NED / Chief Executive Officer
The Business
We represent a high-growth and well established SaaS business operating in a regulated, mission-critical sector. The company is entering a phase of scale and professionalisation, with a clear pathway toward a liquidity event in the next 2-3 years.
The Opportunity
We’re looking for a hands-on operator: start as a NED, move into the MD (CEO designate) in under 12 months. The role is central to driving value, scale, and a high-quality liquidity event.
Why the NED phase exists:
- Work one day/two days a week while learning the business and offering critical scale up and operational input, essentially a strategic “Chief Growth Officer
- Understand the team, culture, and operations and as importantly the key sectors the business operate within, though lived experience of having worked in these a major advantage
- Validate mutual fit
- Allow a structured handover from the founder
- Prepare to take full operational control
Bottom line: if you don’t want the CEO role, stop reading.
Phase 1: Active NED (0–12 months - highly likely 6 months)
Your mission in this phase:
- Learn the business end-to-end - product, tech, commercial model, sales, regulations
- Assess the team and culture - build trust, spot gaps, observe dynamics
- Understand the founder’s vision - identify sensitive areas and where change is needed
- Diagnose operating and leadership structure - evaluate gaps and opportunities
- Review commercial performance - pipeline, forecasting, ARR, retention, enterprise adoption
- Influence selectively - guide strategy without taking full control
- Shape the target operating model for scale and exit
- Pressure-test the exit story - make sure buyers will get it
- Key principle: hands-on, active NED only. No ceremonial roles.
Phase 2: MD (CEO designate) - (Full-Time Executive Role as MD progressively taking full control as the CEO)
Once you transition:
- Full P&L ownership and operational leadership
- Product and technology vision and direction
- Drive predictable revenue, retention, and margin improvement
- Lead the business through a transaction or liquidity event
- Act as primary interface with buyers and advisors
- The founder steps back completely from day to day operational decision making - no shadow decision-making.
Who We’re Looking For
You are:
- A commercially focused leader in SaaS/software -– strong proven record in sales, marketing, GTM strategy
- Preferably a founder/CEO who has exited successfully, or a CCO/COO who has worked closely with them to scale a company for exit readiness or completed a liquidity event
- Explicitly motivated to return to a hands-on CEO role
What This Role Is (and Isn’t)
This role is:
- A short runway to de-risk CEO transition
- A chance to run and exit a real business with real upside and wealth creation opportunity
- A mandate to professionalise, simplify, and strengthen leadership
This role isn’t:
- A long-term NED
- Advisory or mentoring
- Consensus-driven board experiment
- A guarantee that leadership roles remain unchanged
Equity & Incentives
- Meaningful equity is on offer, designed to reward:
- Successful transition to CEO
- Value creation during scale
- High-quality exit delivery
- NED salary, future equity and incentives will be discussed openly with qualified candidates.
Why This Opportunity Exists
- Founder wants to step back and realise value
- The business needs a proven entrepreneurial commercial leader - founder-CEO or sales/marketing C-level operator - with scale and exit knowledge and successful experince
- The board wants clarity, authority, and decisive leadership
This is rare. If you’ve run a SaaS business to scale and want to do it again - driving revenue and growth while managing exit mechanics, this is your chance.