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UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-K

HEIDRICK & STRUGGLES INTERNATIONAL, INC.

(Exact Name of Registrant as Specified in its Charter)

233 South Wacker Drive, Suite 4200, Chicago, Illinois 60606-6303

(Address of principal executive offices) (Zip Code)

(312) 496-1200

(Registrant’s telephone number, including area code)

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: None

Indicate by check mark whether the Registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.  Yes x  No ¨

Indicate by check mark if disclosure of delinquent filers pursuant to Item 405 of Regulation S-K is not contained herein, and will not be contained, to the best of Registrant’s knowledge, in definitive proxy or information statements incorporated by reference in Part III of this Form 10-K or any amendment to this Form 10-K.  ¨

The number of shares outstanding of the Company’s Common Stock as of February 28, 2003 was 18,157,271 shares. The aggregate market value of the Registrant’s Common Stock held by non-affiliates of the Registrant on June 28, 2002 was approximately $331,707,771 based upon the closing market price of $19.97 on that date of a share of Common Stock as reported on the Nasdaq National Market.

DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE

Portions of the registrant’s definitive Proxy Statement for its 2003 Annual Meeting of Stockholders scheduled to be held on May 21, 2003, are incorporated by reference into Part III of this Form 10-K.

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HEIDRICK & STRUGGLES INTERNATIONAL, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

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PART I

ITEM 1. BUSINESS

Heidrick & Struggles International, Inc. (“Heidrick & Struggles”) is a premier provider of executive search and leadership consulting services. We help our clients build leadership teams by facilitating the recruitment, development and retention of personnel for their executive management positions. In addition to executive search, we provide other leadership services, including executive assessment, placement of interim executive management, and through an alliance, executive coaching.

Heidrick & Struggles and its predecessors have been in the executive search business for 50 years. We provide our services to a broad range of clients through our worldwide network of approximately 335 consultants located in major cities around the world. For many of our clients, our global access to and knowledge of markets and candidates is an important characteristic of our business. We provide our executive search services on a retained basis, recruiting senior executives who often earn more than $180,000 annually. Our clients include the following:

The executive search industry is highly fragmented, consisting of more than 4,000 executive search firms worldwide. According to trade publications, fewer than 10 executive search firms/alliances generated more than $100 million in worldwide revenue during 2002. Executive search firms are generally separated into two broad categories: retained search firms and contingency search firms. Retained executive search firms fulfill their clients’ senior leadership needs by identifying qualified candidates and assisting clients in evaluating and assessing these candidates for positions typically with annual cash compensation of $150,000 and above. Retained executive search firms generally are compensated for their services whether or not the client employs a candidate identified by the search firm, and are generally retained on an exclusive basis. In contrast, contingency search firms usually focus primarily on positions with annual cash compensation of less than $150,000 and are compensated only upon successfully placing a recommended candidate. Executive search firms normally charge a fee for their services equal to approximately one-third of the first year’s total compensation for the position being filled.

Our executive search process typically consists of the following steps:

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Over the past several years we have begun to expand our services beyond executive search. For several years, we have offered executive assessment and interim executive placement services in Europe. In late 2000, we extended our executive assessment business to North America and other parts of the world. This service provides senior-level executives with assessments of the individuals and teams reporting to them. In 2002, we expanded our interim executive placement offerings into North America. We formed an alliance in March 2002 with Lore International Institute, a global executive coaching and professional development firm. Heidrick & Struggles and Lore International Institute are marketing the services to current and prospective clients.

We have reduced our focus on mid-level management search, with the completion of the integration of this business into our executive search business in January 2002.

Available Information

We maintain an Internet website at http://www.heidrick.com. Our annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K and amendments to these reports are available free of charge on this site as soon as reasonably practicable after the reports are filed with or furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission. We also post quarterly press releases on our financial results, webcast presentations, and other documents containing additional information related to our company on this site. Our Internet website and the information contained in or connected to our website are for informational purposes only and are not incorporated into this annual report on Form 10-K.

Matrix Structure

Our matrix structure, which is organized by geography, industry practices and functional specialties, is designed to enable us to better understand our clients’ cultures, operations, business strategies and industries, thereby improving our ability to serve them.

Geographic Structure.    We provide executive-level search and leadership consulting to our clients worldwide through our offices in 27 countries. Major locations are managed by an Office Managing Partner, and staffed with consultants, associates, administrative assistants and other support staff. Administrative functions are centralized where possible, although certain support and research functions are situated regionally because of variations in local requirements.

We also have affiliates in five countries. We have no financial investment in these affiliates, but receive licensing fees from them for the use of our name and our databases.

Industry Practices.    Within our Executive Search business we have seven core industry practices: Financial Services, Industrial, Technology, Consumer, Health Care, Professional Services and Higher Education/Nonprofit. These core industry practices and their relative sizes, as measured by net revenue for 2002, are as follows:

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Executive search consultants from each of the industry practices may work from any one of our offices. Certain markets have a significant concentration of companies within particular industry sectors. For example, our Financial Services practice has its largest concentration of consultants in New York and London, two of the largest financial centers in the world. Each industry practice is coordinated by a Practice Managing Partner who establishes marketing and search strategies, identifies focused accounts and target clients, and facilitates and assists with the group’s marketing activities.

Functional Specialties.  We recognize that searching for candidates for particular executive positions often requires specialized skill in much the same way as a search for an executive in a particular industry. As a result, many of our executive search consultants also specialize in searches for functional positions such as members of boards of directors, chief executive officers, chief financial officers, chief information officers and chief human resources officers. Our functional specialists tend to have experience with appropriate candidates from many different industries. Typically, a consultant in a particular industry practice who receives an assignment for a given functional position will consult throughout the search assignment with one or more colleagues with the appropriate functional expertise. This coordination benefits our clients because the best candidate for certain functional positions often will come from a different industry. For example, a client in the health care sector seeking a new chief human resources officer may benefit from exposure to a candidate whose background is in the industrial sector, even though that candidate may be less well known by the members of our Health Care practice.

On a given search assignment, we will generally utilize the expertise of executive search consultants in more than one of our locations, industry practices and functional specialties. For example, an executive search for a chief financial officer of a technology company located in the United Kingdom may involve an executive search consultant in the United Kingdom with an existing relationship with the client, another executive search consultant in Menlo Park with expertise in our Technology practice and a third executive search consultant in New York with expertise in chief financial officer recruiting.

Information by Geographic Segment

North America.  As of December 31, 2002, we had 174 executive search consultants in our North America segment, which includes the United States (except Miami) and Canada. Our North America segment generated approximately 55% of our worldwide net revenue in 2002. The largest offices in this segment in terms of net revenue are New York, San Francisco and Chicago.

Latin America.  As of December 31, 2002, we had 17 executive search consultants in our Latin America segment, which includes Mexico and the rest of Latin America, as well as Miami, which serves as the gateway office to the region. Approximately 3% of our worldwide net revenue in 2002 was generated in this segment.

Europe.  As of December 31, 2002, we had 116 executive search consultants in 14 European countries. Our Europe segment generated approximately 36% of our worldwide net revenue in 2002. Germany, the United Kingdom and France produced the highest levels of net revenue in this segment.

Asia Pacific.  As of December 31, 2002, we had 30 executive search consultants in the Asia Pacific segment. This segment generated 6% of our worldwide net revenue in 2002.

For financial information relating to each geographic segment, see Note 3, Segment Information, in the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements.

Seasonality

Historically, in years that were not affected by significant economic change, there has been some seasonality in our business. As a percentage of total annual net revenue, the first and fourth quarters of the year

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are typically the lowest, although on average, the variance between the highest and lowest net revenue quarters is less than five percentage points.

Clients and Marketing

Our consultants market the firm’s executive search services through two principal means: targeted client calling and industry networking with clients and referral sources. These efforts are assisted by our databases, which provide all our consultants with information as to contacts made by their colleagues with particular referral sources, candidates and clients. In addition, we benefit from a significant number of referrals generated by our reputation for high quality service and successfully completed assignments.

Either by agreement with clients or for client relations purposes, executive search firms sometimes refrain from recruiting employees of a client, and possibly other entities affiliated with that client, for a specified period, generally not more than one year from the commencement of a search. We seek to mitigate the adverse effects of these blocking arrangements by strengthening our long-term relationships, thereby communicating our belief to prospective clients that we can conduct searches without off-limits issues impeding the quality of our work.

No single client accounted for over 3% of our net revenue in 2002.

Information Management

We rely on technology to support our consultants and staff in the search process. Our technology infrastructure consists of internally developed databases containing candidate profiles and client records, coupled with online services and industry reference sources. We use technology to manage and share information on current and potential clients and candidates, to communicate to both internal and external constituencies, and to support administrative functions. Over the past several years, we have invested in improving our systems. We intend to continue to invest in our own systems, focusing on our global search system and on our financial management and reporting systems.

Professional Staff and Employees

Our executive search professionals are categorized either as consultants or associates. Associates assist consultants by conducting research, making initial contact with candidates in some instances, and performing other functions. As of December 31, 2002, we had 1,370 full-time equivalent employees, of whom 337 were executive search consultants, 379 were associates, and 654 were other search, support and corporate staff. During 2002, we reduced our workforce by approximately 400 people or 20% of our global workforce, including 112 executive and management search consultants, in order to better align the size of our employee base with market conditions. During 2001, we reduced our workforce by 620 people, or 25% of our global workforce, including 136 executive and management search consultants, in order to adjust to weakening economic conditions.

In each of the past five years, no single consultant accounted for a material portion of our net revenues. We most frequently recruit our consultants from other executive search firms or, on occasion, from the industries represented by our practices. In the latter case, these are often seasoned executives who are entering the search profession as a second career, and who we train in our techniques and methodologies. We are not a party to any collective bargaining agreement and we consider relations with our employees to be good.

Competition

The executive search industry is highly competitive. While we face competition to some degree from all firms in the industry, we believe our most direct competition comes from established retained executive search

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firms that conduct searches primarily for the most senior-level positions within an organization. In particular, our competitors include Spencer Stuart & Associates, Egon Zehnder International, Russell Reynolds Associates, Inc. and Korn/Ferry International. To a lesser extent, we also face competition from smaller boutique or specialty firms that specialize in certain regional markets or industry segments. Each firm with which we compete is also a competitor in seeking to attract the most effective consultants.

The overall search industry has relatively few barriers to entry. Higher barriers exist, however, for firms like ours that focus primarily on conducting searches for executive-level positions. At this level, clients rely more heavily on a search firm’s reputation and global access, and the experience level of its consultants. We believe that the segment of executive search in which we compete is more quality-sensitive than price-sensitive. As a result, we compete on the level of service we offer, reflected by our industry practices and functional specialties, by our client focus, and, ultimately, by the quality of our search results. We believe that our emphasis on senior-level executive search, the depth of experience of our search consultants and our global presence enable us to compete favorably with other executive search firms in the United States and elsewhere.

Competition in our other leadership consulting services, including executive assessment, interim executive placement and coaching, is highly fragmented, with no universally recognized market leaders. Several of our primary competitors in executive search also offer such complementary services, but those typically represent less than a majority percentage of their revenue.

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OUR EXECUTIVE OFFICERS

Our executive officers as of March 1, 2003 are as follows:

Our executive officers serve at the discretion of our Board of Directors. There are no family relationships between any executive officer or director. The following information sets forth the business experience for at least the past five years for each executive officer.

Piers Marmion has been our Chairman since December 2001, our Chief Executive Officer since October 2001 and a member of our Board of Directors since March 2001. Previously, Mr. Marmion was Chief Operating Officer and President—International of Heidrick & Struggles Executive Search from August 2000 to October 2001. Prior to joining us, Mr. Marmion was Chief Operating Officer Worldwide and Head of Europe and Asia at Spencer Stuart & Associates from 1994 to 2000.

Kevin J. Smith has been our Chief Financial Officer since joining us in January 2002. Prior to that, Mr. Smith was the Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer from 2000 to 2001 and the Senior Vice President and Chief Accounting Officer from 1998 to 2000 at True North Communications, Inc. From 1997 to 1998 he held various positions with Midcom Communications, Inc., including Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Chief Executive Officer, and consultant.

Jocelyn A. Dehnert has been our Managing Partner, Northern Europe since September 2002. Previously, Dr. Dehnert was Regional Managing Partner, Asia Pacific from October 2001 to August 2002. She became a Partner with us in November 1996.

Fritz E. Freidinger has been our General Counsel and Corporate Secretary since joining us in December 2002. Prior to that, Mr. Freidinger was Vice President, Global General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of Jones Lang LaSalle Incorporated from 2001 to 2002. Previously, Mr. Freidinger was with Hagan & Associates, a law firm providing services to Jones Lang LaSalle and its clients, from 1997 to 2001.

John T. Gardner has been our Vice Chairman, Board Services since October 2001. Prior to that, Mr. Gardner was President, Global Practices from June 2000 to October 2001, and Managing Partner of our Industrial Practice from November 1993 to June 2000.

Joie A. Gregor has been our President, North America since February 2003, Managing Partner of our North America Board Services Practice since December 2002, and a Vice Chairman since August 2002. Previously, Ms. Gregor was Partner-In-Charge of our Communications Specialty Practice from October 2000 to February 2002, and Office Managing Partner of our New York office from October 1997 to February 1999. She joined us as a Partner in May 1993.

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RISK FACTORS

In addition to other information in this Form 10-K, the following risk factors should be carefully considered in evaluating our business because such factors currently may have a significant impact on our operating results and financial condition. As a result of the risks set forth below and elsewhere in this Form 10-K, and the risks discussed in our other Securities and Exchange Commission filings, actual results could differ materially from those projected in any forward-looking statements.

We depend on attracting and retaining qualified consultants.

Our success depends upon our ability to attract and retain consultants who possess the skills and experience necessary to fulfill our clients’ executive search needs. Our ability to hire and retain qualified consultants could be impaired by any diminution of our reputation, decrease in compensation levels relative to our competitors or restructuring of our compensation system, or competitor hiring programs. If we cannot attract, hire and retain such consultants, our business, financial condition and results of operations may suffer.

We may not be able to prevent our consultants from taking our clients with them to another firm.

Our success depends upon the ability of our consultants to develop and maintain strong, long-term relationships with our clients. Usually, one or two consultants have primary responsibility for a client relationship. When a consultant leaves one executive search firm and joins another, clients that have established relationships with the departing consultant may move their business to the consultant’s new employer. We may also lose clients if the departing consultant has widespread name recognition or a reputation as a specialist in executing searches in a specific industry or management function. Historically, we have not experienced significant revenue loss from this client portability. If we fail to limit departing consultants from moving business to another employer, our business, financial condition and results of operations may be adversely affected.

Our success depends on our ability to maintain our professional reputation and brand name.

We depend on our overall reputation and brand name recognition to secure new engagements and hire qualified consultants. Our success also depends on the individual reputations of our consultants. We obtain a majority of our new engagements from existing clients or from referrals by those clients. A client who is dissatisfied with our work can adversely affect our ability to secure new engagements. If any factor hurts our reputation, including poor performance, we may experience difficulties in competing successfully for both new engagements and qualified consultants. Failure to maintain our professional reputation and brand name could seriously harm our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Because our clients may restrict us from recruiting their employees we may be unable to fill existing executive search assignments.

Clients frequently require us to refrain from recruiting certain of their employees when conducting executive searches on behalf of other clients. These restrictions generally remain in effect for no more than one year following the commencement of an engagement. However, the specific duration and scope of the blocking arrangements depend on the length of the client relationship, the frequency with which the client engages us to perform searches, the number of assignments we have performed for the client and the potential for future business with the client.

If a client’s competitors believe that we are overly restricted by these blocking arrangements from recruiting the employees of our clients, these competitors may not engage us to perform their executive searches, and as a result, our business, financial condition and results of operations may suffer.

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We face aggressive competition.

The global executive search industry is extremely competitive and highly fragmented. We compete with other large global executive search firms and with smaller specialty firms. Specialty firms can focus on regional or functional markets or on particular industries. Some of our competitors possess greater resources, greater name recognition and longer operating histories than we do in particular markets or practice areas. There are limited barriers to entry into the search industry and new search firms continue to enter the market. Many executive search firms that have a smaller client base may be subject to fewer blocking arrangements. In addition, our significant clients or prospective clients may decide to perform executive searches using in-house personnel. Finally, during soft economic climates, competitors sometimes reduce their fees in order to attract clients and increase market share. Because we typically do not discount our fees, we may experience some loss of revenue. We may not be able to continue to compete effectively with existing or potential competitors. Our inability to meet these competitive challenges could have an adverse impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We rely heavily on information management systems.

Our success depends upon our ability to store, retrieve, process and manage substantial amounts of information. To achieve our goals, we must continue to improve and upgrade our information management systems. We may be unable to license, design and implement, in a cost-effective and timely manner, improved information systems that allow us to compete effectively. If we experience any interruptions or loss in our information processing capabilities, our business, financial condition and results of operations may suffer.

We face the risk of liability in performing executive searches.

We are exposed to potential claims with respect to the executive search process. A client could assert a claim for violations of blocking arrangements, breaches of confidentiality agreements or malpractice. In addition, a candidate could assert an action against us. Possible claims include failure to maintain the confidentiality of the candidate’s employment search or for discrimination or other violations of the employment laws. In various countries, we are subject to data protection laws which require the consent of a candidate to transfer resumes and other data. We maintain professional liability insurance in amounts and coverages that we believe are adequate. However, we cannot guarantee that our insurance will cover all claims and that the coverage will be available at reasonable rates. Significant uninsured liabilities could have a negative impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our multinational operations may be adversely affected by social, political and economic risks.

We generate substantial revenue outside the United States. We offer our services through our offices and affiliates in 32 countries around the world. We are exposed to the risk of changes in social, political and economic conditions inherent in international operations. In particular, we conduct business in countries where the legal systems and trade practices are evolving. Commercial laws in these countries are often vague, arbitrary and inconsistently applied. Under these circumstances, it is difficult for us to determine at all times the exact requirements of such local laws. If we fail to comply with local laws, our business, financial condition and results of operations will suffer. In addition, the global nature of our operations poses challenges to our management, and financial and accounting systems. Failure to meet these challenges could seriously harm our business, financial condition and results of operations.

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We may not be able to align our cost structure with revenue.

The timing and strength of an economic recovery in the United States, Europe and other areas of the world continues to be unclear. It is difficult for us to forecast revenue generation with any degree of certainty, even in the near term, and to balance revenue with the required capacity. In 2001 and 2002, we took steps to reduce our workforce, consolidate and close offices and reduce other expenses. If we do not reduce our costs in proportion to demand for our services in a timely manner or if we reduce our workforce so that we are unable to service increased demand, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected.

We may not be able to generate sufficient profits to realize deferred tax assets.

The timing and strength of an economic recovery in the United States, Europe and other areas of the world continues to be unclear. While current operational and tax plans support the realizability of our deferred tax assets, prolonged economic downturns could jeopardize the future realizability of deferred tax balances. If we are unable to generate taxable income in the long-term, our business, financial condition and results of operations may suffer.

Our ability to sublease or assign unused office space could affect our earnings and cash flows.

In 2001 and 2002, we consolidated and closed offices in order to reduce costs. This left us with a significant amount of unused office space with respect to which we are still required to make lease payments. At the time of the office closings we accrued the estimated costs associated with these actions. Inherent in these accruals are estimates concerning vacancy periods and sublease income. If we are unable to sublease or assign this unused office space within the estimated time frame, or if we sublease or assign this office space for amounts less than we had anticipated, our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flow may suffer.

We have antitakeover provisions that make an acquisition of us more difficult and expensive.

Antitakeover provisions in our Certificate of Incorporation, our Bylaws and the Delaware laws make it more difficult and expensive for us to be acquired in a transaction which is not approved by our Board of Directors. Some of the provisions in our Certificate of Incorporation and Bylaws include:

These provisions could discourage an acquisition attempt or other transaction in which stockholders could receive a premium over the current market price for the common stock.

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ITEM 2. PROPERTIES

Our corporate office is located in Chicago, Illinois. We have offices in the major metropolitan areas in 27 countries around the world. All of our offices are leased. We do not own any real estate. The aggregate square footage of office space under lease was approximately 872,000 as of December 31, 2002. These office leases call for future minimum lease payments of approximately $187 million and have terms that expire between 2003 and 2016, exclusive of renewal options that we can exercise. Approximately 100,000 square feet of office space has been sublet to third parties. See Risk Factors included in Item 1 of this Form 10-K for further information concerning unused office space.

ITEM 3. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS

From time to time we are involved in litigation that is incidental to our business. We currently are not a party to any litigation, which, in our opinion, is likely to have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations.

ITEM 4. SUBMISSION OF MATTERS TO A VOTE OF SECURITY HOLDERS

No matters were submitted to a vote of security holders during the last quarter of 2002.

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PART II

ITEM 5. MARKET FOR REGISTRANT’S COMMON EQUITY AND RELATED STOCKHOLDER

MATTERS

Our common stock is listed on the Nasdaq National Market under the symbol “HSII.” The following table sets forth the high and low stock price per share of the common stock for the periods indicated, as reported on the Nasdaq National Market.

As of February 28, 2003, the last reported price on the Nasdaq National Market for our common stock was $11.55 per share and there were approximately 260 stockholders of record of the common stock.

We have never paid cash dividends on our common stock and do not presently anticipate paying any cash dividends on our common stock in the foreseeable future. Any determination to pay dividends in the future will be at the discretion of our Board of Directors and will be dependent upon our results of operations, financial condition, contractual restrictions, restrictions imposed by applicable law and other factors deemed relevant by the Board of Directors. Our credit facility prohibits us from declaring and paying cash dividends on the common stock without the consent of our lenders. Future indebtedness and loan facilities may also prohibit or restrict our ability to pay dividends and make distributions to our stockholders.

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ITEM 6. SELECTED FINANCIAL DATA

The selected financial data presented below have been derived from our audited consolidated financial statements. The data as of December 31, 2002 and 2001 and for the years ended December 31, 2002, 2001 and 2000 are derived from the audited historical consolidated financial statements which are included elsewhere in this Form 10-K. The data as of December 31, 2000, 1999 and 1998 and for the years ended December 31, 1999 and 1998 are derived from audited historical consolidated financial statements which are not included in this report. The data set forth are qualified in their entirety by, and should be read in conjunction with, “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations,” the audited consolidated financial statements, the notes thereto, and the other financial data and statistical information included in this Form 10-K.