Venture Capital
A Specialist Talent Partner For
VC Portfolio Companies
Richard Wheeler Associates works alongside your VC platform and talent teams to fill technical roles across AI/Data, CleanTech, MedTech, Cyber Security and Software Engineering. Here’s what a partnership will look like:
One senior point of contact. You and your portfolio companies work directly with Richard Wheeler.
Speed and rigour. A shortlist typically within 14 days. Fast enough that hiring keeps pace with product delivery, without lowering the bar.
A specialist not a generalist. RWA's roots are in technology Search & Selection: rigorous screening and interviewing, not keyword-matching CVs.
Complementary not competing. Working alongside your in-house talent team and a CTO/Founder, protecting your brand.
No placement, no fee.
Mis-hires are existential at this stage with costs up to 213% of salary plus risk to product momentum and the next funding cycle.
With 35+ years’ experience, RWA brings screening and interviewing rigour.
We aim for a job offer per 2 candidates shortlisted.
Sector Expertise
Deep specialism across your highest-priority sectors.
We specialise in senior and founding technical hires and niche sector roles (AI research scientists, security clearance-sensitive cybersecurity hires, regulatory-aware MedTech engineers).
AI / Data Science. From applied AI engineers to research scientists, we understand the difference between research-led and product-led candidates. We work directly with spin-out pipelines from Oxford, UCL, Cambridge and Entrepreneur First.
CleanTech. Mission-alignment matters to candidates here as much as compensation does. We screen for technical depth as well as matching values and a genuine interest in the problem.
MedTech / HealthTech. Safety-critical, regulated engineering is a different discipline to a typical SaaS build - validation, audit trails and MHRA/FDA-aware development sit alongside the core software and data skills. We assess for both.
Cyber Security. Genuine hands-on security depth is scarce and often compounded by clearance or nationality requirements for government-adjacent or infrastructure clients.
Software Engineering. Essential hires, regardless of vertical: engineers to scale a team past employee ten, distributed hiring, and possible visa sponsorship.
Your focus on high technology search is clearly showing benefits and all the appointments have met or exceeded our expectations.
Richard Wheeler Associates is the only recruitment firm that I recommend to any company I work for. I have been involved in recruiting candidates provided by RWA at multiple companies over the last ten years.
Richard Wheeler Associates provide us with a steady stream of high quality candidates – which means we can fill our vacancies in a timely fashion, and we don’t have to deal with any other agency!
We filled a senior and niche role through Richard recently. I found his approach to be very quality-focused, each candidate felt hand-picked and was presented with an overview written specifically for our context. This was certainly a cut above the scatter-gun approach I'd seen from some other agents.
Richard Wheeler Associates are by far the most professional and focused Selection consultancy I have ever dealt with. I trust RWA to find the best talent in the market place for my unique needs.
