For VP Sales, CRO, and other GTM leadership hires, Beacon runs retained search: exclusive, dedicated attention on your search, with pre-vetted finalists in an average of 3 weeks. Your role isn't competing with 30 other open searches on a recruiter's desk.
Get your free talent mapIn a retained search, you pay an engagement fee upfront to secure our exclusive, dedicated attention on your search — typically one-third at kickoff, one-third at shortlist, and the balance at placement. In exchange, your role isn't one of thirty open searches competing for attention; it's the priority.
We run retained search for VP Sales, CRO, and other GTM leadership roles, where the cost of a wrong hire and the cost of a slow hire both run high, and where the best candidates are employed, not job-searching, and only reachable through direct, confidential outreach.
Your search is worked first, not fit in around other open contingency roles.
We can approach passive, employed candidates directly without a public job posting, which matters for sensitive leadership replacements.
Every finalist is screened against our 3-part methodology: built not inherited, the number not the story, verified fit not assumed fit.
If a placed hire doesn't work out within the guarantee period, we re-run the search at no additional fee.
Executive go-to-market recruiting (also called executive GTM search, or go-to-market executive search) is the hunt for the leaders who own a whole revenue function, not the people who carry a number inside one. For a SaaS company, retained GTM search can cover five seats.
Owns one revenue number across sales, marketing and customer success.
Owns bookings, the team and the comp plan.
Owns pipeline creation and positioning.
Owns retention and expansion after the sale.
Owns forecasting, systems and the data every other executive is judged on.
Hiring order (Beacon's working view, not a rule). Start with the seat that owns the number today, normally a VP of Sales. Add RevOps next, because later executives will be judged on data someone has to own. Marketing follows once there is a sales motion to feed, customer success when retention matters as much as new bookings, and a CRO last, when three functions need one owner. We advise against opening three executive seats at once, because the first hire should shape the brief for the rest.
| Payment | When it's due | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Engagement fee | At kickoff | Search launch, role scoping, target profile built |
| Shortlist fee | At delivery of finalists | Sourcing, screening, and reference work on the shortlist |
| Placement balance | At start date | Offer negotiation and close support |
Total fees for a retained leadership search typically run 25–30% of first-year total compensation, split across the three payments above. The exact split and percentage depend on the role, seniority, and search complexity, and we agree on it upfront before any work starts.
We don't run every search on retained. For most AE, SDR, and CSM hires, contingency is the better model: you take on no upfront financial risk, and the candidate pool is usually broad enough that a dedicated exclusive search isn't necessary. Retained makes the most sense for VP Sales, CRO, and other roles where the search needs to be confidential, the timeline is under 30 days, or the candidate pool is small enough that only direct outreach will find them.
The honest take: retained search is not a one-size-fits-all upgrade. It's the right model when the stakes and the difficulty of the search justify locking in dedicated attention upfront. We'll tell you which model fits your search on the first call, even when that means recommending contingency and taking on more risk ourselves.
For the full breakdown of both models and when each one makes sense, see our guide on contingency vs. retained recruiting.
We define the role, the stage-specific profile that will actually succeed, and comp benchmarks, typically within the first 48 hours.
We go direct to passive, employed candidates who match the profile — they won't be found on a job board.
Every candidate is screened against our methodology before they reach you: verified track record, not just a polished resume.
You receive pre-vetted finalists, on average within 3 weeks of kickoff.
We help structure and negotiate the offer to close, and stay engaged through the start date.
This is Beacon's working view of how the work splits in an executive search. It is a planning aid, not a measured benchmark.
| Step | Beacon | CEO or board |
|---|---|---|
| Scope | Drafts the target profile, stage fit and comp benchmarks | Decides who the executive reports to, which number they own, and what budget they control. |
| Outreach | Approaches employed leaders confidentially | Decides what can be said about the company, and who inside it knows the seat is open. |
| Finalists | Presents pre-vetted finalists | Agrees the interview panel and the scorecard below before meeting anyone. |
| Interviews | Debriefs each conversation | The CEO runs the chemistry interview. A board member meets the top one or two. |
| References | Calls the managers each finalist reported to | Reads the notes before any offer conversation. |
| Offer | Structures and negotiates the offer | Clears the base, variable and equity range with the board first. |
These three questions are our working view for every executive interview, extending the Builder's Standard. See it applied to the CRO and VP Sales seats.
| Dimension | Question | Strong answer | Weak answer |
|---|---|---|---|
| Built vs. inherited | Which parts of the revenue engine existed the day you started, and which did you create? | Separates the two unprompted and names the first thing they changed and what it cost. | Says "we" for everything, or claims the whole engine. |
| Ramp plan | It is your first Monday. What do you look at before you change anything? | Names the data they want first, such as pipeline by stage and churn reasons, and which decisions wait for it. | "Listen and learn" with no specifics, or a plan to replace the team in month one. |
| Cross-functional ownership | Describe a budget, comp or headcount decision that affected a team you did not run. | Names the decision, who lost out, and how it was settled. | Talks about "alignment" with no decision named. |
For an executive, the reporting line is usually the CEO, or a CRO for a marketing or customer success leader. In line with Beacon's existing method, we call the manager the candidate reported to, not the names a candidate hands over. For an executive we would cover the scope they actually owned (functions, headcount, budget), what happened to the team under them, and why they left or are leaving.
In a confidential search a current manager may not know the candidate is looking, so that call waits for the candidate's agreement.
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics has no category for CRO, CMO, VP of Customer Success or RevOps. The nearest are chief executives, sales managers and marketing managers, shown below as May 2025 national, all-industry figures. Use them as a rough proxy only: they are not SaaS-specific, and they are not on-target earnings. BLS counts commissions and incentive pay, but excludes stock and year-end bonuses.
| BLS category | Employment | Median | 75th percentile | 90th percentile |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chief executives (11-1011) | 204,350 | $213,990 | $356,200 | $507,730 |
| Sales managers (11-2022) | 637,080 | $148,270 | $207,340 | $290,540 |
| Marketing managers (11-2021) | 395,240 | $166,790 | $216,410 | $293,610 |
Worked arithmetic, using only the figures above: the sales manager 90th percentile is $290,540 against a median of $148,270, about 2.0 times the median (290,540 / 148,270 = 1.96). For chief executives it is about 2.4 times (507,730 / 213,990 = 2.37). Compare the Series B CRO base range of $220K–$260K on our Hire a CRO page with the sales manager 75th percentile of $207,340: even that upper quartile, commissions included, sits $12,660 below the bottom of the base range (220,000 − 207,340). We use BLS for context only.
A model where you pay an engagement fee upfront to secure a firm's exclusive, dedicated attention on your search, rather than paying only on a successful placement. A second payment is typically due at shortlist, with the balance due at placement.
For VP-level and above roles, confidential searches, roles you need filled in under 30 days, or searches where the candidate pool is small enough that passive outreach is the only way to find them. For AE, SDR, and CSM roles, contingency is usually the better starting point.
No. We work on both contingency and retained models depending on the role, timeline, and stakes. We recommend retained for VP Sales, CRO, and other leadership searches, and contingency for most AE and CSM roles. We'll tell you honestly which model fits on the first call.
Retained search fees are typically 25–30% of first-year total compensation for a leadership hire, split into three installments: roughly one-third at kickoff, one-third at shortlist, and the balance at placement.
We present pre-vetted finalists in an average of 3 weeks. Because retained search gives your role exclusive priority instead of competing with a recruiter's other open searches, it's typically faster than contingency for the same seniority of role.
It covers the leaders who own a revenue function: CRO, VP of Sales, VP or Head of Marketing, VP of Customer Success, and VP or Head of RevOps. Each seat is its own search with its own target profile, because a CRO, a marketing leader and a RevOps leader are screened on different evidence.
There is no fixed order, but Beacon's working view is: the seat that owns the number today (usually a VP of Sales), then RevOps, then marketing, then customer success, with a CRO last, once three functions need one owner. A product-led business may reverse parts of that.
No. BLS has no CRO or CMO category. The closest are chief executives, sales managers and marketing managers, with May 2025 national all-industry medians of $213,990, $148,270 and $166,790. They exclude stock and year-end bonuses and cover every industry, so treat them as a rough proxy, not an offer benchmark.
Hiring order, the CEO and board table and the scorecard are Beacon's working view.
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