CTO recruitment agency and headhunters
your next CTO, in good hands.
We combine our data, our tech experts and our AI algorithms to identify the headhunter most relevant to your role, from a first CTO after a funding round to the technical director of an established group.
- no setup fees, pay on hire
- guaranteed replacement
they hire their technical leadership with muzzo
how do you hire a CTO through a recruitment agency?
A CTO owns the technical strategy of the whole company, not just one team: architecture, budget, hiring the tech team. Muzzo gives your role to the headhunters who hire the most CTOs: they check a technical direction genuinely run. Fee of 5 to 30%, paid on hire. Leaves within 3 months: we restart the search free.
the figures
a CTO's salary in figures
source: Apec, private-sector managerial pay in 111 job families, 2025 edition, p. 52 (IT management) (opens a new window), 2025 data
source: Apec, private-sector managerial pay in 111 job families, 2025 edition, p. 52 (IT management) (opens a new window), 2025 data
source: Apec, private-sector managerial pay in 111 job families, 2025 edition, p. 52 (IT management) (opens a new window), 2025 data
source: Apec, private-sector managerial pay in 111 job families, 2025 edition, p. 52 (IT management) (opens a new window), 2025 data
how it works
you only pay if you hire
01
you describe the role
Using the form above: the role, your company, your stage. The rest is scoped in your first conversation with the Muzzo team.
02
our data chooses the headhunters
Our AI picks those who have hired the most CTOs, from more than 2,500 selected headhunters.
03
you meet the best profiles
Approached and qualified by headhunters who are experts in technical leadership. You choose who you meet.
04
you hire, then you pay
Not before. If your new hire leaves within 3 months, we restart the search at no cost.
they hired with muzzo
Muzzo's strength is the diversity of its recruiters: there is always someone listening to our needs.
With Muzzo, I get the reactivity of a marketplace and the quality of a search firm.
let's talk about your role
Antoine and the Muzzo team help you scope your role and choose the right headhunters. Describe your role in the form: we'll call you back to discuss it.
Antoine GigomasCEO and co-founder of Muzzo
one last question?
With Muzzo, you set the fee, between 5 and 30%, and you only pay it on hire: no deposit, no fixed fees. A first-time start-up CTO and the technical director of an established group don't take the same search. The fee follows that scarcity, and the Muzzo team helps you set it.
You have a double guarantee. If your new hire leaves within 3 months, for example because the real scope didn't match the brief, we restart the search at no cost. If we find no replacement within 4 months, we refund 50% of the fees. On average, 94% of Muzzo hires are still in post after 3 months.
headhunters who hire CTOs are ready to start
A hire signed in under 26 days. You only pay when you hire.
the reality
a CTO is judged by the technical organisation they build, not by their last job
a great lead developer doesn't always make a good CTO
The role means talking to the board, defending a budget and arbitrating between product and technical debt. The headhunter checks these skills, not just the level of code.
a start-up CTO and a group CTO don't do the same job
One builds a team from scratch, the other takes over an existing organisation and legacy systems. The headhunter starts from your situation, not from a generic title.
a bad hire shows up across the whole tech team
A CTO who doesn't convince slows down hiring, architecture decisions and the developers' confidence. The headhunter approaches CTOs already in post, discreetly.
the roles
the technical leadership profiles our headhunters go after for you
From a start-up's first CTO after a funding round to the technical director of an established group, each role goes to a headhunter who knows this level of responsibility.
start-up CTO
They lay the technical foundations after a funding round, often after one or more founding engineers. The most common role in this family.
already hired via muzzo
technical director
The French-language equivalent of a CTO in many established companies, often reporting directly to the CEO.
already hired via muzzo
scale-up CTO
They structure an organisation already in place: several teams, several engineering managers, technical debt to arbitrate.
already hired via muzzo
VP engineering
In some organisations, they own technical execution while the CTO keeps the longer-term product and technology vision.
Chief Information Officer (CIO)
In a large group, the CIO runs internal IT rather than the technical product. A similar-sounding role, different in practice.
already hired via muzzo
the method
a technical leadership headhunter, not a generalist tech recruiter
A start-up CTO and a group technical director aren't hired from the same networks. The method starts from your company's real situation.
we define what the CTO must build or take over
A team to create or an existing organisation, a budget to defend, how exposed the role is to the board: the brief describes the real situation, not a generic title.
a headhunter who hires technical leadership
From more than 2,500 selected headhunters, your role goes to those who hire the most at this level of responsibility.
a technical direction checked with references
The headhunter asks what was built or turned around under the profile's responsibility: a team hired, an architecture that held up, a budget defended in front of leadership.
hiring a CTO: what you need to know
why is hiring a CTO so decisive?
The CTO owns the technical strategy of the whole company: architecture choices, technical budget, hiring the tech team, and often a direct presence in front of the board or investors. A mistake at this level ripples through years of technical decisions.
The hire also turns on something less visible: the ability to translate technical issues into business decisions a non-technical leadership team can understand. The headhunter checks this skill as much as engineering level.
CTO, technical director, CIO: what are the differences?
CTO and technical director most often describe the same role, the one that owns the product's technical strategy. The Chief Information Officer (CIO) tends to run a large group's internal IT: tools, infrastructure, vendors, not necessarily the technical product sold to customers.
In a scale-up, the CTO may also delegate execution to a VP engineering and focus on the longer-term technology vision. State in the brief which of these roles you're really after.
should you move a founding engineer into the CTO role, or hire directly?
Many young companies start with a founding engineer who naturally becomes CTO as the team grows. This transition works well when the person quickly learns to delegate and talk to the board, but fails if they stay focused on code.
Hiring a CTO externally brings technical leadership experience already proven, useful when the company scales faster than its founding team can learn. The headhunter checks that experience on a concrete case, not just a title.
what salary should you offer a CTO depending on company size?
According to Apec, IT management managers earn a median of €64k in companies with fewer than 250 employees, against €85k from 250 employees upward (2025 edition). The gap reflects the size of the team to lead and the level of exposure to the board, more than the CTO title alone.
Location matters a lot too: the median reaches €91k in the Paris region, against €65k in the rest of France. A CTO based outside Paris remains a credible profile, provided the offer is adjusted to the local market rather than the Paris benchmark alone.
how do our headhunters assess a CTO before introducing them?
The headhunter asks what was built or turned around under the profile's responsibility: a team hired from scratch, an architecture that held up under scale, a budget defended in front of investors. They also check the variable pay offered in the past: 61% of IT management managers receive one, with a median of €7,000.
A CTO already in post doesn't answer job ads. The headhunter approaches them directly and discreetly, while your search stays confidential from your current team.
your questions about hiring a CTO
There is no Apec job family specific to CTOs: the closest benchmark, IT management (CIOs, IT heads), shows a median of €77k gross a year, 80% between €49k and €130k. It rises to €85k in companies with 250 employees or more, against €64k below that (2025 edition).
If the role should manage a single team of developers day to day, that's an engineering manager. If the role should own the technical strategy of the whole company, in front of the board or investors, that's a CTO. See also our engineering manager page.
Both options exist. A founding engineer often becomes CTO naturally if the team grows and they learn to delegate. But when the company scales faster than its founding team can learn, hiring a CTO externally brings experience already proven elsewhere.
The CTO owns the technical strategy of the product sold to customers. The CIO tends to run a large group's internal IT: tools, infrastructure, vendors. The two roles sometimes overlap in a mid-sized company.
The headhunter asks for a concrete case: a budget defended in front of leadership or investors, a team hired and organised, an architecture that held up under scale. Strong technical skills aren't enough without this ability to represent the tech side to the business.