When should a company hire its first Head of Corporate Development?

Most commonly when the company has either completed its first acquisition, is preparing for a platform-build strategy, or has reached scale where M&A becomes a repeatable discipline rather than an episode.

What is the difference between a Chief Strategy Officer and a Head of Corporate Development?

A CSO is a C-suite executive who owns enterprise strategy, including but not limited to M&A. A Head of Corp Dev is typically a senior VP focused on the M&A pipeline, diligence, and integration.

Does a PE-backed portfolio company need a Chief Strategy Officer?

Rarely. PE portfolio companies typically rely on the CEO, CFO, and the fund's operating team for strategy. CSOs become essential closer to IPO or in businesses where strategy is a continuous competitive discipline.

How long does a strategy or corporate development search take?

Our median Strategy function search closes in 100 days, the fastest function we cover, partly because the candidate pool is small and well-mapped.

What makes a great transformation leader?

Pattern recognition under pressure. The best transformation leaders have lived through more than one transformation (carve-outs, integrations, restructurings) and can move fast without breaking what shouldn't be broken.

Chief Revenue Officer Executive Search

The CRO who owns the number and rebuilds the engine

Partner-led CRO search for PE-backed, growth, and public B2B companies. Our sales and revenue searches close in a median of 103 days

Start a Search Meet Our Partners

98% Placement Rate

500+ CRO Searches

4.9 out of 5 rating

85% Referral Rate

The Role

Chief Revenue Officer
executive search

Whether you need a Chief Revenue Officer or a Chief Commercial Officer for your business, today’s top revenue leader must run a fully unified go-to-market engine. While different businesses use different names, the core responsibility is identical: owning the net revenue number across sales, support, and customer success. In many organizations, that seat expands to cover marketing as well.

But the traditional playbook no longer applies. Our 2026 research found that 94% of senior leaders say their role is already transforming because of AI, and these commercial seats are changing the fastest. The leader who fit your business two years ago may not fit the landscape today.

We figure out exactly what your unique revenue moment requires before we open the search. Then, we deliver: our sales and revenue searches close in a median of 103 days.

Source: ON Partners Widening Gap Report 2026 | May 2026 Gartner CSO Survey

The Roles We Place

Three CRO archetypes. Pick the right one before week one.

The CRO seat looks the same on paper across stages. The work is different at each one. We name the archetype the business needs before we open the search.

Hired into a PE-backed portco with an exit thesis tied to commercial expansion. Operates against the value-creation plan, not last quarter's quota.

Has carried a GTM motion through an exit cycle
Comfortable rebuilding sales ops, pipeline architecture, and pricing
Strong board cadence, calm under sponsor pressure
Lives in pipeline math and ICP discipline

Hired into a Series C-through-pre-IPO company to take the commercial engine from founder-led to repeatable. The hardest scaling job in modern B2B.

Has scaled a sales org from $20M to $200M+ in ARR
Builds enterprise muscle without losing velocity
Comfortable with founder dynamics and growth-stage volatility
Strong CMO and CFO partnership reflexes

Hired into a large or public B2B company to reset the GTM motion under AI pressure, channel shift, or activist scrutiny. Carries more political capital than the role usually requires.

Has led GTM through at least one structural reset
Comfortable with board optics and quarterly investor cadence
Strong AI literacy on the sales stack
Builds without breaking the existing customer base

Sample of our work

In their words

What clients say after the placement.

1 / 3

“

Nothing other than kudos and thank you. We have already sung On Partners praise to our Board and Observers.

Computing & Infrastructure

Chief People Officer

“

ON Partners was flexible; the team established the role description quickly, identified qualified candidates quickly, and the administrative aspects of scheduling calls and the like were hassle-free. An excellent overall experience from the entirety of the team.

Vertical SaaS

Operating Partner

Our clients

Companies trust ON Partners

Ready when you are

Hire the CRO who rebuilds the engine.

Tell us about your stage, your GTM motion, and what the next 12 months of pipeline look like. A partner reads every inbound.

85% of clients search with us again

4.9 / 5 client satisfaction rating

Partner-led from kickoff to close

98% placement rate

Common Questions

What leaders may ask before a search

Should the CRO and CMO report to the same executive?

Increasingly yes, particularly in PE-backed environments where commercial coordination is a value-creation lever. The right structure depends on the stage and size of the business. We pressure-test the reporting model during the calibration phase.

How is a PE-backed CRO different from a public-company CRO?

A PE CRO operates against the value-creation plan and the exit thesis. A public-co CRO operates against quarterly Street expectations and durable growth narrative. Both need pipeline discipline. The board cadence and the optics requirements are different.

When is the critical trigger for a company to transition from a VP of Sales to an executive CRO?

A business must scale the role to an executive CRO when revenue generation moves from a localized sales function to a complex, multi-channel architecture—specifically during private equity platform roll-ups, corporate carve-outs, or when the exit thesis requires tight data and pipeline alignment between sales, marketing, and finance.

The CRO who owns the number and rebuilds the engine

Chief Revenue Officer
executive search

Three CRO archetypes. Pick the right one before week one.

Precision at scale
for revenue leaders

Meet the experts

What clients say after the placement.

Related searches for the same leadership teams

By Function & Role

By Industry

Other

Companies trust ON Partners

Leaders recently placed

CardFlight Appoints Inaugural Chief Revenue Officer

LiveOak Fiber Announces Additions to Board of Directors

StarCompliance Strengthens Executive Leadership Team with Chief Revenue Officer Appointment

ExperCARE Appoints New Chief Operating Officer

NVIDIA Appoints New Vice President, Global Events + Experiences

Avio USA Appoints New Senior Vice President, Engineering

Hire the CRO who rebuilds the engine.

What leaders may ask before a search

The CRO who owns the number and rebuilds the engine

Chief Revenue Officer executive search

Three CRO archetypes. Pick the right one before week one.

Precision at scalefor revenue leaders

Meet the experts

What clients say after the placement.

Related searches for the same leadership teams

By Function & Role

By Industry

Other

Companies trust ON Partners

Leaders recently placed

CardFlight Appoints Inaugural Chief Revenue Officer

LiveOak Fiber Announces Additions to Board of Directors

StarCompliance Strengthens Executive Leadership Team with Chief Revenue Officer Appointment

ExperCARE Appoints New Chief Operating Officer

NVIDIA Appoints New Vice President, Global Events + Experiences

Avio USA Appoints New Senior Vice President, Engineering

Hire the CRO who rebuilds the engine.

What leaders may ask before a search

Chief Revenue Officer
executive search

Precision at scale
for revenue leaders