The appointment owns
The appointed Chief Product Officer sets portfolio priorities and makes the product trade-offs visible to the chief executive and board.
permanent executive recruitment
Hire Chief Product Officer
Hire Chief Product Officer: define the continuing product decisions this executive will own, from customer need and portfolio direction to the trade-offs that reach the board.
Brief us on this role →Chief Product Officer briefChoose a part of the brief
Part 01 / 04
Product mandate
Name the products and customer groups the executive will be accountable for.
Part 02 / 04
Decision rights
Define who sets product vision, approves roadmap trade-offs and resolves product versus sales or technology conflicts.
Part 03 / 04
Portfolio
State whether this seat owns one product, several lines, or decisions across a portfolio.
Part 04 / 04
Team boundary
Clarify where product, design, engineering, marketing and commercial leaders each retain ownership.
Hire Chief Product Officer: what must the role own?
Name the products and customer groups the executive will be accountable for.
Product mandateName the products and customer groups the executive will be accountable for.
Decision rightsDefine who sets product vision, approves roadmap trade-offs and resolves product versus sales or technology conflicts.
PortfolioState whether this seat owns one product, several lines, or decisions across a portfolio.
Team boundaryClarify where product, design, engineering, marketing and commercial leaders each retain ownership.
Role reference: SFIA 9: product management. SFIA describes product vision, lifecycle decisions, user needs, roadmap, pricing and portfolio direction as product-management work; the scope of this executive seat still depends on the organisation.
What changes when the Chief Product Officer is permanent?
A permanent Chief Product Officer owns a continuing product leadership seat. Spell out whether the remit includes discovery, commercial product decisions and product teams; the title CPO can also mean Chief People Officer.
permanentChoose a part of the brief
Part 01 / 04
Seat
Describe the continuing role, reporting line and decisions the appointment will own.
Part 02 / 04
Search
Set the evidence and assessment criteria before comparing candidates.
Part 03 / 04
Offer
Confirm employment terms, authority and any conditions before the offer is accepted.
Part 04 / 04
Induction
Arrange access, introductions and a clear first assignment.
How would this work in a real brief?
The hiring decision becomes clearer when the work and its boundary are written down together.
Illustrative brief · a company with several product lines
Separate product teams propose roadmaps, but no continuing executive is accountable for choosing between customer segments and investments.
The appointed Chief Product Officer sets portfolio priorities and makes the product trade-offs visible to the chief executive and board.
Another owner retains
Engineering owns technical delivery, commercial leaders own their sales commitments, and the CEO retains company strategy and reserved investment decisions.
How should you assess Chief Product Officer candidates?
Put the same work and evidence in front of each candidate before comparing answers.
The evidenceChoose a part of the brief
Part 01 / 04
Portfolio judgement
Ask for a real decision in which the candidate stopped or changed a product investment and what evidence they used.
Part 02 / 04
Customer evidence
Give each candidate the same customer and usage notes and ask how they would test a proposed roadmap item.
Part 03 / 04
Cross-team work
Ask how a product decision changed after challenge from engineering, sales or another specialist.
Part 04 / 04
Leadership scope
Check whom they managed, what they decided and what remained with the CEO or another executive.
Acas recommends a consistent, fair selection process: choosing who to interview.
Does this hiring pattern fit the work?
Test the amount of the week, the expected end and the continuity needed before writing the contract.
The working pattern · permanent
A permanent Chief Product OfficerAn employee holds a continuing full-time seat. Assess the long-term remit, reporting line and induction plan.
What must happen before the Chief Product Officer starts?
Agree product boundaries, decision rights and the reporting line before the search closes.
A clear startChoose a part of the brief
Part 01 / 04
Mandate
Agree product boundaries, decision rights and the reporting line before the search closes.
Part 02 / 04
Evidence
Provide customer research, product economics, roadmap decisions and known disagreements.
Part 03 / 04
Introductions
Introduce product, engineering and commercial peers with their decision boundaries.
Part 04 / 04
First review
Review an actual product decision and whether the agreed authority was sufficient.
- 1
Mandate
Agree product boundaries, decision rights and the reporting line before the search closes.
- 2
Evidence
Provide customer research, product economics, roadmap decisions and known disagreements.
- 3
Introductions
Introduce product, engineering and commercial peers with their decision boundaries.
- 4
First review
Review an actual product decision and whether the agreed authority was sufficient.
A useful Chief Product Officer brief names the decision, the working pattern and the evidence before it names a candidate.
What should the brief say?
Hire Chief Product Officer begins with product mandate, a stated working pattern and the evidence you will ask every candidate to show.
15 minutes · video or phone
Brief us on a Chief Product Officer
Tell us what the role must own, how it will work and when it must start.
- 01A brief built around the decisions and working pattern.
- 02A shortlist of 3–5 with pay or day rate, availability and IR35 position set out.
- 03Five-stage vetting before a candidate reaches you.
Pick a day that suits · live availability
