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." 

–– Yang Han, Cofounder & CTO

Want to Talk About Our Recruitment Services or a Current Opportunity?



When hiring our first CPO, we were looking to branch out beyond our network. The Martyn Bassett Associates team was able to source candidates that we were wanting, but unable to get on our own. We were presented with a wide range of fantastic candidates.

Robert Chen
Co-Founder & Chief Strategy Officer, Almi

What I love about working with this team is they’re there to help. I have weird requests, they jump on the phone and we figure it out. I need someone in a hurry, they hustle. I maybe need someone ages from now, they keep an eye out. I have a question about a salary, or am unsure about how to approach something – they know. We’ve used them for a few years, and we’ve had nothing but great experience working together. Wish I had found them a few years sooner.

Alan Smith
Co-Founder/CEO, Strategyzer

We were impressed with both the speed and the high-calibre of candidates we had to choose from. Martyn Bassett Associates really listen to what you’re looking for and the entire process is very smooth and stress-free.

Roger Barlow
CEO & Co-Founder, Diversys

The entire Martyn Bassett team was easy to work with and we were able to quickly develop an open and transparent partnership. Leveraging their strong expertise and extensive talent network, they helped us find the technology sales leaders and management services experts we needed.

Erin McLean
SVP, Marketing & Human Resources, Herjavec Group

A true value-adding partner in identifying talent. The team at Martyn Bassett Associates were quick to zero-in on our requirements and rigorous in pre-qualifying candidates for consideration. They are focused and fast! Their expertise and experience added value throughout the process and resulted in an outstanding final outcome for Roadpost. This is a team that will strive to exceed expectations.

Kim Layne
VP Marketing, Roadpost