Beyond Chiefs provides executive search for AI leadership in Germany and the DACH region. Christian Pobbig leads Beyond Chiefs from Hamburg. We search for leaders for Chief AI Officer and Head of AI mandates, and for AI responsibility at board level.
The starting point is the leadership mandate: Which AI decisions must this person make? Who will they report to? What responsibility will they hold? Those answers define the search.
What does AI headhunting mean at Beyond Chiefs?
At Beyond Chiefs, AI headhunting means filling AI leadership roles. The focus is the person responsible for the company's AI decisions. The service is intended for boards, CEOs, CHROs, advisory boards and private-equity investors.
A search tool can find profiles. The leadership mandate needs to be clear first. Beyond Chiefs works in retained executive search, with a defined mandate and an accountable partner.
Who buys the mandate
The board. The CEO. The CHRO. The advisory board. PE and investor-backed houses.
Not the candidate. Not HR as an order desk with no signature.
The mandate needs a name that owns the call. Without that name, the search is a purchase order.
Which seats the mandate covers
CAIO. Head of AI. AI on the board.
DACH first: Germany, then Switzerland, then Austria
The mandate starts in Germany. Then Switzerland. Then Austria.
Hamburg is the firm’s seat. Not the category. DACH Mittelstand stays a separate spoke.
What the longlist has to carry
The longlist has to carry the seat, not the phrase.
Anyone who cannot own the yes does not belong on it. Reporting line. One name that does not split the call.
A list without a bearer is not a longlist. It is inventory.
Retained search, not a tool, not RPO
Retained. One mandate. One partner.
Not a tool. Not RPO. Not a volume-hire machine.
Discuss your AI leadership mandate
When fractional or interim is the wrong first buy
If the house still has no bearer for the yes, fractional or interim is the wrong first buy. Form comes after the seat. Buy the form first and you buy time without a name. Fractional CAIO and interim CAIO stay other pages.
Questions decision-makers actually ask
What is KI Executive Search in Germany — and what is it not?
KI Executive Search in Germany is retained search for the person who owns the AI yes. Christian Pobbig / Beyond Chiefs, Hamburg; DACH, Germany first. Not AI inside the search. Not a tool. Not a job hunt.
Who is the mandate for — and who is it not for?
For the board, the CEO, the CHRO, the advisory board, and PE that must fill an AI seat. Not for candidates. Not for HR without a signature. The buyer of this page is the decision-maker. The candidate is not.
Which seats does an AI executive search mandate cover?
CAIO, Head of AI, AI on the board. The mandate names the seat. It does not write it as an essay.
When is fractional or interim the wrong first step?
When nobody yet owns the yes. Fractional and interim are forms after the seat, not a substitute for it. Buy the form first and you buy time without a name. The fractional and interim pages stay the spokes.