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Permanent VP of Product · hiring brief

Hire a VP of Product

Hire a VP of Product: decide whether you need a leader of product managers or a product executive, write the roadmap decisions the VP owns, and test them on your own product evidence.

Brief us on this role →See VP of Product roles

Reviewed by Fractional Quest · updated 1 November 2026 · 4 sources linked below

  • 3–5on every shortlist
  • 5stages of vetting
  • IR35set out on every brief
Hire a VP of Product: a technology leader sketching a system architecture on a whiteboard (illustration)

On the board · last 90 days

Which roles are on the board now?

Permanent VP of Product roles first, then the seat in any engagement and the wider function when the board runs short.

Roles
  • Log my CareSyndicatedFractional
    Fractional CPO
    City of London◆ 3 d/wk · in the posting
    Rate set on the briefPosted 8 SeptView →

See every role on the board →

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In the press

The brief

Hire a VP of Product: what must the role own?

Name the product managers and areas the VP leads.

  • 01TeamsName the product managers and areas the VP leads.
  • 02RoadmapSet which priorities they decide and which go to the CPO or CEO.
  • 03ProcessDiscovery, prioritisation and release practice they are expected to run.
  • 04ReportingSay whether they report to a CPO, a CTO or the CEO.

Role reference: SFIA: product management skill. SFIA’s product management skill describes rising levels of product responsibility, which separates a VP of product from the product managers they lead and from a CPO.

VP or CPO

Hire a VP of product or a chief product officer?

The two titles overlap, so write the seat before you search.

Hire a VP of product when the gap is leading product managers and running the product process. Hire a CPO when the gap is product strategy at board level.

A VP of product management can report to a CPO, a CTO or the CEO. Say which in the brief; it changes who will apply.

The working pattern

What changes when the VP of Product is permanent?

A VP of product runs product management: the product managers, the roadmap process and delivery with engineering. A CPO sets product strategy at executive level; many companies have one and not the other.

The illustrative brief: a scale-up with six product managers. The CEO acts as head of product. Product managers work well alone but priorities collide and there is no shared discovery practice.

The appointment owns: The company hires a VP of product to run product management and a quarterly planning process.

Another owner retains: The CEO keeps product vision and pricing; the CTO keeps engineering resourcing.

The case is illustrative; it does not describe a Fractional Quest placement.

From brief to start

How do you hire a VP of Product, step by step?

Hire a VP of Product, in practice: the first three steps are ours; the last four are what has to be true before the first day. We don’t promise a shortlist by a date.

  1. Day 0
    01
    The 15-minute call
    What the VP of Product must own, the working pattern, the start date and the budget.
    You and us
  2. Week 1
    02
    Scope agreed in writing
    The outcome the seat exists for, the days, and how the engagement will run for IR35.
    Us
  3. Weeks 1–3
    03
    Search, references, shortlist
    We approach people who aren’t looking, verify tenure, take references ourselves and return three to five.
    Us
  4. Week 4
    04
    Mandate
    Teams, decisions, reporting line and review date in writing.
    You
  5. Before day one · 2
    05
    Evidence
    Usage data, research, roadmap and customer commitments.
    You
  6. Before day one · 3
    06
    Introductions
    Product managers, engineering leads, sales and support.
    You
  7. Before day one · 4
    07
    First output
    A written view of the roadmap’s biggest risk in the first month.
    You

Assessment

How should you assess each candidate?

Hire a VP of Product on evidence: put the same work in front of each candidate before comparing answers.

  1. Comparable work
    Ask for a product team they built or restructured, and what changed in delivery.
  2. Authority
    Test a roadmap conflict the CEO would want to decide.
  3. Team
    Ask how they coached a product manager rather than taking over their area.
  4. Handover
    Ask what planning practice they left behind.

Acas recommends a consistent, fair selection process: choosing who to interview.

Vetting

What happens before anyone reaches your shortlist?

Five stages before a candidate reaches a shortlist of three to five.

  1. Pedigree screen
    Tenure
    We verify prior tenure in the seat, at the scale and stage you need. No consultant presenting as an executive.
  2. Mandate fit
    Fit
    Fit to your stage, sector and the problem the seat exists to solve, not a CV keyword.
  3. Reference deep-dive
    Verify
    We take references ourselves, from recent clients and boards: what they delivered, not what they titled it.
  4. Shortlist
    Shortlist
    Three to five candidates, each with day rate, availability and IR35 position set out.
  5. Kick-off
    Start
    Scope, first-month outcomes and the contract agreed before day one.

The full process is on how we vet.

The right pattern

Does this hiring pattern fit the work?

Test the amount of the week, the expected end and the continuity needed before writing the contract.

Questions

Hire a VP of Product: questions, answered

Close. Both lead product managers; VP usually signals a larger team or a seat one level below a CPO. The brief should say what they run, not rely on the title.

Read next

Related hiring and role pages

Sources

Where does every reference on this page come from?

  • sfia-online.org
  • HMRC
  • legislation.gov.uk
  1. 1
    SFIA: product management skill sfia-online.org
  2. 2
    Understanding off-payroll working (IR35) HMRC
    Status depends on how the engagement runs; medium and large clients make the determination.
  3. 3
    Check employment status for tax (CEST) HMRC
    HMRC’s own status check for each engagement.
  4. 4
    Employment Agencies Act 1973 legislation.gov.uk
    The law a recruitment agency works under; no fee to a work-seeker.

For hiring managers

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