Engineering leadership recruiting · Manager to CTO

The engineering leader you want to hire is already interviewing.

We represent engineering leaders, Managers through CTOs, who are in the market right now. Open a mandate and we make introductions from a live pipeline instead of starting a search.

Free intake call · first shortlist in 5 business days · 90-day free replacement

Where the leaders in our pipeline have landed

AdobeAirbnbBed Bath & BeyondBlackRockeBayEYGap Inc.GitHubHPJohnson & JohnsonJPMorganChaseMastercardMcAfeeMcDonald'sMetaNvidiaOpenAIOraclePayPalQualcommRedditS&P GlobalSonyStripeTexas InstrumentsUnder ArmourVisaWalmartWells Fargo
100+
Engineering leaders placed, Manager to C-suite
5 days
Median time to first calibrated shortlist
3 to 5
Leaders per shortlist, each with written fit notes
90-day
Free replacement if the fit is wrong
The problem

Posting a req isn’t a leadership strategy.

The leaders worth hiring are already in conversations. The only question is whose.

The best leaders are passive, not on job boards, and already being courted
Leadership roles sit open for months while the org waits on the hire
Retained search bills 25% to 35% upfront and still takes months
A wrong VP or Director hire costs you quarters, not weeks
Our edge

We don’t start your search. It’s already running.

We run done-for-you job searches for engineering leaders every day. Your next Director is likely already in that pipeline.

The shortlist already exists

We represent engineering leaders, the same Managers, Directors, VPs and CTOs you are trying to reach, who are in the market now. Your candidates are not cold-sourced when you call. We introduce, we do not hunt.

Leadership is the whole desk

Engineering leadership only, across software, data and platform. No generalist desk, no junior-IC churn. We calibrate to scope, span of control and the org you are building.

Vetted for leadership signal

Screened by people who have read thousands of leadership resumes and sat in real hiring loops, for track record scaling orgs rather than keyword matches. Every name arrives with written context on why they clear your bar.

Retained rigor, contingency economics

Confidential outreach, calibrated shortlists and close support, without the retainer. You pay nothing until your new leader has started work.

Roles we fill

Engineering leadership is the whole desk.

First-line managers through the C-suite. One market, gone deep.

Recent outcomes for leaders in our pipeline

VP, Engineering (Authentication)Okta
Director, Analytics (Commerce Platform)DoorDash
Senior Engineering Manager, AI AgentsCaptivateIQ
Senior Manager, AI EngineeringHackerOne
Engineering Manager, ML PlatformApplied Intuition
Manager, Software Engineering (Storage)Figma
Pricing

18% of first-year base, nothing until they start

No retainer, and nothing owed to open a search. Well below the 25% to 35% typical of retained search.

How it works

Scope the mandate. Get a shortlist.

A 30-minute intake call, then pre-vetted leaders in 5 business days.

Who runs your search

A person owns your mandate, not a portal.

Every mandate is scoped, run and closed by one person. That person is me.

VK

Varun Kirti

Founder, Hummus Wolf

I founded Hummus Wolf because both halves of leadership hiring are broken in the same way. Companies cold-source Directors and VPs who were never looking, and the leaders worth hiring run their own searches badly because nobody has the time to do it well.

So we work both sides. Wolf Mentoring runs done-for-you job searches for engineering leaders, which means by the time you open a mandate with us, the people we introduce are already in the market, already positioned and already talking to us.

  • Owns every client mandate end to end, from intake call to signed offer
  • Engineering leadership searches only, Manager through CTO
  • Backed by a calibration team of senior engineers from Amazon-scale orgs

Have a leadership role open? Let’s fill it.

On the intake call you find out whether we already have strong leaders for your role. If we don’t, you hear that too.

Get a shortlist

First shortlist in 5 business days · no retainer