Executive Search · Natural Resources · Est. Dubai

Mining & Natural Resources Executive Search Firm The best leaders rarely apply.

A boutique, founder-led search firm placing transformative leaders across the global natural resources sector — at the board, the C-suite, the country, and the project face.

Begin a search About us
The firm

A true search
partner.
Not a vendor.

The person you brief is the person who delivers.

26
Years in natural
resources search
~200
Senior placements
completed

Templeton Global Search is a boutique firm by design. Every mandate is overseen personally by our founder — bringing more than two decades of accumulated knowledge, deep industry relationships, and a rigorous assessment framework built from decades of operating inside the sector.

Clients work directly with the founder, from first brief to final placement. We only employ senior research associates. It is a deliberately selective practice, built on long-term relationships rather than transactional volume.

About us

A practice built on judgement.

Paul Templeton, Founder of Templeton Global Search
Paul Templeton
Founder
Connect on LinkedIn

Most executive search firms treat natural resources as a sector. Templeton Global Search treats it as a specialism — built over twenty-six years of placing leaders across some of the most demanding operating environments in the world. The executives who succeed in these roles are rarely the most visible candidates. They are reached through trust, assessed through rigour, and placed by someone who understands the difference between a CV and a career.

Paul Templeton brings 26 years of recruitment experience, including 19 years in executive search for the mining sector — among them a period at Korn Ferry, one of the world's pre-eminent search firms. He spent 13 years at a leading boutique, where he built the mining practice from the ground up and became part of the leadership team that bought out the founder.

Over that time he has partnered with some of the largest names in the sector, alongside a wide range of mid-caps and junior explorers. Much of his work has centred on remote and frontier operations, where the judgement of whether a candidate will genuinely succeed — not merely whether they look right on paper — is the difference between a placement that lasts and one that fails.

That experience is the foundation of the firm today: a boutique practice that pairs the reach and rigour of the major firms with the personal commitment only a founder-led model can offer.

26
Years in recruitment
19
Years in mining executive search
~200
Successful placements
Global
Including remote & frontier sites
Selected client experience
Glencore Gold Fields BHP Vale Base Metals Eramet Nyrstar Westmoreland Mining Pala Investments RCF Mid-caps Junior explorers
The practice

One sector.
Three disciplines.

01
Board & C-Suite Appointments
CEO, CFO, COO, and board-level mandates for mining houses, energy companies, and natural resource organisations. We assess leadership character, strategic capability, and cultural fit — not merely credentials.
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02
Country & Regional Leadership
General Managers, Country Directors, and Regional Presidents who must navigate complex operating environments — political risk, community relations, regulatory complexity, and multi-stakeholder accountability.
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03
Project Leadership
Project Directors and senior project management for greenfield, brownfield and mine related project infrastructure, such as railways, roads and power stations.
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Where we operate

We know this sector.
And the people in it.

Mining & Metals

From junior explorers to Tier 1 majors across all major mining jurisdictions. We place the business, operational, and technical leaders who carry assets from discovery through to production.

Critical Minerals

Lithium, cobalt, nickel, and rare earths — the leaders shaping the energy transition supply chain at the operational and strategic level.

Energy Transition

Leaders navigating decarbonisation, renewable integration, and ESG strategy within traditional resource organisations and new energy developers.

The method

Structured process.
Human judgement.

Phase 01
i.

Immersive Brief

We invest time at the outset to understand your business, culture, and the precise leadership profile required — beyond the position description.

Phase 02
ii.

Market Mapping

A thorough, global mapping of the candidate universe — drawing on our network and proprietary research to identify active and passive talent.

Phase 03
iii.

Rigorous Assessment

Structured competency interviews, reference triangulation, and leadership assessment — an unvarnished view of each candidate's suitability.

Phase 04
iv.

Close & Transition

We manage the offer process, facilitate onboarding, and remain available during the critical first months of every new appointment.

Why Templeton
The natural resources sector demands a particular kind of leadership — one that can hold technical complexity, human dynamics, and strategic vision in equal measure. Finding that person requires someone who understands the industry from the inside.

As a specialist mining executive search firm, Templeton Global Search sits apart from generalist executive search companies: we work in one sector, at the leadership level, on a fully retained basis — and every mandate is run personally by the founder.

Templeton Global Search
Engage us

Begin a
conversation.

Whether you are embarking on a critical C-suite search, filling a strategic country leadership role, or seeking a proven project executive, your enquiry comes directly to the founder — and receives a personal response.

paul@templetonglobalsearch.com

All enquiries are handled with strict confidentiality.

Thank you for reaching out.

We will review your enquiry and respond within one business day.

About the firm

Templeton Global Search is a boutique, founder-led mining executive search firm based in Dubai, UAE, focused exclusively on the global natural resources sector. The firm was founded by Paul Templeton, who has 26 years of recruitment experience including 19 years in executive search for the mining sector, with a period at Korn Ferry and 13 years at a leading boutique where he built the mining practice and joined the leadership team that bought out the founder.

He has completed approximately 200 successful placements and has partnered with major clients including Glencore, Gold Fields, BHP, Vale Base Metals, Eramet, Nyrstar, Westmoreland Mining, Pala Investments, and Resource Capital Funds (RCF), alongside mid-caps and junior explorers, with particular depth in remote and frontier operations. Every mandate is overseen personally by the founder; clients work directly with the principal running their search from brief to placement, supported only by senior research associates.

Unlike generalist executive search companies, the firm places leaders in one sector only: board members and non-executive directors; C-suite executives including CEOs, CFOs, and COOs; country and regional leaders including General Managers and Country Directors; and project leadership including Project Directors and senior project management for greenfield, brownfield and mine-related infrastructure. Sectors covered include mining and metals, critical minerals such as lithium, cobalt, nickel and rare earths, and energy transition.

Templeton Global Search is registered as Templeton Global Search L.L.C-FZ, Formation Number 2647946, located at Meydan Grandstand, 6th Floor, Meydan Road, Nad Al Sheba, Dubai, UAE. Contact: paul@templetonglobalsearch.com. All mandates are conducted on a retained basis with full confidentiality.