successful outcome for all.
Our experience
Our experience and intuition enable us to ask insightful questions, challenge assumptions, and provide valuable advice and market intelligence.
Your assignment will be managed personally by a highly experienced consultant with over 20 years of industry expertise. Unlike many recruitment firms, we never pass your search to inexperienced recruiters.
Search experts
We specialise in identifying, engaging, and securing exceptional leadership talent for organisations operating in highly competitive and rapidly evolving markets. Combining deep sector expertise with a rigorous, execution-led search methodology, we go beyond traditional recruitment to uncover proven leaders and industry-recognised professionals who have the capability to drive growth, lead transformation, and deliver measurable commercial outcomes.
Our network
Our network is one of our greatest strengths, built, nurtured, and continuously developed over more than two decades operating across fintech, payments, financial services, and software and technology.
Through long-standing relationships with industry leaders, high-performing executives, and emerging talent, we have direct access to an extensive pool of highly sought-after professionals, many of whom are not actively engaged with the market. This depth of connectivity enables us to identify, engage, and secure the right individuals quickly, efficiently, and with a level of insight that extends far beyond traditional recruitment methods.
Need to make a strategic hire?
Get in touch today to learn how our expertise, network, and search methodology can help you identify, engage, and secure the leaders who will drive your business forward.
Our sectors
Fintech & Payments
The convergence of payments and fintech is transforming the financial services landscape, creating faster, smarter, and more connected ways for businesses and consumers to move, manage, and access money. We partner with innovative start-ups, scale-ups, and established market leaders across real-time payments, embedded finance, digital banking, open banking, cross-border payments, payment infrastructure, and financial technology platforms.
Our clients span the full payments and fintech ecosystem, from issuers, acquirers, processors, and payment service providers to wealthtech, regtech, and financial software businesses. Combining deep sector expertise with a global network, we help organisations attract the commercial, technical, and leadership talent needed to drive growth, innovation, and competitive advantage.
Financial Services
The financial services sector is undergoing significant transformation, driven by digital innovation, regulatory change, and evolving client expectations. We partner with a diverse range of organisations across banking, wealth and asset management, private markets, fund services, insurance, and financial infrastructure, supporting both established institutions and high-growth businesses.
Combining deep market knowledge with an extensive industry network, we help our clients attract exceptional leadership and specialist talent capable of driving growth, navigating complexity, and delivering lasting commercial success.
Software & Technology
Software and technology businesses are at the forefront of digital transformation, enabling organisations across every industry to operate more efficiently, make better decisions, and deliver enhanced customer experiences. We partner with innovative SaaS providers, enterprise software companies, cloud-native businesses, data and analytics platforms, AI-driven technology firms, and infrastructure providers that are shaping the future of the digital economy.
Meet Sarah Wilton
With more than 25 years’ experience delivering senior and leadership appointments, Sarah has developed deep expertise across fintech, payments, financial services, and software and technology. She has built a strong reputation for identifying and securing high-calibre leaders who drive growth, transform performance, and create lasting commercial value.
Having successfully built and exited multiple recruitment businesses, Sarah founded Cyan Exec to provide a more focused, execution-led search partner, combining strategic insight, sector expertise, and hands-on delivery to help ambitious organisations secure exceptional talent in fast-moving, high-growth markets.
As an owner-managed business, every assignment is led personally by Sarah from initial market mapping through to placement and ongoing engagement, ensuring pace, consistency, and complete accountability throughout the process. Over two decades, she has cultivated an extensive network that provides direct access to high-calibre, often passive candidates who are rarely reached through traditional recruitment channels.
Combining deep market knowledge with strong commercial intuition, Sarah is known for asking the right questions, providing honest and pragmatic advice, and constructively challenging assumptions to ensure hiring decisions are aligned with both immediate objectives and long-term business goals.