Technical Leadership Search

Technical leaders, assessed by technical leaders.

We search for CTOs, heads of engineering and technical leads. Every shortlisted candidate is interviewed — technically and commercially — by a senior engineering leader before you meet them, so you spend your time on people who can actually do the job.

The problem

Senior technical hires are high-stakes and hard to judge.

Generalist recruiters filter on keywords, not engineering judgement.
Founders and boards often lack the technical depth to tell a strong CTO from a confident one.
A wrong hire costs a year — in delivery, in team morale and in the next search.

Who it’s for

Businesses where the next technical leader shapes what happens next.

Founders hiring their first CTO.
PE-backed and growing SMEs scaling their engineering leadership.
Businesses post-acquisition that need new technical leadership.

See our M&A technical advisory

The process

Six stages, from defining the role to the first months in post.

1. Role definition — what the business actually needs, not a template spec.
2. Targeted search — direct sourcing of passive candidates.
3. Technical assessment — architecture, delivery and engineering judgement.
4. Leadership assessment — team building, communication, commercial thinking.
5. Shortlist with written assessments.
6. Offer and onboarding support.

Why us

Run by a former CTO and co-founder who scaled and exited a SaaS business.

We assess candidates the way they’ll be judged in the role.
Every shortlisted candidate is interviewed by a senior engineering leader before you meet them.
You get a written assessment, not just a CV.

Engagement

Simple terms, agreed up front.

Fixed-fee or retained search.
Three-month replacement guarantee.
Pricing on request.

The judgement we use to assess technology businesses goes into assessing the people who lead them. See how we evaluate engineering organisations in our buy-side due diligence and software architecture excellence work.

Hiring a CTO or head of engineering?

Tell us about the role. We’ll talk through what the business actually needs and how we’d run the search.

The problem
Senior technical hires are high-stakes and hard to judge.
- Generalist recruiters filter on keywords, not engineering judgement.
- Founders and boards often lack the technical depth to tell a strong CTO from a confident one.
- A wrong hire costs a year — in delivery, in team morale and in the next search.

Who it’s for
Businesses where the next technical leader shapes what happens next.
- Founders hiring their first CTO.
- PE-backed and growing SMEs scaling their engineering leadership.
- Businesses post-acquisition that need new technical leadership.

The process
Six stages, from defining the role to the first months in post.
- 1. Role definition — what the business actually needs, not a template spec.
- 2. Targeted search — direct sourcing of passive candidates.
- 3. Technical assessment — architecture, delivery and engineering judgement.
- 4. Leadership assessment — team building, communication, commercial thinking.
- 5. Shortlist with written assessments.
- 6. Offer and onboarding support.

Why us
Run by a former CTO and co-founder who scaled and exited a SaaS business.
- We assess candidates the way they’ll be judged in the role.
- Every shortlisted candidate is interviewed by a senior engineering leader before you meet them.
- You get a written assessment, not just a CV.

Engagement
Simple terms, agreed up front.
- Fixed-fee or retained search.
- Three-month replacement guarantee.
- Pricing on request.