Best Executive Search Firms for US Companies Hiring in Chile in 2026

A country manager to run your Santiago operation and a VP who lives in Chile but reports to your US team both fall under "executive search in Chile," yet they call for completely different firms.

Which one you're running is the first thing to pin down. These eight firms cover both: Hire With Near, Korn Ferry, Egon Zehnder, Spencer Stuart, Stanton Chase, Amrop, Odgers, and Boyden.

Some searches are for a leader who will run your business in Chile: a country manager, a CFO for your Chilean entity, the head of a mining or energy operation, a regional head based in Santiago, or a seat on the board of your Chilean subsidiary. That's the work the global firms' Santiago offices describe themselves as built around.

Other searches are for senior leadership hires who live in Chile and join your team: a VP of Finance, a Head of Marketing, a Director of Operations. That's where Hire With Near fits.

In this article, I selected eight firms that can run a senior search. The list below shows each one's Chile footprint so you can match the firm to the seat.

How Did I Choose These Chile Executive Search Firms?

For this list of executive search firms in Chile, I only included companies that clear one of two bars:

• Client ratings: A rating of 4.5 or above from at least 50 client reviews on G2, Clutch, Trustpilot, GoodFirms, or ClearlyRated, client ratings only.
• Track record: A verifiable track record with large, recognizable clients and decades of industry-recognized presence, the kind of market standing that review platforms often don't capture.

In executive search, the second bar does most of the work. A retained search firm is paid in stages to run an exclusive search for one senior role, rather than only when someone is hired. These firms are hired by a handful of people at the top of a company, under confidentiality, a few times a decade.

That kind of business doesn't build up public client reviews, and Chile is no exception: none of the firms in Clutch's Chile executive search category comes close to 50 client reviews. Seven of the eight firms below are here on the second bar.

Then came the gate specific to this article. Every retained firm here names a Santiago office on its own website, which I checked on October 7, 2026. That rules out some well-known global search firms that serve Chile from another country.

Hire With Near is the exception. We don't run a Chile office, but we have recruiters in Chile and across Latin America, so the people running a search know the local market. It's on this list for senior hires who join your US team, which is a different job from a retained mandate to lead your Chilean operation.

I set a high bar because a senior miss is expensive: Gallup, the research firm best known for its polling and workplace studies, estimates that replacing a leader or manager costs around 200% of their salary.

A founder preparing to make their company's most senior technical hire to date put the stakes plainly:

This hire is not someone that I'm taking lightly. So it's just really, really critical that we get the right hire here. I don't want to be turning over people in this role.

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The point of this list is to help you build a shortlist. Which firm is right only becomes clear once you've talked to two or three of them.

What Are the Best Executive Search Firms in Chile for US Companies?

The best executive search firms in Chile for a US company are seven retained firms with their own Santiago offices, plus Hire With Near. I work there and included it, so I'm biased. I'll be clear about where we fit and where another firm is the better call.

The firms below are in no particular order because there's no single best option for everyone. The right fit depends on the role, the kind of search, your timeline, and how you like to work.

Here's how these eight headhunters and executive recruiters in Chile compare:

Hire With Near

Website: hirewithnear.com

Chile presence: Remote hiring across Chile, no local office.

Rating: 4.9/5 on G2 across 160+ reviews.

Sector focus: Every department, including finance and accounting, customer service, operations, technology, sales, and marketing.

Hire With Near is a full-service staffing and recruiting agency that helps US companies hire top-performing remote talent in Latin America, including senior leaders. We run every search end to end, from sourcing and vetting through payroll and compliance, so hiring remotely in Latin America stays simple on your side.

We're on this list for one kind of executive search in Chile: a director, VP, or head of function who lives there and works on your team, so you get someone who works close to your hours and has salary expectations below US rates. And nothing is paid up front: interviewing candidates is free, and you pay only if you hire.

According to Hire With Near's 2026 State of LatAm Hiring Report, a third of our placements across the region were senior-level, including VP of Finance, VP of Technology, and COO roles.

CyberFortress, for example, hired a Director of Accounting and Financial Reporting and a Director of Global Tax as part of a 20-person accounting team.

We're ranked No. 118 on the 2026 Inc. 5000 list of the fastest-growing private companies in America.

Key features:

• Vetting for senior roles: Before sourcing starts, your recruiter learns what success in the role looks like for you, including team dynamics and culture. We then search our 160,000+ pre-vetted pool and run fresh sourcing for the role, and we interview candidates before you see a shortlist. We fill 97% of the roles we take on, with a client satisfaction score of 9.1.
• Shortlists in days: You typically see a shortlist of candidates in 3 to 5 days. Most of our clients make a hire in under three weeks, which matters when a leadership seat is empty.
• 180-day replacement guarantee: Every placement is backed by a 180-day replacement guarantee, double the industry standard.
• Long-term retention: 80% of our hires stay 2+ years, long enough to build the institutional knowledge a senior role depends on.

Best for: US companies hiring a director, VP, or head of function who lives in Chile and reports into the US team, with candidates in days and no upfront payment.

Limitations: We're not a retained board or C-suite search boutique, and we don't have a Santiago office. For a board seat, a CEO or country manager for a Chilean subsidiary, or a confidential replacement at the top, a retained firm on this list such as Egon Zehnder or Amrop is the better call.

Korn Ferry

Website: kornferry.com

Chile presence: Santiago office in Las Condes commune.

Track record: Global executive search firm with retained search at scale.

Sector focus: Not published for the Santiago office.

Korn Ferry is on this list for reach. As a global executive search firm with an office in Santiago, it can take on a Chile search as one seat in a leadership build that spans several countries. That makes it most useful to companies hiring leaders in more than one market.

Key features:

• Latin America offices under one firm: Santiago sits alongside Buenos Aires, Lima, and São Paulo on Korn Ferry's global offices page, so a build that adds seats in Argentina, Peru, or Brazil can run through one firm.
• Professional search below the executive tier: Korn Ferry also recruits middle- and upper-management roles, so a Chile build that includes the directors and senior managers under the executive can run through the same firm.
• One relationship across markets: If you already work with Korn Ferry, you can brief the Chile search through the same account.

Best for: Multi-country leadership searches with Chile as one seat, or US companies already using Korn Ferry elsewhere.

Limitations: Korn Ferry publishes no local team for Santiago, so ask in the first call who will run your Chile search, and from where.

Egon Zehnder

Website: egonzehnder.com

Chile presence: Santiago office in Las Condes commune, serving Chile since 1990, first from Buenos Aires.

Track record: Global retained executive search since 1964.

Sector focus: Industrial, mining, consumer, and financial services.

Egon Zehnder earned a spot for how long it has been part of Chile's business community: more than three decades, with its own Santiago office for most of that time. The firm describes itself as the leading talent-advisory firm in the country.

Key features:

• Board governance work: Egon Zehnder says it pioneered its corporate governance advisory practice in Santiago, helping Chile's sovereign pension fund professionalize how it attracts and hires board members. That makes it a strong fit if the role you're filling sits at or near the board.
• Built around Chilean groups: Its Santiago office works with family-owned conglomerates and corporations based in Chile.
• A compact senior team: Four consultants in Santiago, supported by ten professional staff.

Best for: Board, CEO, and top-team searches for Chilean groups and corporations, especially when governance is part of the brief.

Limitations: The Santiago practice centers on board and top-team searches for companies based in Chile. If you're hiring a VP to join your US-based team, a firm that places senior hires on US teams may fit better.

Spencer Stuart

Website: spencerstuart.com

Chile presence: Santiago office in Las Condes commune.

Track record: Global retained executive search since 1956, 70+ offices in 30+ countries.

Sector focus: Not published for the Santiago office.

Spencer Stuart made this list because its Santiago office offers more than search. It pairs executive search with leadership consulting, including CEO succession planning and board advisory, and it publishes regional research on Latin America's CFOs and CHROs. That suits a US company that needs a partner for a Chile CEO or board seat and for the succession planning around it.

Key features:

• Chile-specific CFO research: Spencer Stuart published a study of the CFOs at the 40 companies in Chile's IPSA stock index, so a finance leadership search starts from data on who actually gets those jobs.
• Team and culture work alongside search: The Santiago consultants also work on top-team effectiveness and on strategic or cultural transformation.
• One firm for US and Chile board work: If you already use Spencer Stuart for US board or CEO work, you can extend that relationship to Chile.

Best for: Board and CEO searches run by a global firm, especially for companies already working with Spencer Stuart.

Limitations: Beyond the office manager, no local search team and no sector focus are published, so confirm which consultants will run a Chile search, where they're based, and which roles they've placed in Chile.

Stanton Chase

Website: stantonchase.com

Chile presence: Santiago office in Las Condes commune, with over 20 years in Chile.

Track record: Founded in 1990, 70+ offices in 45 countries.

Sector focus: Industrial, energy and mining, consumer products and services, and financial services.

What stands out about Stanton Chase is how long it has been operating in Chile and how much it does beyond search. Its Santiago office has worked in the country for more than 20 years, and the firm backs executive search with assessment, succession, and board services. That makes it a fit when the hire is one piece of a wider leadership project.

Key features:

• A named local team: The Santiago page lists six consultants by name, including two senior partners, so you can see who would run the search.
• Inclusive leadership practice: Stanton Chase runs regional work on inclusive leadership and culture in Latin America.
• Retained search methodology: Stanton Chase runs its searches through Search+, its retained executive search process, which starts from understanding your business and its culture before it builds the shortlist.

Best for: Leadership searches in industrial, energy and mining, consumer, or financial services, especially when assessment or succession work sits alongside the hire.

Limitations: The Santiago page names no clients, so ask for comparable searches in your sector during the first conversation.

Amrop

Website: amrop.com/cl/en

Chile presence: Amrop Chile, based in Las Condes commune.

Track record: Global executive search partnership since 1977, 50+ countries, 500+ professionals.

Sector focus: Mining and natural resources, energy and infrastructure, financial services, consumer and retail, industrial, and private equity, among others.

Amrop is here because it has been part of Chile's executive search market from the start. Amrop Chile calls itself one of the pioneers of executive search and board consulting in the country, and board services sit alongside its search work. That makes it a strong choice for board seats and senior searches that need a firm with deep local roots.

Key features:

• Board services: Board member search, board compensation, and ownership structure work.
• Leadership assessment: Candidate and team assessment alongside the search itself.
• Compensation studies: Offered as a separate service.

Best for: Board seats and senior searches inside Chile that call for a deep local partner team.

Limitations: Board and governance work is a large part of the practice. If you need a single functional leader for a US team, check that the assigned partner works in that function.

Odgers

Website: odgers.com

Chile presence: Santiago office in Las Condes commune, home of the firm's Southern Cone practice.

Track record: Global executive search firm, formerly Odgers Berndtson.

Sector focus: Industrial, financial services, consumer, healthcare and life sciences, technology, private equity and venture capital, and family-owned enterprises, among others.

Odgers covers a seat while the search runs. Alongside executive search, it offers interim management, so a company can put an interim leader in a Chile role right away and run the permanent search behind them.

The same Santiago practice also covers Argentina, so one engagement can reach both countries.

Key features:

• Three services under one firm: Executive Search, Interim Management, and Leadership Advisory, so a seat can be covered while the permanent search runs.
• Chile and Argentina under one team: A role that spans both countries can sit with a single practice.
• Board services practice: Odgers runs a dedicated board services practice in Latin America, so a Chile board search draws on a team that does this work regularly.

Best for: Roles spanning Chile and Argentina, or US companies already working with Odgers in other markets.

Limitations: Because one practice covers both Chile and Argentina, ask in the first call how much of your search will run from Santiago and who will handle it.

Boyden

Website: boyden.com

Chile presence: Santiago office opened March 24, 2026, in Lo Barnechea commune.

Track record: Founded in 1946, one of the world's oldest global executive search firms.

Sector focus: Consumer and retail, financial services, healthcare and life sciences, industrial, technology, and education and social impact, among others.

Boyden brings range. Its Santiago office opened in March 2026 as part of a global firm founded in 1946, and its sector coverage includes healthcare and life sciences, technology, and education and social impact. That makes it worth a call for a US company hiring leaders in those fields.

Key features:

• Part of a South American expansion: Boyden announced the Santiago opening as an expansion of its presence in South America.
• Family-owned and multinational organizations: Both appear among the client types on Boyden's Chile page.
• A global firm behind a small team: The Santiago partners can draw on Boyden's wider network for searches that reach beyond Chile.

Best for: A US company that wants a global firm's network with a small senior partner team on the account.

Limitations: Boyden's Santiago office opened in March 2026, so its Chile track record is short. Ask for searches the firm has run in your sector, in Chile or elsewhere in the region.

How Do You Choose the Right Executive Search Firm in Chile?

With eight firms on this list, the fastest way to narrow it down is to match the firm to the kind of hire. Start with one question: is this a board or CEO seat inside a Chilean organization, a senior leader who will join your US team, or one hire in a wider Latin America plan? That answer points you to two or three names worth calling.

Hire With Near appears in more than one of these situations, since we place senior hires who join US companies from Latin America, whether it's one leader or a whole team.

If you're filling a board or CEO seat in Chile

Look at Spencer Stuart, Egon Zehnder, or Amrop. Spencer Stuart pairs board and CEO search with CEO succession planning. Egon Zehnder says it pioneered its corporate governance advisory practice in Santiago and works with Chile's family-owned conglomerates. Amrop adds board member compensation and ownership structure work to its board search.

If you want a senior hire in Chile who joins your US team

Hire With Near places senior hires full-time, working remotely from Latin America as part of your US team and reporting to you. The firms above are built around leadership searches inside Chilean organizations, so if the outcome you want is a leader on your team from day one, start with us.

If the role is in industrial, energy and mining, or financial services

Stanton Chase concentrates on those sectors and backs its search with executive assessment, succession planning, and board services. That suits a hire where you want the assessment done alongside the search.

If you're hiring a leader and the team around them

The firms above are built around the leadership hire. We cover the hire and the team beneath it: the same company that places your leader can source the specialists they'll manage, all working in your time zone and reporting to you. The hires stay, too. The average Hire With Near placement lasts three years, and 80% stay at least two.

One SaaS company hired a Head of Marketing with 20+ years of experience, including director and executive roles at Oracle and Thomson Reuters. It then added a Product Marketing Manager, doubled its lead generation within two quarters, and kept the Head of Marketing for more than two years.

If you need the seat covered while the search runs

Odgers is the one to call. It offers interim management alongside executive search, so an interim leader can start in the role while the permanent search continues.

If you're hiring in healthcare, technology, or education

Boyden's sector coverage includes healthcare and life sciences, technology, and education and social impact. Its Santiago office is new (opened March 2026), so ask for searches it has run in your field.

If Chile is one country in a multi-country leadership plan

Korn Ferry has eleven Latin America offices, so one firm can run the whole build. Odgers runs Chile and Argentina as a single practice, which suits a role that spans both.

If your plan is Latin America as a region, Hire With Near is also worth a look: the same partner who places a senior hire in Chile can run a search in Mexico, Colombia, or Argentina without switching vendors.

Once you've narrowed to two or three, call each one and ask the same questions

The firms above solve different problems, but within a category the differences come down to execution. Before you commit, ask each one:

• Which consultants will run my search, and from which office?
• What searches have you run for roles like mine in Chile, and in my sector?
• How is the fee structured, and what triggers each payment?
• What happens if the hire leaves within the first year?

Asking every firm the same four questions is the fastest way to see which one fits, rather than which one pitched best.

Final Thoughts

The firms here solve different problems, so the decision that matters most isn't which brand you call first; it's being honest about which search you're running. Get that right and the shortlist narrows itself.

For a leader to run your Chilean operation, the retained firms with Santiago offices and local partners are built for it. For a senior hire who lives in Chile and joins your US team, that's our lane.

In our research on why US companies hire in Latin America, companies already hiring in the region came to us to scale or get a stronger shortlist than their current partners delivered; if that's you, that's exactly the search we run.

Our guide to hiring in Chile covers the talent side, and if you're hiring leaders in Argentina too, here's the same list for Argentina. For the regional picture, see our list of executive search firms across Latin America.

If you need a senior hire in Chile who joins your US team, book a free consultation with Hire With Near's team. We'll talk through the role and explain how our search process works, so you know what to expect.

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