KORE1 executive search in Miami, as of November 2026
Executive Search Firm in Miami Retained and engaged search for C-suite, VP and director hires
CFO, COO, CTO, VP and director searches in Brickell, Coral Gables, Doral and the airport cargo district, for funds, Latin America headquarters and Miami-Dade companies.
KORE1 runs retained and engaged executive search for Miami CFO, COO, CTO, VP and director hires, including relocating funds and Latin America headquarters. Interim cover is priced nationally, with a senior contract controller at a median $165 an hour.
Last updated: November 10, 2026
- This page
- Permanent C-suite, VP and director searches for Miami and Miami-Dade employers, the Florida rules that shape the offer, and what interim cover costs while a search runs.
- Not this page
- A search outside Florida starts with KORE1 executive search services. Contract and project staffing in the city lives with KORE1’s Miami staffing agency.
Brickell, Coral Gables, Doral and the airport cargo district all hire leaders, and they don’t hire them the same way. A fund opening its first US operating entity wants a CFO who has consolidated several entities, while a Latin America headquarters wants a regional president who can brief a board in two languages and still read a US GAAP close.
One thing up front. The interim rates further down are national figures, because the KORE1 Contract Rate Index has no Miami cell yet and we don’t estimate one, so the search work is local and the price table is labeled for exactly what it is.
What Is Pushing Executive Search and Leadership Hiring in Miami-Dade?
Miami-Dade’s private sector averaged 1,138,710 jobs in 2025. These five sectors hire most of the leaders this page covers.
Four things bring most of the leadership seats to us here.
Brickell banking and fintech
CFO, chief compliance officer, CISO
The Beacon Council counts more than 60 banks in Brickell, the second-largest international banking center in the country, and about 500 fintech companies nearby.
Air and sea trade
COO, VP Operations, VP Supply Chain
Miami International Airport is the busiest US airport for international freight, and PortMiami handled more than 1,120,913 TEUs, the standard container unit, in its last fiscal year.
Health systems
CFO, CIO, VP Operations
Health care is the biggest private sector in the county at 179,291 jobs, and the public Jackson Health System needs the same leadership seats.
Latin America headquarters
Regional president, VP Finance, COO
The Beacon Council calls Miami the number one trading partner with Latin America and the Caribbean. Running that region from here takes leaders who can do it in two languages.
The Beacon Council, Miami-Dade’s official economic development organization, also says it helps companies relocate to Greater Miami. Miami International Airport and PortMiami each run on operators who can keep freight moving through a customs hold, a storm week or a labor shortage. Jackson Health System, the county’s public health system, hires CFOs and CIOs through the same kind of search.
Funds and family offices opening a South Florida base need the same first hires, usually finance and compliance, and the next section walks through which seats come first and what each search tests for.
Which Seats Do Relocating Funds and Regional Headquarters Need Filled First in Miami?
Finance and compliance usually come first, then operations, then technology, and each search tests for something different, so the interview plan changes with the seat.
- CFO or controller for a new US entity
- Whether they’ve consolidated several entities and kept the close on schedule while the books were still new.
- COO and chief compliance officer
- Standing up controls and regulator reporting for an entity that has none yet.
- Regional president and VP Finance for a Latin America group
- US GAAP reporting for the group, and board reporting in two languages. Spanish or Portuguese is a job requirement we scope at intake, when the role needs it.
- CTO and CISO at fintech and payments firms
- Running platforms under bank and payment rules, with security leadership that answers to a board. See our fintech leadership recruiting.
- VP Operations for port and air cargo logistics
- Keeping freight moving when a terminal, a carrier or the weather doesn’t cooperate.
The role pages go deeper on CFO, COO, CTO and VP Finance searches, and our C-suite hiring guide covers the process from the company’s side.
How Does Florida’s 2025 CHOICE Act Change a Miami Executive Offer?
A covered executive covenant needs five tiles on the table, and if even one is missing it drops back to Florida’s older restrictive covenant statute, so both paths are drawn below.
A covered noncompete or garden leave agreement
Florida Contracts Honoring Opportunity, Investment, Confidentiality, and Economic Growth Act, Fla. Stat. 542.41 to 542.45
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Pay
Salary above twice the annual mean wage of the county where the employer is based. Discretionary bonuses and commissions don’t count toward salary. Health care practitioners are outside the Act.
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Counsel
The employee is told in writing that they can seek counsel before they sign.
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7 days
The proposed agreement is in the candidate’s hands at least 7 days before the offer expires.
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Acknowledgment
The employee acknowledges in writing that they’ll receive confidential information or customer relationships.
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4 years
A noncompete can run up to 4 years. A garden leave agreement can require up to 4 years of advance notice, with extra terms of its own in section 542.44.
All five down. If the employee breaches, a court must preliminarily enjoin them from working elsewhere during the restricted period. Fla. Stat. 542.45(5).
Missing a tile? Section 542.335 sets the terms.
- 6 months or less For a restraint on an employee, a court presumes that reasonable.
- More than 2 years A court presumes that unreasonable. Either presumption can be rebutted.
The Act is CS/CS/CS/HB 1219, chapter 2025-213, and it became law without the Governor’s signature on July 3, 2025, though the bill’s own section 22 says July 1, 2025. The Senate’s note on the statute adds that the constitutional effective date is August 15, 2025. Either way, it’s in force.
Here’s what that does to a search. A finalist who already works in Florida may be sitting on a garden leave agreement or a noncompete of up to 4 years, and the Act reaches a covered employee whose primary place of work is in Florida whatever a choice-of-law clause says. So we ask about covenants on the first call, before anyone falls for the offer, because a finalist relocating from California likely signed none and one who has worked in Florida for years probably signed something.
On the offer side, the 7 days is the tile people drop. A covenant handed over the day before the offer expires misses the notice, so counsel should build the timeline backward from the offer date. Courts decide how the Act is applied, so have counsel check for new rulings before anyone signs.
Start a Miami leadership search
Tell us the title, whether you’re relocating, opening a regional headquarters or growing in place, the range and your target start.
What Does Florida’s Constitution Mean for an Executive Relocating to Miami?
Relocating executives weigh income tax when they compare offers, and Florida’s constitution speaks to it directly. A Texas seat brings Texas noncompete rules instead of Florida’s, and a Dallas executive search lays them out.
- Article VII, section 5(a)
The state may levy no tax on the income of natural persons who are residents or citizens of Florida beyond the amount allowed as a credit against a similar federal or other-state tax. Read it in the Florida Constitution.
Section 5(b) does allow a corporate income tax, so the constitution is not a promise of zero tax for everyone. We also don’t do take-home math, because that belongs with the candidate’s own tax adviser, and the question usually comes up on the second call, after the title and the range have been settled.
What Will Interim Leadership Cost While a Miami Search Runs?
National hourly bill rates for four senior contract seats, as of October 16, 2026. The index has no Miami cell, so none of these is a Miami rate.
| Contract seat | Covers | Bill range | Median | 3 months |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Controller, senior | The close, while the CFO seat is empty | $145 to $178 | $165 | $85,900 |
| Financial analyst or FP&A, senior | Board and investor reporting for a new entity | $94 to $114 | $106 | $55,000 |
| Security analyst or engineer, senior | Security cover while a fintech CISO search runs | $113 to $136 | $126 | $65,400 |
| Software engineer or developer, senior | A platform build that can’t pause for a CTO search | $118 to $142 | $131 | $68,300 |
Read the table for what it is. No CFO or COO cell exists, so these rows price the work under an empty seat and say nothing about what a search costs or what an executive earns, which is why the table is labeled national. A senior contract controller holding the close bills a national median of $165 an hour, about $85,900 for three months, and month-end keeps closing while the board meets finalists. The Atlanta version of that table is on executive hiring in Atlanta, where a senior contract controller bills a median $165 an hour.
For a Miami-specific number, request a quote below. Our contract benches have more detail on accounting and finance contractors in Miami and Miami IT staffing.
Get a Miami quote for interim cover
Tell us the seat that’s empty, the work that can’t wait and your start date. We’ll price each contract seat for Miami.
Can a Miami Interim Hire Stay On Permanently?
Yes. At 1,040 hours, roughly six months of full-time work, the contractor can be hired directly and KORE1 charges nothing for the conversion. Across 552 contract-to-hire placements in every role type, 37.5% converted. Contractors start a median 3 days after the offer, across 1,997 placements.
Devin Hornick, a Partner at KORE1, puts the budget logic plainly, which is that permanent headcount is the hard approval and a funded project that is already approved usually isn’t, and that gap is exactly where interim cover fits.
“Companies may not approve three or four permanent hires, but they may absolutely approve the resources or project team necessary to complete a $300K or $500K initiative that has already been funded.”
For a fund that has cleared the project but not the headcount, interim cover is how the work starts. If the contractor turns out to be the right hire, the conversion is free.
How Do You Judge an Executive Search Firm’s Fee When None Is Published?
Devin Hornick’s test for choosing a firm is whether it will show you how it makes its money.
“a firm who’s willing to show you how they make their money and not hide anything.”
Get four things in writing before the search starts.
- What the fee covers, line by line.
- When each payment falls due.
- What happens if the company fills the seat itself, or pauses the search.
- The off-limits rules, meaning which companies the firm can’t recruit from.
Retained search commits one firm from the first call and suits a confidential seat, while engaged search suits a pool you can see and lets the company watch the market move before it commits. Our guides cover choosing an executive search firm, engaged versus retained search, retained or contingency and how a search runs. The firm behind these searches is described on our executive recruiting firm page.
$165
national median hourly bill rate, senior contract controller, modeled
1,138,710
private-sector jobs in Miami-Dade County, 2025 annual average
3 days
median from offer to start for KORE1 contractors (n=1,997)
1,040 hours
on assignment before a KORE1 contractor can convert with no fee
Rates from the KORE1 Contract Rate Index 2026-Q4, effective October 16, 2026, national cells. Jobs from the BLS Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages. Placement figures from KORE1 W2 contract records, all roles. Track record, not a commitment.
Common Questions
Can a Florida employer hold a new executive to a four-year non-compete?
Yes, if it’s a covered noncompete agreement. Under Fla. Stat. 542.43 and 542.45, a covered noncompete can run up to 4 years when the employee earns more than twice the county annual mean wage and got the written counsel notice and 7 days to review it.
How long can a Miami non-solicit run if it is not a CHOICE Act agreement?
Under Fla. Stat. 542.335, a court presumes a restraint of 6 months or less on an employee reasonable and one of more than 2 years unreasonable. Both presumptions can be rebutted, so counsel should look at the clause itself.
Why are this page’s interim rates national figures?
The KORE1 Contract Rate Index 2026-Q4 has no Miami cell, and KORE1 doesn’t estimate local rates. We’ll swap in Miami cells if a later index adds the metro. The next update is January 2027.
Can the search require Spanish or Portuguese for a Latin America regional role?
Yes, when the role needs it. We scope the language as a job requirement at intake, the same way we scope any other skill the seat will actually use, such as reporting to a board in two languages.
Which leadership roles does KORE1 search for in Miami?
CFO, COO, CTO and CISO searches, plus regional president, VP and director seats in finance, operations, technology and compliance. The work covers Brickell, Coral Gables, Doral, the airport cargo district and the rest of Miami-Dade County.
Start a Miami Leadership Search
Send us five things. A recruiter will come back with how we’d run the search.
- The titleCFO, COO, CTO, CISO, or a regional president, VP or director seat.
- The setupRelocating, opening a regional headquarters or growing in place.
- The languageAny language the role requires, such as Spanish or Portuguese.
- The startWhen the new leader has to be in the seat.
- The covenantsWhether the draft offer carries a noncompete or garden leave.
Want to see the process first? Read how KORE1 runs a retained search. Need cover now? Price contract cover, or call 949-706-6990.
