Best cities for executive search: it depends on your niche (here's the framework).

Base where the clients are. Executive search is about proximity to decision-makers and HQ concentration, not talent pools. You can source talent remotely, but building high-trust client relationships and winning retained mandates requires local presence and network density.

For contingent/high-volume work, yes. For retained search at senior levels, it's harder—clients expect local presence, confidentiality, and relationship depth. If you go remote-first, invest in systems that maintain relationship memory and activity history, because you'll lack the informal context of office conversations.

Cross-border searches from multiple cities require better collaboration tools and cleaner systems of record. If your execution layer is spreadsheets, distributed teams lose ownership clarity and follow-up discipline. Choose an ATS with candidate-centric activities, confidentiality controls, and structured pipelines.

Then choose a city with strong international flight connections, multilingual talent, and cross-border business culture (e.g., Amsterdam, London, Frankfurt). Prioritize systems that handle multi-market coordination and relationship tracking across geographies.

Stay focused until you have 5+ placements/year in a new market. Multi-office adds coordination overhead and dilutes network depth. If you expand, ensure your ATS/CRM handles distributed team workflows—otherwise you'll revert to email chains and spreadsheets for handoffs.