• SaaS HR provider Ciphr has appointed Imran Akhoun as director of M&A to support the group’s strategic growth plans. He will work closely with the leadership team and board of directors to identify possible merger & acquisition opportunities, managing due diligence processes and co-ordinating transactions. Akhoun joins from SaaS supplier management platform Fortius Network where he developed its European presence.

• Recruitment giant Randstad has announced its new executive leadership team, which will be effective as of 1 January 2023. The tiered governance of the executive board and supervisory board will remain unchanged.

The new executive leadership team is:

• Chris Heutink will assume the role of chief operating officer
• Michael Smith will become CEO, Randstad Enterprise Solutions
• Karen Fichuk will lead Randstad Technologies
• Dominique Hermans will be CEO, Northern Europe
• Jorge Vazquez will be CEO, Southern Europe and Latin America
• Karen Fichuk will also continue in her role as CEO, North America
• Chris Heutink will continue to lead Asia Pacific
• Marc-Etienne Julien will be chief talent officer
• Jesus Echevarria will be chief client delivery officer
• Rebecca Henderson will retire from Randstad on 1 April 2023 to focus on supporting and creating strong female entrepreneurs and leaders.

• Legal recruitment consultancy Realm Recruit has promoted four members of its specialist team. Kelly Reid and Paula Pawlowska have both been promoted to associate directors. Reid is a specialist in recruiting private client and Court of Protection lawyers, and the head of Realm’s private client team. Pawlowska heads up Realm’s family law niche. Within the business’s marketing team, Lucy Cade has progressed to senior marketing executive and Katherine Memery has been promoted to principal marketing and PR executive.

• IT recruitment firm VIQU has appointed Matthew Hill to its Southampton team. Hill joins with over five years of recruitment experience in the finance and IT/tech sectors. He will be joining its permanent division specialising in software development.