Retained executive search for Chief Technology Officers across Sydney and Australia.
Executive Search
CTO executive search.
We work with boards, investors and CEOs in PE-backed, ASX-listed and scaling technology businesses, and we scope every CTO search around the stage the business is at and the commercial outcome the hire will be measured on.
The role
Which CTO the business needs
The CTO title covers several different jobs. It can mean the founder who wrote the first version of the product, the operator who takes an engineering team from twenty people to two hundred, or the leader brought in to make a fragmented estate deliver against an exit timeline. An ASX-listed business mid transformation and a growth SaaS business preparing for exit need very different people, with different technology, scale and change management in front of them. Each of the four below suits a different situation, and the technical requirements mostly follow once we have agreed with you which one the business needs.
The Builder
For a business before or around product-market fit. A hands-on technologist who builds the early product and makes the architecture calls the company will live with. The fit drops once the business needs hiring, structure and delegation more than it needs code.
The Scaler
For a growth-stage business where the platform and the way the team delivers have become the constraint, usually once engineering is past twenty or thirty people. An organisation builder, judged on hiring, structure and reliability, and in a lot of businesses the point where the CTO and VP of Engineering roles separate.
The Commercial CTO
For a PE-backed portfolio company after investment. Runs the technology function against the value creation plan, the cost base and the multiple, and can sit with a CFO or an operating partner and connect what the function builds to what the business is worth.
The Transformation CTO
For ASX-listed and enterprise transformation, carve-outs, roll-ups and turnarounds. Integrates the systems and teams an acquisition left behind and runs delivery day to day while the target state is built, with a board watching the timeline.
Our approach
What we agree before the search goes to market
A lot of the value in a CTO search is in the brief conversation, where we work through the role with you and define it around what the business actually needs. Five things get pinned down before we approach anyone:
- Stage. Where the business is today and where it needs to be in three years.
- Commercial mandate. What the CTO is accountable for, whether that is revenue, margin, cost or the exit.
- Reporting line. Who the CTO reports to and who sits alongside them, which senior candidates read closely.
- Team maturity. The team and platform the CTO inherits, and whether this hire is the first of several.
- Time to outcome. The timeline the board or investors are working to.
We write the brief around the business problem and the outcomes the role owns, and treat the technology stack as context for the search.
Assessment
How we assess CTO candidates
Technical depth is the baseline for a CTO. What we test is the link between what someone built and what it was worth to the business, in margin protected, revenue enabled or cost taken out, and whether they brought the board and the leadership team with them while they did it. That evidence sits in the specific calls a candidate made under pressure, which a CV rarely shows, so that is where our conversations with them go.
Track record
Technology leadership appointments
Our CTO and CPTO appointments span PE-backed, ASX-listed and scaling software businesses, including:
- The first CTO into a high-growth professional services business, to build the technology and security function from the ground up
- A CTO for a PE-backed SaaS platform
- A CTO and Head of Engineering for a founder-led, VC-backed AI platform
- A complete technology leadership build-out for a PE-owned healthcare group, starting with the CIO
Support
Frequently asked questions
How long does a CTO search take?
A well-scoped search typically takes 8 to 12 weeks from brief to accepted offer. Most of the variation comes from the brief and from how quickly decisions get made once candidates are in front of you, so we put the time in at the start and run a weekly cadence call with you through the search.
Do we need a CTO or a CIO?
Start with the actual pain. If it sits in the product and platform the business sells and the engineering function that builds them, that is usually a CTO. If it sits in the enterprise systems the business runs on, aligning IT with a transformation and carrying a complex group of stakeholders, that is usually a CIO. Some businesses need both, and the brief conversation is where we work out which.
Do we need a CTO or a VP of Engineering?
Where the business needs someone setting technical direction and representing technology to the executive team and the board, that is a CTO. Where the direction is settled and the constraint is hiring, structure and predictable delivery as the team grows, a VP or Head of Engineering is often the better hire, and we run both searches.
Should a first CTO be hands-on?
In a small team some hands-on capability usually matters. What decides whether the hire works is whether they can lead and structure the work so the existing team moves faster, so we scope for both and weight the leadership.
Can you place a fractional or interim CTO?
Yes, through our interim and contract practice. For a fractional CTO, two to three days a week is usually the right commitment, and we also place interim CTOs to lead a transformation or hold the function while a permanent search runs.
