Anthology · Powering Northern Innovation
A personal growth and hiring partner for the founders and leaders of the North's deep-tech, science and sustainability innovators — helping you appoint the people who'll turn a bold, complex mission into reality.
The moment
Something remarkable is happening across the North. Sheffield, Leeds, Manchester and beyond are now home to some of the UK's fastest-growing deep-tech, science and sustainability ventures — spin-outs and scale-ups tackling genuinely hard problems.
Their biggest challenge is rarely the science. It's building the team, and the leadership, to take it to the world. That's where I come in.
How I help
Your mission is unique, your growth needs nuanced and different from everybody else's. I start by understanding what you need to propel your business - then help you build around it.
Complex, first-of-a-kind roles rarely fit a tidy job spec. I help you cut through convoluted briefs, define what success in the role really looks like, and pin down the values and capabilities a hire must bring to thrive in your mission.
Practical, experienced guidance on how and when to build your team as you scale — team design, market and salary intelligence, and where the pivotal early hires will make or break momentum.
When it's time to appoint, I run rigorous, transparent search for your most critical posts — senior technical and scientific leads, commercial hires, and leadership appointments — mapping the whole market, not just who's looking.
No CV spam. No box-ticking. Just the right people, appointed with confidence.
ABOUT ME, SAM CLAYTON
I'm an independent consultant with 14 years in search, and I've spent much of that time helping science and technology led start-ups in complex, nascent fields build their teams. I founded Anthology in 2019 and still run it today.
I'm based in Sheffield — right in the heart of the North's innovation story. I work as a partner, not a supplier: getting under the skin of what you're building and staying focused on long-term success in the role, not quick placements.
More about me"Our recruitment process has been transformed since we started working with Anthology... The success rate of employees in their roles has also improved."
"We have worked with Sam and his team for a long time now; having a recruiter who you can trust, will have our core interests at heart, and be focussed on the long term partnership as opposed to quick placements is so important."
"We contacted Anthology when we needed a rockstar Head of Commercial to accelerate the commercialisation of our first product. We're really grateful to them for helping us make a fantastic hire, and will definitely work with Anthology again as we continue to grow and scale."
Lisa Avenell - Chief Operating Offier - Concert Bio
Resources
Practical, no-strings resources for anyone building a team around a mission.
Featured tool
A quick diagnostic to turn fuzzy hiring requirements into a clear, actionable brief — so you recruit the right profile first time.
Whether you're planning your first key hire or building out a leadership team, start with a conversation — no obligation.
