Starlight – Head of Development & Team Build
Starlight, one of Canada’s largest multifamily investors, developers, and operators, entered the UK and European markets to expand its global platform.
Starlight, one of Canada’s largest multifamily investors, developers, and operators, entered the UK and European markets to expand its global platform. With a CIO already in place and deals progressing, the next priority was to build a senior London team to support transactions, development, and delivery. As a new brand in the UK, Starlight faced the dual challenge of attracting top-tier talent while educating the market on their long-term ambitions, track record, and growth plans. They needed to make multiple senior hires across investment and development but had limited visibility within the UK real estate talent pool.
We partnered with Starlight to define hiring goals, align stakeholders, and build a compelling Employer Value Proposition for the UK market. From there, we mapped 725 candidates across the development and investment landscape and ran three parallel searches for Development Directors, Development Managers, and a Transaction Manager. Candidates were evaluated on both technical expertise and behavioural fit, narrowing to seven strong contenders per role. To strengthen engagement, we created a dedicated candidate portal showcasing Starlight’s story with leadership interviews, and delivered a structured multi-stage interview process with practical tasks to test strategic thinking and commercial judgment. We also advised on compensation benchmarking, offer structuring, and resignation management, ensuring a smooth landing for all hires.
Starlight successfully appointed five senior professionals. A Senior Director of Development, two Development Directors, a Development Manager, and a Transaction Manager. The search process created strong competitive tension, produced a high-quality shortlist, and gave Starlight the platform to accelerate its UK growth strategy with a credible, fully operational senior team.
"The Rockbourne team are a pleasure to work with. The sophisticated data, supporting information, and weekly updates are all helpful to keep the process moving. Quality of candidates presented were all strong.”
