Chief Investment Officer, London Single Family Office

The Principal had moved from a concentrated founder-wealth position into a diversified long-term mandate over the preceding decade. The office held listed equities, fixed income, hedge fund allocations, private equity commitments and a small book of direct co-investments alongside operating partners. The previous CIO had departed after a strategy disagreement over private markets weighting.

The brief was for a single accountable investment owner to hold the mandate end-to-end: setting policy with the Investment Committee, sizing allocations, managing external managers, owning governance and reporting to the Principal. The Investment Committee met quarterly.

The mandate blended two candidate pools. On one side, institutional CIOs from pensions, endowments and large family offices with strong governance and manager-selection discipline but limited direct investing experience. On the other, investors from private equity or hedge fund backgrounds with strong direct-deal judgement but limited multi-asset governance experience. The Principal wanted both.

Three further constraints applied. The Principal's tolerance for process was low; a candidate who needed a full institutional infrastructure would not land. The Investment Committee included two external advisers with strong views, so the CIO needed to hold their own without creating conflict. And the prior departure had left the team unsettled, so the new hire needed to rebuild morale without over-promising a new direction in year one.

Candidates who combined multi-asset governance with genuine direct-investment judgement, who could operate in a low-process environment, and who had the temperament to hold an Investment Committee without dominating it, were a narrow field.

Firat led the search, which drew directly on his front-office investment background. The mandate was run under a codename known only to Firat, the Principal and the Chair of the Investment Committee. The existing investment team was briefed only at shortlist stage.

Oplu mapped the relevant CIO population across London single-family offices, multi-family offices and selected institutional allocators. Candidates were assessed through extended investment discussions covering current market positioning, governance philosophy and direct-deal judgement rather than CV review. Referencing went deep with former Investment Committee members and Principals, and one candidate was asked to present a reverse case study on a live portfolio question.

The candidate was placed within the agreed scope and has held the seat since 2024. The Investment Committee has since formalised its policy framework under the new CIO, and the office has engaged Oplu on a further investment analyst hire.

CIO search for a single-family office is an exercise in calibrating governance against direct judgement. Scoping the brief around the specific blend the Principal wants, and testing candidates against live investment questions rather than CV patterns, is how we avoid the common pattern of a technically qualified CIO who cannot hold the specific mandate in front of them.