LONDON EA. SAN FRANCISCO PRINCIPAL. RELOCATION HANDLED END TO END.

8 WEEKS

Brief to accepted offer

LONDON

EA origin market

SAN FRANCISCO

Placement location

3 YEARS

Still in post

THE SITUATION

A principal based in San Francisco had spent five years working with an EA in London. The relationship was exceptional. When the principal relocated permanently to San Francisco, the question was not whether to find a new EA. The question was whether the existing EA would relocate with them.

She was open to it. The principal wanted it. But neither had navigated a transatlantic relocation before. Visa requirements, compensation restructuring to US norms, housing support, and the practical logistics of moving a life from London to San Francisco all needed to be handled.

TalentSmiths was brought in not to find a new EA, but to make the existing relationship work across a new geography. This is an unusual mandate. TalentSmiths took it because the relationship between principal and EA was worth preserving.

WHAT WE DID

TalentSmiths coordinated the visa process, working alongside the principal's legal team to structure the correct employment category. The compensation was rebenchmarked against San Francisco EA market rates, which required a meaningful adjustment from the London package.

The entire process from initial brief to the EA's first day in San Francisco took eight weeks. The principal described it as the smoothest logistical operation they had managed in years. The EA described it as the best-supported professional transition she had experienced.

Three years later, the EA is still in post in San Francisco. The principal has since referred two colleagues to TalentSmiths for their own searches. The relationship that was worth preserving has been preserved.