When a technology function has been missing a clear leader, the CTO hire isn’t usually the last hire, and it’s often the start of a run in the searches we’ve run. The track record shows that a first appointment into a PE-backed business is the start of building a technology leadership team, and businesses that scope it as a one-off leave the incoming leader without a team or a budget line for one. That opening placement selects for a builder who can create the structure the function has been missing.
The first CTO hire usually starts a sequence
A PE-owned healthcare business brought in a CIO as part of a complete technology leadership build-out. The initial appointment was followed by a further six senior appointments across product, data, applications, infrastructure, architecture and security. Those roles were all part of that build-out, and the sequence took shape because the function had been without that layer for so long that no single hire could have fixed it. An ASX-listed wholesale distribution and marketing company shows the same pattern: six senior roles across the full technology function, including the CIO and moving through core IT, enterprise architecture and AI leadership. The brief for that initial role in both businesses could have been written as a standalone appointment. In practice, the incoming leader’s job was to build the team around them, and the next hires followed.
Why the opening appointment is a team builder, not a lone contributor
A business that was putting its senior leadership team together ahead of an exit to Wipro for $540M included a CTO placement, then followed it with VP hires in professional services, business development and sales. The CTO who walked in first had to be able to hire and lead that team, not just work as an individual contributor. When a function has been without a clear leader, the incoming leader inherits a gap: there’s nobody beneath them to carry product, data, infrastructure or delivery. An operator hired to do the work alone will fail because the workload outruns one person quickly, and the business never gets the structure it needs. A brief that scopes the role as a one-off tends to attract exactly that profile, because it signals that building a team isn’t part of the mandate. A brief that says the opening role is the first of a planned series attracts people who’ve built teams before.
The headcount line missing is what pushes leaders out before they’ve built the team they’re meant to lead
They want to know whether there’s a funding line for the roles that report to them, and whether they have the authority to make those hires. When neither exists, the brief is written as a one-off appointment and attracts the lone operator rather than the team builder the function needs. The first placement is made with the follow-on roles they’ve already planned, and they’re part of the same plan, because they know the opening role is where the build starts, not the end of a search.
What strong candidates ask before accepting
First, what budget do I actually control for putting together the team? Next, who do I need to approve those hires, and can that happen in weeks rather than months? Third, what existing team am I inheriting, and how many of them have the skills for the function we need to construct? A candidate who accepts without those answers is betting their reputation on a mandate they can’t deliver. When those answers are ready on day one, the searches we’ve run tend to turn into a build-out.
Frequently asked questions
If you’re scoping a CTO hire into a technology function that’s been lacking clear leadership, the first decision is whether the role is the first in a sequence or the only one. Make that decision before you write the brief. If you want to talk through what that sequence looks like for your business, start here.
