CEO Search.
Senior CEO and President-level engagements for venture-backed, PE-backed, and self-funded operators.
What this search actually requires.
A CEO search is the most reputation-bound engagement most boards will run. Senior CEO candidates are almost entirely passive — running someone else's company, not interviewing — and the outreach has to be credible from the first call. The candidate evaluates the board as much as the board evaluates the candidate.
Engaged search is the standard model. The deposit funds the targeted, discreet outreach the search requires; the balance is owed only on placement. The recruiter assigned to your search has placed CEOs across stage and industry and runs the engagement end-to-end.
CEO comp ranges in 2026.
Typical 2026 ranges for the CEO role. Specific comp is benchmarked per engagement against peer companies and the candidate's track record.
- ✓Early-stage / smaller-revenue CEO base: $300,000–$500,000
- ✓Venture-backed Series B–D CEO base: $400,000–$650,000
- ✓PE-backed portfolio company CEO base: $500,000–$1.0M
- ✓Public-company CEO base: peer-group benchmarked, materially higher
Five steps, end-to-end.
From kickoff to closed offer, run by the senior specialist you meet on the first call.
Scoping with the board search committee, comp philosophy alignment, and definition of non-negotiables
Market mapping and discreet outreach to the passive candidate pool
Calibrated shortlist (3–5 candidates) presented to the search committee
Working sessions, board-chair conversations, and (where applicable) medical-staff or community diligence
Reference checks (backchannel + on-list), offer construction, and close
Where the CEO search lives.
The industries where this role profile shows up most often on our desk.
CEO search,
specifically.
The questions hiring leaders ask in the first scoping call.
Tell us the role, the niche, the urgency.
We come back inside one business day with a scoping call, a fee quote, and a candidate market read.