Two female headhunters have demonstrated that executive search is an industry where women can rise to the very top.

Although still dominated by men, the success of Carol Leonard and Philippa Rose has demonstrated that an industry renowned for chauvinism could be finding its feminine side.

Carol Leonard (pictured) is poised to lead Whitehead Mann’s searches for top City executives after taking over founder Anna Mann’s role.

Whitehead Mann bought her company, Leonard Hull, for £3.16m in April and at the time claimed the headhunter would be part of a team of senior partners in charge of executive search.

But the Financial Times claims that Leonard’s move was announced internally earlier this month.

And Philippa Rose, of Whitehead Mann’s rival the Rose Partnership, has been listed as the 100th richest person in the City by The Sunday Times. Rose was the only woman to make the list.

The newspaper estimated that Rose, a former Kleinwort Benson fund manager, was worth £24m, thanks to the executive search firm she founded in 1981.

Michael Moonesinghe, managing director of Glover Daniels, a firm that places executives in senior jobs in recruitment firms, said: “Philippa Rose is a highly successful and talented woman.

“But this is an industry that is still dominated by men. That is changing now and it is possible for women to rise to the top.”