Smart Industry 2025 Wrap Up

2025 has certainly been another interesting year with so much change taking place within the SaaS market! 

As the deployment of AI-oriented solutions really starts to gather pace in B2B software, achieving revenue growth targets continues to be a challenge in what remains a slightly volatile market. Appointing best-in-class talent has never been more important.

Throughout the year, our team has been extremely active supporting our global portfolio of over 100 technology customers. We’re proud of the role we play in helping our clients evolve and improve year on year, so we wanted to take a moment to celebrate the last 12 months and share our thoughts and experiences ahead of the festive shutdown. 

Executive Searches & A New Cycle on the Horizon…

We’ve seen a significant spike in demand for C-suite and executive leadership team appointments in 2025, especially across North America within PE-backed businesses.  Given the timing of the COVID lockdown and subsequent equity cycle reset in 2022, many PE firms are gearing up for an ownership change in 2026.

Demand for senior talent is therefore focused in two areas. The first is accomplished leaders who have the experience to lead an organisation through the next phase of growth. This is all about hiring talent for the future scale of business, not where it is right now.

The second area is those with exceptional turnaround and/or change management skills.  Revenue growth has been more challenging in recent years, and some SaaS businesses have struggled to achieve expected results. In these instances, the ability to bring in talent that can quickly access strengths and weaknesses, recognise opportunities and refocus efforts in growth markets is critical to get performance back on track. 

It’s certainly not all about revenue and marketing, though. There has also been a spike in demand for thought leaders at Chief Product Officer level. No doubt this role is having a huge influence in terms of the evolution of AI-enabled solutions, alongside making sense of an increasingly complex product portfolio for highly acquisitive businesses.

Notable placements in 2025

We made a number of key, senior placements across 2025. Senior placements inherently come with an extra layer of complexity, whether that be the confidential element or the lack of available talent. Here is a list of some of these that we are proudest of across the year:

• President for North America, a super confidential search that required the best that FMC has to offer
• VP of Sales for a client in Europe
• Another VP of Sales role, this time based in the US
• Sales Director vacancy based in the Nordics

And countless other roles to be proud of across the team. If we were to list them all, we'd be here all day…

Globetrotting & Trainspotting

Sourcing the right skills and experience is only half the solution. In order to access cultural fit, we need to know our clients inside out, and we are committed to investing in these relationships. In an increasingly virtual world, face-to-face human interaction is what stands us apart. This is one area AI is yet to master!

Our team has travelled far and wide to meet contacts in 2025; here's a run-down of where we ventured to:

• At the very start of the year, we had a few members of the leadership team travel to Boston to meet up with 5 key clients over a few days in the States.
• As has become a yearly tradition, James, Kim, and Justin travelled to Hannover Messe in April. They managed to meet around 30 of their clients at the event. It was a busy few days to say the least!
• Joe took a solo trip to Houston, Texas the other month to attend Procore Groundbreak.
• Sefi & Mo took the short flight over to Belgium at the start of the year, and Will also travelled to Belgium a few months later to meet a key client in Brussels.
• There were also consistent trips across the year to events in London and the tech corridor, as well as a few events in Birmingham that rounded off a well-travelled year for the team

And as we look ahead into 2026…

• A trip to visit clients in New York in the early part of the year is already on the cards
• Hannover Messe will once again feel the presence of FMC in April
• There has been something of a 'tech boom' emerging in Florida in recent years, so we also have plans to travel there to meet up with some newer clients of ours.
• And we will also travel once again to Houston next year to meet up with some of our long-standing relationships.

Moments of celebration in the team

The Smart team in Bristol welcomed Alex to their ranks in May as a Recruiter. Bringing with him a little bit of classic Australian charm, he has settled into the company brilliantly, and we can't wait to see how he develops even more into his role in the new year.

Fresh off the back of winning 'Employee of the Year' at the 2024 FMC awards, Lola carried on her great work into 2025 and achieved promotion to Principal Recruiter!

In October, Mo achieved promotion to Account Manager! Bringing positive vibes and an insatiable appetite for recruitment from day one, she's consistently delivered excellent results since joining the company. A very well-deserved promotion!

There's only one more thing left to say. We hope you all have a fantastic festive season, and we look forward to placing even more top candidates into top roles in the new year!