The Search Statistics
- Number of days to the first round of resumes: 9
- Number of candidates considered: 10
- Number of candidates interviewed: 7
- Number of business days to complete the search: 49
The Search
Our client was initially seeking a Director of Engineering to lead the front-end engineering team of 25 and scale it to 50+ as the company’s operations grew exponentially.
Running in parallel to the Director of Engineering search, our Product Practice had been engaged to execute on a search for the company’s first CPO. The decision to hire a CPO-level executive had been made to introduce an experienced leader into the ELT who could shepherd the organization to the next level of growth (including scaling teams and developing product-led growth and revenue strategies).
During the course of the search, 25 product candidates were presented, 11 were interviewed and 2 candidates completed the interview process.
At which point, a decision was made by StackAdapt to combine the engineering search with the CPO role and look for an SVP Platforms.
The Client
As an industry-leading programmatic advertising platform, StackAdapt empowers hundreds of digitally-focused companies to deliver outcomes and exceptional campaign performance.
Founded in 2013, this B2B SaaS platform has been adding value to how mid-market agencies run their businesses. It’s their mission to help brands accelerate customer engagement while providing best-in-class solutions for all industries. Their platform aids brands seamlessly across all marketing stages from planning, execution and analysis.
Search Requirements
For this hire to be successful, previous experience as a hands-on engineering leader who had led a rapid scale-up of an engineering organization was a must-have. StackAdapt was looking for someone who had been through a similar narrative before; growing a web platforms dev team from sub-20 people to 50+, while simultaneously working on systems design and architecture to ensure the product was capable of delivering value to a fast-growing customer base.
The Hire
Previously a Head of Engineering, at a global cybersecurity and observability data platform company, where they were tasked with building an R&D/Engineering excellence organization in Toronto. Over 2 years, they grew the organization to 40 FTEs, with a heavy focus on new product development and innovation.
Previously a technical Co-Founder at a customer engagement and survey SaaS company that grew to 40 employees, $5M ARR, and 3000 B2B customers in over 120 countries.
“Martyn Bassett Associates’ persistence, sharpness, and deep connections to the product community made them the logical search partner for this role.
In the past year, this new hire has not only nearly doubled our team size, but also significantly enhanced our processes and structure as we grew larger.
Martyn Bassett Associates’ determination and intelligence made them our recruitment firm of choice when looking for executive leadership roles in product and engineering.”