Obtaining the perfect CTO to lead major market growth in the FinTech sector

Our client were a rapidly expanding provider within the Financial Technology sector, and required a Chief Technology Officer to lead their strategic growth plan over the next 5 years.

The Brief

As a substantial provider within the rapidly expanding FinTech sector, our client had established an ambitious business growth strategy to increase their market share. A critical part of this strategy included the requirement to recruit a top performing CTO. Innovation and differentiation were major components to successfully achieve their growth ambitions and therefore our client required the best possible talent to fulfil this.

Identifying the key challenge

It became clear from our conversations with our client that the FinTech market was constantly changing, so the key challenge was identifying individuals who not only welcomed changed, but actively sought it. We needed to find individuals who were disruptors and always looking to make an impact with a new idea.

Furthermore, many of these individuals were already working for some of the biggest names in the sector and being well-rewarded. Helping our client identify how we could entice these individuals to work for a smaller, albeit very ambitious, organisation was crucial.

The Solution

Our initial starting point was to identify all of the major competitors who had successfully grown through innovative offerings. In addition, we sought individuals in different sectors with a similar growth trajectory and innovative players including the world of mobile apps and software.

Through our painstakingly methodical research process, we identified a number of suitable candidates at shortlist stage to be interviewed by the client – two from within the sector and 4 from outside it.

The appeal of playing such a significant role in a smaller company was particularly attractive to those individuals from within the Fintech sector.

The client was delighted with the quality of candidates presented to them to choose from, and ultimately appointed one of the candidates from a major competitor who was already working in the sector.