I run every search myself.

How I got here

I started in sales, leading and coaching a five-person team, and moved into search in 2019.

Before Miller & Woodall I worked at Clearwater, Focus Cloud, Green Search Global, Energy Search Collective and NES Fircroft. I built technology desks first, then an e-mobility, renewables and battery storage desk across Germany, Austria and Switzerland, mostly on retained terms for multinational engineering groups through their subsidiaries, and then ran executive search in energy and EPC across the Middle East, where I helped set up a retained executive search process. It taught me that the hardest technical hires are won with a map of the market, not a pile of profiles.

In May 2024 I founded Miller & Woodall. I grew it to more than 20 people, and trained most of them myself, many with no recruitment background, until they ran their own desks and client accounts. We advised founders and leadership teams on hiring for new projects and new markets across data centres, AI, engineering, energy and infrastructure, ran end-to-end hiring for scaling firms without talent teams of their own, and ran cross-border searches for scarce specialists and senior leaders, including director and C-suite roles, relocating people into the Middle East. From 2025 I added AI infrastructure search: ML platform, distributed systems and data centre operations leaders.

Why data centres and AI infrastructure

It is where my history points. Data centres are construction, commissioning and power before they are technology, and the people who deliver them come from the same energy, grid and EPC world I have searched in since 2021. The Gulf is building capacity fast, foreign operators and platforms are arriving with nobody local, and Gulf capital is building abroad. Owning one field means I know the people before the brief arrives.

Why I now run it on my own

A larger team meant more of my time went on managing and less on the searches clients hired me for. In 2026 I narrowed the firm to what it does best. I run every search personally, and my own software (a CRM I built) handles the admin: tracking the market, drafting the paperwork and keeping every candidate's consent on record. Clients deal with one person who knows their role in detail.

What I believe about hiring for projects

• A senior hire sets the next three years. It deserves a proper search, even in a firm with a small talent team.
• The best person for a Gulf role is often doing the same job somewhere else. Go and find them.
• Pay data without a sample size is an opinion. I state mine.
• A profile sent without consent damages everyone. I don't do it.

The firm

Miller & Woodall is based in Dubai, licensed on the UAE mainland by the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation. Permanent placement, engaged search and retained search. Candidates never pay a fee.