Executive Search and Direct Hire Recruiting in Sacramento, California
Thirty-five miles up Highway 99, and a different economy at the other end. Clover Search Group is an owner-led direct hire recruiting firm in Lodi, California.
Book a Hiring ConsultationClover Search Group is an owner-led direct hire recruiting firm in Lodi, California, and Sacramento is the northern end of our footprint. We place professionals and leaders for Sacramento employers across government affairs, technology, construction and engineering, finance, and commercial roles. Brooklyn and Aidan Kearney own the firm and run the searches themselves.
The drive from our door to the Capitol is about thirty-five miles straight up Highway 99 — close enough that we sit down with Sacramento clients before a search starts, far enough that we don’t pretend the two markets hire the same way.
Sacramento employers search for executive search firms, executive recruiters and headhunters. All three describe work we do here, and we do it as direct hire search — permanent roles only, from staff level through the leadership team.
Who’s hiring in Sacramento.
One fact with no equivalent anywhere else in the state. Sacramento is California’s sixth-largest city — about 540,000 people, with roughly 1.63 million in the county — and government reorders everything else in its labor market.
Government, at a scale that reorders everything else. The City of Sacramento’s own audited financial report puts the State of California at just over 16% of all employment in Sacramento County. Add UC Davis Health, Sacramento County, the U.S. Government, San Juan Unified and the City of Sacramento and six of the region’s nine largest employers are public sector — the Capitol, the departments around it (Water Resources, Corrections and Rehabilitation, the Employment Development Department), and the private economy that exists because they do.
Public affairs and advocacy. More than 470 lobbying firms are registered here, and through the first five quarters of the 2025–26 cycle they were paid more than $436 million — a total that leaves out in-house lobbyists entirely. Add the trade associations, the California Chamber of Commerce among them, and the in-house government-relations teams every regulated industry in California keeps within a few blocks of the Capitol. Government affairs is a full industry here, not a side function — those firms work a Capitol that sits at the centre of the country’s largest state economy. It is one of our six practice areas.
Health care. UC Davis Health is the county’s second-largest employer at about 16,100 people, followed by Kaiser Permanente, Sutter Health and Dignity Health. Aggie Square, UC Davis’s $1.1 billion innovation district on Stockton Boulevard, was inaugurated in 2025 and is pulling research and startup employment into the same corridor.
Technology, aerospace and professional services. The Highway 50 corridor through Rancho Cordova carries L3Harris Aerojet Rocketdyne, VSP Vision, Franklin Templeton and Ampac Fine Chemicals within a few exits of each other. Apple runs a large campus south of the city in Elk Grove. SMUD, the community-owned utility, is its own engineering and operations employer.
Infrastructure and schools. Metro Air Park sits on I-5 beside Sacramento International Airport, a few miles north of the I-5 / I-80 interchange. The Port of West Sacramento moves rice out and cement in through a forty-mile deep-water channel. And Sacramento State, the four Los Rios colleges, UC Davis with its medical school in the city, and McGeorge School of Law give Sacramento a policy and legal bench the rest of the Valley does not have.
The roles we place in Sacramento.
Weighted toward what Sacramento actually is — government affairs and technology and IT first, with construction and infrastructure behind them.
Project management, project executive and estimating seats here run commercial, public works and A&E.
Direct hire, permanent, at the professional and leadership layer. What these seats pay in Sacramento is a different conversation than what they pay in Stockton, which is why the Central Valley salary guide exists.
One thing worth saying plainly: the seats we recruit here are government affairs professionals — the advocacy, policy and regulatory roles employers and associations hire for.
Why an owner-led firm from Lodi.
Thirty-five miles is the right distance for this market.
Close enough that the site visit happens — Highway 99 north out of Lodi, past Galt and Elk Grove, three quarters of an hour without traffic — and close enough that we know which corridor a candidate will actually accept a commute into. Rancho Cordova and downtown are not the same offer. Elk Grove and Roseville are not the same offer. A recruiter who has only ever seen “Sacramento, CA” on a résumé will tell you they are.
Far enough, too, that we come at Sacramento as outsiders in the useful sense. A great share of the region’s professional talent lives south along 99 — Elk Grove and Galt especially — commuting up into the city every morning. That corridor is our home ground, not our expansion market. When a Sacramento employer needs someone who will still be there in three years, the people who already live south of the county line are usually the answer, and we know them because they’re our neighbors.
A search runs like a road you know.
Four stops between the first call and a signed offer — no black box, no surprises. Our recruiters run the same road every time; the long version, with the road art, is on the employers page.
Intake
We take on a handful of searches at a time, and we come to you before we start. The Capitol, Rancho Cordova, Elk Grove — wherever the work happens. Recruiting starts when the engagement letter is signed. Not before.
Sourcing
Owner-led outreach across the corridors, not job-board scraping. Phone first — inboxes are noise, and a call gets a real conversation. The people worth hiring usually aren’t looking. They still pick up.
The shortlist
A handful of vetted, genuinely interested candidates — days, not weeks. A phone screen, then a video or in-person interview. Reference checks run by Aidan personally.
The placement
We stay in it through the offer, the move and the first 90 days. Every hire is guaranteed for 90 days, and we check in with both sides after the start date to make sure it is actually working.
Questions Sacramento employers ask.
What does a direct hire search cost in Sacramento?
Most Sacramento searches run contingent: one fee, payable when your hire starts, with a 90-day replacement guarantee behind the placement. No retainer, no upfront commitment, no tiered price sheet. Retained engagements carry part of the fee up front instead. You will hear the number on the first call, not in a proposal three weeks later.
Do you recruit for government affairs and public policy roles?
Yes — it’s one of our six practice areas, and Sacramento is where most of it happens. Legislative directors, senior staffers, lobbyists, and policy advisors, plus the public affairs and communications leadership around them. We place people into advocacy firms, associations, and corporate government-relations teams.
How far is Lodi from Sacramento?
About thirty-five miles — three quarters of an hour up Highway 99, or Interstate 5 if the valley fog has opinions. Close enough that the intake visit is a morning, and close enough that we are in the region most weeks anyway, usually somewhere between Elk Grove and the Capitol.
Do you place technology roles in Sacramento?
Yes. CIOs, IT directors, infrastructure and applications leads, technical project managers, and the specialists underneath them — across enterprise, government-adjacent, and mid-market environments. Sacramento’s tech hiring competes with the Bay Area on salary and wins on everything else, and knowing how to frame that is most of the job.
Are you a Sacramento firm?
No, and we won’t say otherwise. We’re a Lodi firm that works Sacramento — owner-led, two people, and in the region constantly. If what you want is a downtown Sacramento office with a brass plate on it, we’re not that. If what you want is the same two people on every call from intake to the ninety-day check-in, that is exactly what this is.
Do you do executive search in Sacramento?
Yes. Leadership searches here run retained or exclusive — government affairs and public policy directors, technology leadership, finance leadership — with part of the fee paid up front and a defined shortlist date. Everything below that line runs contingent. All of it is direct hire.
Are you Sacramento headhunters?
Headhunter is a fair word for the work, with the same correction as above: we are based in Lodi, and Sacramento is the northern end of our footprint rather than our home market. We are in the region most weeks, we call people who are not applying to anything, and the employer pays the fee.
Compensation questions route to the numbers: the 2026 Central Valley Salary Guide carries the ranges by function and seniority, and the employers page has the full fee and engagement picture.
Not looking? Let’s talk anyway.
Most of our searches are never posted publicly, and the Sacramento roles worth taking are usually filled before they surface. If you’re a director or executive in government affairs, technology, engineering, or finance, the conversation costs you nothing and stays confidential. More for candidates →
We call. You hire.
Ready to make your next hire?
Fifteen minutes on the phone — the role, the market, and whether we’re the right fit. No pitch deck.
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