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We are CTP

About Us

Cambridge Talent Partnership is a specialist supply chain recruitment agency built by people who understand the industry from the inside out.

Founded by experienced recruiters with deep roots in supply chain and operations, we work as true partners to businesses looking to strengthen their teams across pricing, procurement, logistics, planning, warehouse management, product development and quality.

With extensive experience across executive search, headhunting and targeted supply chain recruitment, we focus on delivering the right people for the right roles, even where the brief is specialist, senior or hard to fill.

Our approach is consultative, honest and proactive, ensuring every placement supports long-term success for both our clients and the candidates we place.

At Cambridge Talent Partnership, relationships come first, expectations are challenged where needed, and promises are only made when they can be delivered.

Meet the Team

Joby Read

Joby Read

Founder

After a 10-year career in media sales, from classifieds in the beauty industry to Commercial Manager for a leading consumer music title, Joby transitioned into recruitment, quickly progressing from an entry-level recruiter to Head of Recruitment at our sister company, Brand Recruitment.

After a 10-year career in media sales, from classifieds in the beauty industry to Commercial Manager for a leading consumer music title, Joby transitioned into recruitment, quickly progressing from an entry-level recruiter to Head of Recruitment at our sister company, Brand Recruitment.

Whilst at Brand, he developed a strong specialism in supply chain recruitment alongside his marketing work, which led him to launch two specialist agencies: Zero Surplus for sales recruitment, and Cambridge Talent Partnership for supply chain.

His commercial background gives him a perspective that pure supply chain recruiters rarely have. He understands how supply chain decisions are felt at a commercial level, how pricing, procurement and planning functions interact with sales and revenue, and what it takes for supply chain professionals to operate credibly and effectively in cross-functional, commercially driven environments. That insight shapes how he assesses candidates and briefs clients, and it’s particularly valuable when hiring for senior roles where supply chain leadership has to hold its own in a boardroom conversation.

If you have a position others have said is unfillable, or your requirements are highly specific, Joby thrives on the challenge.

Chris Jacobs

Chris Jacobs

Founder

With 15 years of recruitment experience and a career that has spanned multiple commercial roles from executive to director level, Chris brings a deep understanding of both sides of the hiring process.

With 15 years of recruitment experience and a career that has spanned multiple commercial roles from executive to director level, Chris brings a deep understanding of both sides of the hiring process.

He excels in client management and candidate engagement, ensuring every business he works with feels genuinely supported and every candidate feels valued throughout the process. Highly skilled in market mapping, headhunting, executive search and contract-based recruitment, Chris takes the time to understand exactly what each client needs before building a search strategy around it.

Within supply chain, Chris has developed particular expertise in procurement, logistics and quality recruitment, with strong networks across pharmaceutical, medical, consumer goods and technical manufacturing sectors. His commercial background means he understands the pressures supply chain professionals face when dealing with cross-functional stakeholders, and he uses that understanding to assess not just technical capability but the interpersonal and commercial skills that make a supply chain hire genuinely successful at a senior level.

A strong networker with a consistently positive approach, he builds lasting relationships founded on trust and the delivery of promises. Specialist and challenging roles are his forte, and he isn’t afraid to ask the tough questions to ensure every placement is a long-term success for both sides.

Outside of work, Chris balances multiple hobbies and produces music under his band name, CymphoniK.

Clear, upfront fees

Recruitment Pricing

Upfront fee structure with no hidden costs

Service feature
Non-Exclusive Contingency
2-week Exclusive Contingency
4-week Exclusive Contingency
Fee Charged on base salary 20% 18% 17%
No up-front cost or commitment Fee only payable on successful placement
Rebate period Standard 10-week rebate period Enhanced 12-week rebate period Enhanced 14-week rebate period
Free replacement option In the first half of the rebate period
Re-recruit fee offer Available for the first 12 months 70% 60% 50%
Talk to us Talk to us Talk to us

All fees are based on full-time salaries and are not prorated for part-time hires. Additional fees apply where there is a car or car allowance, calculated by adding the car allowance or £5,000 (if only a car is provided) to the annual salary before the fee calculation. All rebate and free replacement options are void if payment has not been made in line with our payment terms. Rebates are not available to cover redundancy.

12-month support on all hires

At Cambridge Talent Partnership, our goal is to build long-lasting relationships with all our customers, and that’s why we offer our market-leading 12-month support across all of our services.

Our ideal relationship is one where you feel supported until you have a long-term employee, and we’ll be available should anything not go as planned. If something does go wrong, each situation is considered on its individual circumstances, and we will always consider doing more than the standard offering where we believe it is a fair solution.

Contingency

All contingency work comes with a standard rebate period, a free replacement period and a reduced recruitment cost period, giving our customers peace of mind across the initial 12 months from the first day of employment.

Retained

All retained hires have a rebate period across their entire first year of employment and a 3-month free replacement option.

Working with CTP: common questions

A concise guide to our retained-results approach, specialist network and proactive supply chain search process.

What do you mean by 'Retained Results regardless of role'?

Many supply chain recruitment agencies tier their service levels based on the seniority of the role, because they earn higher fees on senior appointments. As a result, mid-level positions often miss out on the premium methods that make the real difference, such as headhunting, strategic job specification optimisation and market mapping.

We take a different approach. Every role receives the same rigorous recruitment process, meaning you always receive the strongest and most comprehensive shortlist possible, whether you’re hiring a Supply Chain Analyst or a Procurement Director.

How does your supply chain network help us fill specialist vacancies?

Over the course of our work across supply chain and operations, we have built an extensive network of professionals spanning pricing, procurement, logistics, planning, product development, warehouse management and quality. With direct connections to a significant number of supply chain candidates, many of whom are not visible to generalist recruiters or standard job boards, we can reach the right people quickly and effectively.

This depth of access allows us to identify, approach and engage suitable candidates across the South of the UK, more widely across the country and internationally, giving you a much wider reach than a generalist agency, and a much more targeted one than simply advertising the role.

How does your proactive approach work in practice?

Once we understand your business and your hiring needs, our work doesn’t stop at the immediate vacancy. We take time to understand where you may have gaps in sector experience, where key competitors might hold the talent you need, and where future hiring challenges are likely to arise.

We then build targeted candidate maps that keep us close to the right people in the market, so that when an individual becomes open to a new opportunity, your business is one of the first they hear from. In a candidate-short market like supply chain, being proactive rather than reactive makes a significant commercial difference.