Executive search and strategic advisory for decisive leadership - from the boardroom to critical site operations.
We partner with boards, executives, and investors across complex, capital-intensive, and regulated sectors to secure critical leadership that delivers results.
Why The Downing Network?
After more than 50 years in executive search, you get to be selective about what you build next.
The Downing Network exists because the best recruitment is fundamentally relational. It is built on knowing an industry deeply, maintaining trust over decades, and understanding - without a lengthy briefing - exactly where a client sits in the market and what kind of person will make a difference for them.
As a co-founder of Downing Teal, and having worked across Perth, Sydney and Melbourne for much of that time, I have watched a generation of Project Managers become Managing Directors and Board members. I kept those relationships. We know the Construction Contractor Industry better than any other firm. The Downing Network is the result - a deliberately small, senior practice built around that accumulated knowledge and a network that has grown with the people in it.
We know these industries.
Construction, mining, defence and diversified industrials are not industries you can fake familiarity with. We have been recruiting for engineering-related and capital-intensive businesses for a long time, and our knowledge is not theoretical, and it did not come from a database. That depth means we understand the culture, the commercial pressures, the technical requirements and critically, the specific backgrounds that tend to produce strong leaders across these environments.
It also means we are not limited to engineering roles. CFOs, General Counsels, HR Directors, Commercial Managers and other senior functional leaders sit well within our capability. The network is industry-wide, not discipline-specific.
We move quickly.
Regardless of seniority, our clients receive a fully interviewed and assessed shortlist within six weeks of briefing. We do not need extensive induction sessions before we begin - we already understand the market.
Our longlists are produced through genuine network engagement supported by research. The result is a shortlist where almost every candidate receives serious consideration by the client. Our involvement does not end at appointment. We conduct structured check-ins over the following twelve months, because a successful search is not measured at offer acceptance - it is measured by how well that person is performing a year into the role.
We think about the future.
The energy transition is reshaping mining and creating real opportunity for construction contractors, engineers and the industrial businesses supporting both. Defence continues to grow as a sector of strategic national importance. Diversity, inclusion and equity are not checkbox items for us; they are embedded in how we approach every search, because the evidence is clear that more diverse leadership produces better outcomes. We look for the best person, across the widest realistic candidate pool, every time.
We are based in Australia, and through our affiliate partners in Latin America, extend the same relationship-based approach globally. The Downing Network is small by design. Senior consultants, real relationships, and a genuine understanding of the industries we serve. Whether you are a client facing a critical appointment or a senior professional thinking about what comes next, we are always open to a conversation.
Connect with us on LinkedIn
Meet the team
John Downing
Founding Director
-
His clients and candidates would be horrified to learn that John is a qualified accountant! Fortunately, he got bored recording money and decided to make it by recruiting for engineering related businesses.
John has been a recruitment consultant since 1971 and progressively recruited more senior people as his network became more senior. An excellent example is Rio Tinto’s Koodaideri (now Gudai-Darri) iron ore mine. John’s first assignment, back in 1971, was to find a Drill Sampler for the exploration team. Then, in 2017, Rio retained Downing Teal to find the Project Director to build the project.
While his early background was mainly working for mining clients in Western Australia, John worked in Sydney from 1983 to 1991. The economy was slow in 1983, but John recognised that construction was going to lead the economy out of recession. He was fortunate to develop lasting relationships with Concrete Constructions and Baulderstone. The company quickly became recognised as having expertise in recruitment for construction contractors. In those days, seniority of positions was around project teams. However, many of the candidates with whom John dealt became senior managers and the seniority of our assignments grew as the contacts grew. John now recruits predominantly in the C-Suite.
Downing Teal was acquired by CGH Group in 2019. After several years as a senior consultant in Perth, John formulated a plan to develop The Downing Network and parted from CGH on an amicable basis. His mission now is to develop a small, but nationally targeted team, to assist Construction and Mining clients in these times of talent shortage.
61 (0) 417 631 653
jdowning@thedowningnetwork.com.au
Ivan Vujicic
Managing Director
-
Ivan started his recruitment career in 2008, which means he arrived just in time for the Global Financial Crisis. Some would call that bad timing. Ivan calls it a masterclass in understanding what clients actually need when the market turns against them.
Specialising in senior and executive appointments across mining, resources, infrastructure and defence, Ivan has spent close to two decades working across the full spectrum of the sector — owner's teams, EPC and EPCM contractors, and the operational and functional leadership that keeps projects and businesses running once the commissioning team has packed up and gone home.
Ivan's career has taken him from Downing Teal through CTPartners, Beilby Downing Teal and Korn Ferry — enough varied experience to know that the quality of the outcome depends far less on the brand above the door than on the person making the call. That conviction, and a belief that retained search works best when it's genuinely personal and accountable, led him to join The Downing Network in 2026.
His experience spans Project Directors and General Managers through to Chief Operating Officers and senior functional leaders across HR, commercial, finance and technical disciplines. He has worked with clients ranging from major mining houses and global contractors through to mid-tier developers bringing a project to production for the first time, and understands that the brief, and the person needed to answer it, looks quite different depending on which side of that equation you are on.
Ivan is based in Perth, operates nationally, and recruits across Australia, New Zealand and the Asia Pacific.
+61 (0) 402 223 336
ivanvujicic@thedowningnetwork.com.au
Michael Freis
General Manager
-
Michael specialises in Construction, Engineering and Property recruitment across 1st, 2nd & 3rd tier Construction, Engineering firms and Property Developers. His overall experience as Group Manager Talent/GM/National Operations/State Manager has seen his responsibilities include overall business operations, client development and management, recruitment and training of internal staff and financial control to meet P&L targets. Since 2000 Michael has developed and maintained an extensive network of construction, engineering and property professionals, these relationships are largely based on trust, integrity, specific industry knowledge and high level human resource management skills. He has extensive Internal & External Talent/Recruitment experience, responsible for developing and delivering the full suite of Talent & Recruitment services across large scale clients and projects within Construction and Engineering and managing our existing relationships with National engineering and construction clients.
Michael has built a portfolio of skills and experiences within Executive Search, Talent Acquisition, Recruitment and Resourcing over a number of years in key leadership roles. He has a high level of expertise throughout the full recruitment cycle that covers market mapping, industry research, advertising campaigns, direct approaches (search and executive search) interviews, offer process, counter offers and conversion of an offer through to acceptance and on boarding.
61 (0) 438 579 476
Mfreis@thedowningnetwork.com.au
