About
Built on 20 years of relationships, rigour, and sector knowledge
Bolt Search helps founders, investors, and leadership teams build and scale education, training, and edtech businesses through executive search, advisory, and fractional leadership.
Managing Partner
Alex Lockey
Scaling Education & Training: Exec Search · Advisory · Innovation · Board Advisory · Ecosystem Builder
I help founders and investors build and scale education, training, talent, and edtech businesses. My work spans executive hiring, innovation, and board advisory.
Targeted, outcomes-first, and pragmatic. I combine 20 years in recruitment, education and commercial ops with a playbook that blends advisory rigour, operator empathy, and applied intelligence.
I work with founders seeking scale, investors needing credibility and value acceleration, and leadership teams navigating succession, transformation, or growth.
Bolt Search
Managing Partner · Executive & board search, advisory
Boltjobs.com
Founder · Education & training sector job platform
The Satori Partnership
Principal & Innovation Partner · Value creation & innovation
SIAS
Board Advisor
What We Do
Four ways we create value
Executive & Board Search
Senior and board-level appointments across education, training, edtech, and skills. Retained and semi-retained, always confidential.
Advisory
Strategy, operations, and M&A advisory for education businesses navigating growth, acquisition, or restructuring.
Innovation & Value Creation
Working with portfolio companies and investors to drive operational improvement, AI adoption, and commercial acceleration.
Ecosystem Building
BoltJobs, Find A Training Provider, The Bolt Briefing - building platforms and publications that serve the sector.
How We Work
Principles, not process
Discretion first
For sensitive hires - board roles, CEO transitions, restructuring - confidentiality is built into how we operate. We protect your interests and your reputation.
Sector-deep, not sector-wide
We don't recruit across 20 industries. We know education: the funding models, the regulatory landscape, the key players, the unwritten rules.
Relationship-led
Every candidate we approach knows our name. We've built genuine relationships with leaders across the sector - that changes everything about the conversation.
Commercially pragmatic
We understand education finances, government relationships, regulatory constraints. Our advice is grounded in real sector dynamics, not theoretical best practice.
Outcomes over activity
We measure success by the quality of the placement and the longevity of the relationship - not by how many CVs we send or how many calls we make.
Honest conversations
If we don't think a candidate is right, we say so. If we're not the right fit for a brief, we'll tell you. Honesty beats false promises.
Stay Connected
The Bolt Briefing
Weekly intelligence on the education, training, and skills sector. Market signals, leadership moves, and analysis - read by sector professionals and investors.
Subscribe →Let's start a conversation
Whether you're making a critical hire, exploring a strategic move, or want to discuss the sector - get in touch.