Christian & Timbers helps companies hire Chief Product Officers (CPOs) who can turn customer needs, technology, and business goals into growth-driving products.
Christian & Timbers’ CPO executive search team works with high-growth technology companies, private equity-backed businesses, and public companies. Expert recruiters find product leaders who can set a clear strategic vision, build strong teams, and turn product strategy into measurable business outcomes.
A Chief Product Officer (CPO) is a critical role at a company. CPOs help decide what the company should build, why it matters, and how the product supports the business.
Christian & Timbers' CPO headhunters find leaders who connect product, technology, customers, and revenue. The ability to connect those 4 things is critical to a company’s success.
Christian & Timbers recruits CPOs for companies across all industries, including:
A strong Chief Product Officer (CPO) sets the strategic vision for the product and makes sure it supports the company's business strategy. That means the CPO needs to know what customers need, where the market is going, and which ideas are worth building.
The CPO works closely with the rest of the executive team, including CEO, CTO, Chief Financial Officer, Chief Operating Officer, and leaders in sales and marketing.
A CPO should be able to:
Companies that are not sure whether they need a CPO, VP of Product, or Head of Product can read Christian & Timbers' guide: How to Hire a Chief Product Officer
Meeting the credentials and qualifications does not signal that a CPO is a good fit. A best-fit CPO executive search looks at how a leader thinks, what they’ve built, and the results of their work:
1. Strategic Vision
The best product leaders can forecast where a market is going, create products based on their forecast, and turn it into a clear plan. They know how to prioritize.
2. Business Acumen
Strong candidates know how product choices affect revenue, customer retention, costs, growth, and long-term enterprise value.
3. Product and Technology Leadership
Product and engineering must work together well to maximize business success.
4. Leadership Style
Christian & Timbers considers how candidates build leadership teams, solve disagreements, make hard choices, and create trust across the company.
Every CPO executive search starts with the business.
Christian & Timbers first learns what the company needs to achieve. Then the team builds the executive search around those goals.
1. Define the Role
Works with key leaders – CEO, board, investors, and leadership team – to understand the company's objectives, product strategy, growth plans, and challenges.
2. Map & Engage Candidates
Search across companies, industries, and nearby markets to find the right leadership talent. The CPO recruiting team engages candiates through hiring.
3. Assesses & builds shortlist
Candidate vetting looks at all the skills and business goals for the first 12-18 month, and assesses which candidates fit the best.
Support the Entire Search Process
Christian & Timbers stays involved through interviews, references, offer talks, and final hiring decisions.
The goal is always to find a strategic partner who can help shape the company's future. Christian & Timbers looks at the whole picture and keeps the company top of mind, not just merely filling the role.For a deeper look at how product leaders are found and assessed, see Christian & Timbers' guide to Product Management Recruiting Services.
Every company has unique needs; each company’s Chief Product Officer profile will be slightly different.
The right CPO depends on the company's size, product, market, and next stage of growth.
A fast-growing company may need its first CPO to bring order to a product team that has grown quickly. The new CPO may need to set the strategy, build a leadership team, improve the hiring process, and help the company scale.
A private equity-backed company may need a CPO who knows how to improve products, support company growth, and help increase the enterprise value.
The CPO of a private equity-backed company might cut products that no longer make sense, improve pricing, enter new markets, or use AI to improve the customer experience.
Christian & Timbers also works with private equity firms and portfolio companies through its Private Equity Executive Search team.
Large companies may need leaders who can transform the company by managing bigger teams, creating larger product lines, and managing more complex business goals.
The Chief Product Officer (CPO) may also need to collaborate closely with board members, the finance team, the legal team, and other members of executive leadership. So, being able to speak in simple business language and have strong communication skills is critical for success.
The CPO and CTO often work closely together, especially since the product is often technical, but they usually own different parts of the business.
The Chief Product Officer focuses on what should be built and why. The CPO owns product vision, customer needs, pricing, product priorities, and the roadmap.
The Chief Technology Officer focuses on how the technology is built and how the technical team delivers it. The CTO owns engineering, architecture, technical systems, cybersecurity, and technical delivery. Engage in a CTO executive search.
Some companies combine these jobs under a Chief Product and Technology Officer, or CPTO. Engage in a CPTO executive search.
The right role structure, whether CTO, CPO, or CPTO, depends on the company's size, product, and leadership team.
Read Christian & Timbers' How to Hire a Chief Product Officer.
At Christian & Timbers, the CPO executive search firm team, looks at candidates through multiple lenses. Product management craft, product operations, design maturity, alignment with engineering, and readiness for AI-powered change all sit inside the same evaluation framewor
Working with Christian & Timbers was an exceptional experience from start to finish. The firm reached out to me on LinkedIn regarding the CTO opportunity at Atropos Health, and from that initial contact, they demonstrated true professionalism and clear communication. Throughout the entire interview process, JC Christian was an invaluable partner. He played a key role in coordinating the steps between me and the Atropos team, and his regular, thoughtful check-ins ensured I felt supported and informed at every stage. Moreover, it was JC's proactive, intuitive sourcing that connected me with Atropos.
I highly recommend the executive search firm to any executive looking for their next challenge or any company searching for top-tier talent; Christian & Timbers makes the recruiting process seamless, efficient, and genuinely human.
CTO
I had the privilege of working with Jeff Christian, founder and CEO of Christian & Timbers who helped me secure an independent corporate board director role at a global radiopharmaceutical company. From the outset, Jeff demonstrated a deep understanding of the company’s growth trajectory and outlook, board governance and strategic oversight needs, and how my experience could add value at the board level. His guidance throughout the process was thoughtful, strategic, and highly effective. I would strongly recommend Jeff Christian and his firm to any corporate board seeking a strategic executive recruitment firm able to identify and attract outstanding board talent.
BOARD MEMBER
I had an outstanding experience working with Jeff Christian and his team. They presented me with a compelling Board opportunity at Telix Pharmaceuticals, which I was very pleased to accept. Jeff and his team demonstrated strong professionalism throughout the process. They worked effectively with both sides to ensure the role was an excellent fit - exciting, strategically aligned, and well-matched to my background and interests.
I would highly recommend Jeff Christian and his team to any executive or company seeking top-tier board placements.
BOARD MEMBER
Christian & Timbers is an exceptional NYC executive search partner. They move fast and found us one of the best CTOs in the industry. Would highly recommend using them.
CEO
Christian & Timbers works fast, diligently, and sources great candidates. Would highly recommend them to others.
FOUNDER
We’ve partnered with Christian & Timbers for many years, and their team is exceptionally professional, responsive, and energetic. Thanks to their efforts, we secured an outstanding CEO and Operating Partner who have strengthened our leadership and positioned a portfolio company for long-term success.
PARTNER AND CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER
Christian & Timbers is an outstanding executive search firm in NYC to work with in AI and cyber security. Their data-driven and bespoke approach has been pivotal in recruiting GTM leaders and board members for our portfolio companies like SecurityScorecard. The GTM President, CMO, SVP Sales, CPO and SVP Engineering have helped drive growth by 2X.
PARTNER
I’ve trusted Jeff and Christian & Timbers for over two decades because they always deliver. Their hands-on, relentless process brings us top leaders who know how to scale, drive performance, and deliver the best outcomes. They drove a very disciplined process recruiting a CRO and CMO for one of Bessemer’s portcos that helped us achieve a critical exit.
OPERATING PARTNER
Jeff and the team at Christian & Timbers were professional, communicative, and extremely responsive. They ensured the entire process was focused on what our company needed and did not push candidates they believed wouldn’t fit our culture and growth. I would work with them again without hesitation.
VICE PRESIDENT, OPERATIONS
Christian & Timbers’ science-based methodology and rigorous process helped us find 3 top-tier GTM leaders that know our business and drive revenue. Their approach has been crucial to our company’s growth and leadership.
CEO
Christian & Timbers did an awesome job on a tough CFO search for us. We were interviewing the best local candidates with PE and SaaS experience in less than 2 weeks and met a short timeline.
CEO
The team at Christian & Timbers drove a very tight process and completed our CISO search in less than 70 days. We needed someone in Boston with a very specific skill set. C&T executes exactly as they commit.
CEO
Christian & Timbers has placed more than 800 product and technology leaders, according to the firm's Product & Technology practice page. The firm also reports that 73% of its placed CPOs helped drive market leadership in their category.
That experience gives the CPO executive search team a clear view of what strong product leadership looks like across different company stages and industries.
Christian & Timbers executive search firm has a strong focus on product, technology, AI, and other leadership roles where the right hire can change the direction of the business.
Explore Christian & Timbers' broader Product & Technology Executive Search
Many top executives are already contently employed and not looking for their next opportunity. They’re focused on what they’re currently doing. This means technology executive search firms must be able to seek leaders who are already doing strong work somewhere else and approach them with a compelling offer.
Christian & Timbers uses market research and a global, expansive network to find those candidates.
The executive search process starts with the company's goals and what it needs to achieve.
The goal may be growing revenue, entering a new market, improving a product, using AI, fixing product and engineering problems, or preparing for the next stage of growth.
The candidate profile is then built around those strategic objectives.
A CPO works collaboratively with the rest of the C-suite. Christian & Timbers also engages in C-Suite Executive Search across all roles, including technology, finance, operations, sales, marketing, and board leadership.
If you’re looking for multiple C-suite roles, consider having Christian & Timber recruit for all of the roles for a comprehensive search that builds complementary and synergistic teams.
Christian & Timbers helped recruit several leaders for SecurityScorecard, including its CPO.
Investor Joe De Pinho said the CPO, GTM President, CMO, SVP of Sales, and SVP of Engineering helped drive the company's growth by 2X.
A company may be ready for a Chief Product Officer when product decisions have become too large or complex for the founder, CEO, or VP of Product, or CTO to manage alone.
Common signs include:
Christian & Timbers' How to Hire a Chief Product Officer explains when a CPO makes sense and when a VP of Product may be the better hire.
A CPO executive search firm helps a company find and hire a Chief Product Officer. The search firm helps define the role, research the market, contact qualified candidates, assess those candidates, build a shortlist, and support the hiring process.
Many strong CPO candidates are already employed and are not actively seeking another job. CPO headhunters can reach those executives directly instead of waiting for applications.
A good CPO should understand customers, product strategy, business goals, technology, and leadership. They should also be able to show clear results from products and teams they have led.
Christian & Timbers looks at each candidate's past results, strategic vision, leadership style, business acumen, product knowledge, technology experience, and ability to work with other senior leaders.
A VP of Product often leads the product team and day-to-day product work. A Chief Product Officer usually has a wider role. The CPO helps shape company strategy and works as part of the executive leadership team.
Christian & Timbers explains this distinction in its [CPO hiring guide]. CPO Hiring Guide
Yes. Christian & Timbers recruits CPOs, CTOs, CPTOs, VPs of Product, VPs of Engineering, Heads of AI, and other product and technology executives. Christian & Timbers
Christian & Timbers works across technology sectors including AI, SaaS, cybersecurity, fintech, healthtech, data infrastructure, industrial technology, and other product-led businesses.