Influential Businesswoman Awards 2026 | 21 career, Joyce strives to lead her team and live by the values of consistency, continuous learning, courage, kindness, and a data-driven mindset. Looking to the future, Joyce intends to continue deepening her impact within EC1: not only through delivery but by further strengthening the agency’s infrastructure and operational quality. An essential element of this endeavour is to consider how to intelligently integrate artificial intelligence into EC1’s back-end processes, never aiming to replace the human element of executive search but merely enhance it. Joyce has identified a significant opportunity to utilise AI to improve how EC1 manages information, generates insights, and operates more efficiently behind the scenes. She has a particular interest in using the technology to elevate the quality and consistency of the team’s work – from market intelligence to client materials – while still preserving the judgement, nuance, and personal touch that defines the EC1 methodology. As for her own career goals, Joyce shared: “I want to continue evolving as a trusted advisor to clients and growing in a way that feels both impactful and future-focused, building something that combines strong foundations, thoughtful systems, and the intelligent use of technology. Contact: Joyce McCarthy Company: EC1 Partners Web Address: www.ec1partners.com/executive-search Most Influential Executive Search Businesswoman 2026: Joyce McCarthy In his book, Atomic Habits, author and speaker James Clear stated: “You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.” This ethos does not only reflect how Joyce McCarthy approaches her life but also her work, steering the businesswoman to focus on building strong foundations that allow for repeatable and scalable outcomes. Prior to joining EC1, Joyce worked within organisations such as Google, Morgan Stanley, Barclays, and Atlassian. She has worked across North America, EMEA, and APAC, living across three continents throughout her career. This international exposure gave her a nuanced understanding of different business cultures, operating environments, and leadership styles. Having operated across consultancy, Big Tech, and financial institutions, Joyce developed a strong appreciation for how high-performing organisations scale effectively. Exposure to different operating models, levels of pace, and organisational structures shaped her focus on consistency, operational rigour, and building systems that enable longterm execution excellence. As Head of Research in Global Executive Search at EC1, Joyce is responsible for helping companies hire the people who shape their trajectory. She works closely with founders, CEOs, and senior leadership teams, often at pivotal moments in their journey, whether they are scaling, transforming, or entering new markets. A key part of her role is helping them think through what they truly need in a hire, beyond the mere brief on paper. Alongside delivery, a crucial component of Joyce’s role has been building the back-end infrastructure that underpins EC1 Partners’ operations. “When I joined, a lot of this didn’t exist at the level we needed for executive search,” she told us, “so I’ve helped design and implement the processes, frameworks, and materials that allow us to deliver consistently at a high standard.” Joyce has been with EC1 for almost two years and has found her role to have evolved significantly over time. She first started with a focus on delivery, executing searches, managing candidates, and supporting senior stakeholders. This role provided Joyce with a strong foundation in understanding with “good” really looks like in executive search: the level of detail, pace, and judgement required, and how much is at stake with every hire. As she progressed, Joyce’s role expanded beyond delivery into building the back-end infrastructure. Much of this work is not visible externally but enables the entire EC1 team to operate at a high standard across every search and reflects Joyce’s unwavering adherence to James Clear’s guidance. With this work, Joyce goes beyond delivering outcomes to create a system that supports her team from behind the scenes. Today, Joyce’s role sits across both execution and enablement. She continues to work closely with clients and candidates on searches, whilst also ensuring that the infrastructure behind the work supports that level of delivery. Propelled by the lessons she has learned over the course of her EC1 Partners is one of the world’s leading fintech recruitment agencies. The agency builds leadership teams across fintech, financial services, and data-driven businesses, boasting a network made up of over 80,000 candidates and more than 250 clients. Its operations are overseen by Joyce McCarthy, Head of Research and a key player in the executive search scene. We spoke with Joyce to learn more, following her much-deserved recognition in the Influential Businesswoman Awards 2026. EC1 Partners
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTUyMDQwMA==