Job Description
An exceptional interim CEO opportunity to join an established Software Product company early in 2025 (ideally January) based in London. The company is well capitalised, scaling from 70 FTE and built a tremendous market lead by providing the best tool for individual developers.
The Interim CEO opportunity and accountabilities:
The Interim CEO’s mission is to stabilise the company and to make progress against several critical change projects:
1. The modernisation of the engineering organisation (in progress).
2. The adoption of a new business model to improve free to paid conversion.
The new CEO will report to the Board and lead the company through this transitional stage, stabilise the business and set the company up to succeed under new leadership when appointed:
• Ensuring that there are coherent OKRs to focus the business on its key opportunities and challenges.
• Ensuring there is a leadership team with the skills and capabilities to both conceive and execute that strategy.
• Setting expectations, delegating, data-driven monitoring and holding others to account.
• Introduce and implement an Entrepreneurial Operating System or similar model.
• Creating an organisation design and set of processes that allow the company to be directed against the vision, motivated and organised to deliver.
o Ensure coherent management processes across the company.
o Attracting, retaining and growing the right people. Getting them to work together.
o Match talent to value opportunity and avoid adequate performers in key positions.
o Performance management, giving feedback and letting people go when required.
Key Responsibilities:
We are expecting the successful Interim CEO to do everything necessary to deliver on the points above. You will be responsible for:
• The performance of the company.
• Selecting and managing your team.
• Making sure the company has a strong customer-focused culture.
• Ensuring the board is both able to understand what is going on and to contribute.
• Ensuring the business can live within its means and grow.
Required career experience:
• You have either been in leadership positions, including either a CEO role or a leadership position in a software or high-tech business targeting a technical audience, and have seen a company grow into generating revenues in the tens of millions. You will have been instrumental in that journey.
• Proficient at customer interaction, both in terms of understanding their problems and needs, building relationships with them, and selling to them.
• Familiar with working alongside a sales and marketing organisation, designed to sell both to large businesses and individuals.
Personal Attributes:
• Excellent communication and people skills at all levels.
• A leader with a commitment to excellence.
• Highly tenacious and achievement oriented.
• A dynamic and charismatic personality with high energy levels.
• Excellent management skills with a ‘hands on’ approach to the role; a team builder.
• Able to propose pragmatic, workable solutions to tricky and intractable problems; can implement them and make them work, even if imperfectly.
The CEO would need to commit to visiting the head office in Berlin at least twice per month, for a 3-day period on each visit.
We have more information to send you regarding a detailed job description and more about this opportunity, if you would like to explore further based on your interest and suitability.