AI executive search brief: what must be signed before the search opens

The brief is a mandate instrument, not a job description. The search does not open until the named buyer has signed four fields: decision rights, stop, budget, reporting line. Stop means no open on a title, and no open if the rights are 'to be discussed with the right person.'

I run retained AI Executive Search mandates from Hamburg for DACH seats. The four fields are a Beyond Chiefs gate, not the Stock Corporation Act and not a statutory form. There is no statute named AI executive search brief.

What must change sits above the four fields

One sentence is enough: which contested AI yes this seat will carry, and what changes in the house when the name sits. That is the header. Not a fifth essay. Outcomes at six or twelve months may be one line under decision rights. Not a twelve-item checklist.

Decision rights: which calls the seat takes alone

Signed: which contested AI calls this seat may take alone, which it only tables, which stay with the CEO, the Vorstand, or the board. Blank means not ready.

IBM IBV, global, not DACH: 68 percent of 1,000 C-suite executives across 14 regions say AI adoption slowed because decision rights and escalation paths are unclear (IBM IBV). That is why the field exists. It is not a German rate.

Stop: the search does not open on a title

If the rights are 'to be discussed with the right person,' or the brief is only a title plus a task list, the search does not open. The stop is the product of this page.

The AI Act does not require a CAIO. Absence of the title is not itself a breach. A search that opens only the title is not legally required.

Budget: what the seat controls in year one

Signed: what operating spend this seat controls in year one, and which seats it may fill. Not 'inside the IT envelope, TBD.' Euro figures are written by the buyer. This page invents no bands, no fees, no salaries.

Reporting line: one name, one line

One name. One line. Not a matrix. Blank blocks the open. The signature sits before the market is approached, not after.

Who signs, and who does not by statute

The named buyer of the mandate signs. That may be the Vorstand, the CEO, an advisory board, or PE. Who must sign a seat that is not an organ seat is unknown as a single legal rule.

The supervisory board appoints Vorstand members, for at most five years; a repeat appointment needs a new resolution (§ 84 (1) AktG). The German Corporate Governance Code: the supervisory board decides the number, qualifications, and filling of Vorstand seats, and with the Vorstand provides for succession (DCGK, Vorstand composition). That is the appointment act for a Vorstand member. It is not proof that the supervisory board must sign every CAIO brief.

What this page is not

Not a job board. Not a downloadable job description. No claim that search demand for the phrase is proven. Volume: unknown.

Is a title plus a task list enough?

No. Then the search does not open.

Must the supervisory board sign every CAIO brief?

No. § 84 is the appointment of Vorstand members. For a seat that is not an organ seat, the named buyer of the mandate signs. There is no single statutory rule for that signature.

May 'to be discussed with the right person' stand in the brief?

No. Then the field is blank. The search stays closed.