Is this our Chief Technology Officer? An evaluation scorecard for hiring managers
8 categories that actually matter for a CTO. A few yes/no questions in each to bring a little more clarity to your hiring process. Before You Start: Every company is different, and the right hire depends on your stage, size, strategy, and the specific challenges you're facing. Use the scorecard as a helpful starting point for structured thinking, and if you need a little more guidance, reach out to Hunt Club. How to use the scorecard Drawing on thousands of executive placements and our experience with high-growth companies, we've organized the scorecard into eight key categories. Evaluate whether the candidate meets each criterion, then review the final score at the bottom. To receive a score, you must complete all fields. Scorecards are meant to supplement your hiring process near/at the end of an interview loop, once you have a solid understanding of the candidate and can confidently answer questions below.
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Could they walk you through a technical problem in real detail, not just at a high level?
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Do they have hands-on experience with the core technologies and programming languages our stack relies on?
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Did they describe a specific technical domain where their expertise clearly goes deep?
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Could they step in and debug a hard production issue themselves if needed?
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Do they have a strong, specific opinion on where AI creates real value versus hype?
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Did they describe how they personally use AI tools day to day, with specifics?
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Do they proactively explore emerging technologies and AI tools relevant to the business?
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Could they explain a real limitation or failure mode of an AI system?
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Do they think about data privacy, bias, and governance as part of the AI conversation from the start?
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Does this person think like a product partner?
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Have they created feedback loops between engineering, product, and business teams to improve decision-making?
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Can they make technical decisions with a clear sense of business impact?
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Do they measure and communicate the business impact of engineering decisions to non-technical stakeholders?
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Could they speak to the commercial or customer impact of a technical decision they made?
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Did they ask hard questions about the state of our technical infrastructure during this evaluation process?
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Could they explain a complex technical trade-off in a way I understood clearly?
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Do they have a point of view on the build vs. buy decisions that will define our technical roadmap in the next two years?
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Did they describe a specific architecture decision they made and explain why?
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Did they give a specific example of a technical bet that paid off?
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Did they describe a specific incident they personally owned the response to?
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Do they understand the compliance and security requirements relevant to our industry and customer base?
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Could they speak confidently about how they think about risk in the systems they own?
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Did they describe a specific way they've built psychological safety on an engineering team?
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Did they give a specific example of a cultural norm they established on a team (e.g., code review standards, postmortems, etc.)?
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Did they describe how they handled a moment of team conflict or tension directly?
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Have they demonstrated a habit of asking "why" and challenging assumptions to uncover root causes?
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Do they have experience working in our industry or a closely related domain at a similar stage of company growth?
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Can they articulate key trends, emerging technologies, and challenges shaping our industry?
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Do they understand regulatory, compliance, or security considerations specific to our industry?
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Have they advised product or engineering teams on industry best practices to improve competitiveness or efficiency?
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Can they clearly explain complex technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders in a compelling way?
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Do they help engineers see how their day-to-day work impacts customers, business metrics, and strategic goals?
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Can they balance technical detail with strategic narrative to ensure both clarity and inspiration?
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Can they break down highly complex technical concepts into clear, actionable insights for the board?
Whatever your score,
the next move matters.
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