Chief Talent and Capability Officer — Enterprise-Software Suite

The mandate

A privately held enterprise-software suite is consolidating product lines while critical capability shortages constrain its investment plan. Multiple teams retain overlapping product knowledge, but scarce architecture, migration, commercial and customer-success skill is not available where the future portfolio needs it. Hiring demand has become a collection of local requests rather than a view of work, supply and time.

The Chief Talent and Capability Officer will influence approximately €1,750 million in annual recurring revenue and lead about 575 employees and material partners. The remit includes strategic workforce planning, talent acquisition, assessment, learning, internal mobility, succession, workforce analytics, leadership capability and talent operations. The executive is accountable to the Group Chief Executive or designated executive committee sponsor.

The central task is to translate the consolidated portfolio into a capability system. Roadmaps, migrations, customer commitments and product retirements should reveal the work required by period. Skills must be defined at a level that managers can assess, not as broad labels such as engineering or sales. Demand should include proficiency, location, duration and dependency.

Supply needs equal rigour. Job titles and self-reported profiles will not provide a reliable baseline. The role will combine manager calibration, work evidence, assessment and deployment history to identify proven, adjacent and missing capability. Confidence levels should be explicit so the board can distinguish a verified gap from incomplete data.

Internal mobility is economically important during consolidation. People in declining product lines may hold customer, code or domain knowledge valuable elsewhere, but movement requires more than a vacancy portal. The Chief Talent and Capability Officer will create assessed pathways, short transition experiences and receiving-manager commitments. Movement should be measured through successful deployment and sustained performance.

External hiring will focus on shortages that cannot be built or moved in time. Workforce plans should compare hiring, development, acquisition, partners and automation using speed, quality, cost and knowledge retention. Supplier dependence needs an exit or absorption strategy where the capability is strategically important. Volume recruiting without portfolio prioritisation will not solve the constraint.

Learning investment must produce operating evidence. Academies and programmes should start with assessed gaps and end with demonstrated work, certification where relevant, and manager acceptance. Completion rates alone are not capability. The executive will stop broad content activity that cannot link to deployment or material readiness.

Product-line consolidation also changes leadership requirements. Executives must allocate talent across former boundaries, retire work and protect critical knowledge through migration. The role will assess leadership depth, create succession slates and make gaps visible to the board. Retention actions should target people essential to transition and address role clarity, manager quality and career logic alongside compensation.

The talent operating model itself requires simplification. Business leaders need one view of capability supply, vacancies, mobility and risk; they should not reconcile reports from recruiting, learning and HR. Named data owners and common definitions will support a quarterly talent allocation forum where decisions about build, buy, borrow or stop are recorded.

Why this seat is open

This is a planned replacement with a four-to-six-month assessment and handover window. The incumbent remains responsible during succession, allowing continuity through product consolidation. The confidential process is intended to protect employees and candidates while leadership and capability decisions are still being formed.

What you will own

• Convert the consolidated product roadmap into timed capability demand.
• Steward talent choices affecting approximately €1,750 million of annual recurring revenue.
• Establish verified supply data across technical, commercial and customer skills.
• Build internal mobility paths from declining to priority product work.
• Focus external hiring and partners on gaps that cannot be closed internally.
• Lead approximately 575 employees and material partners.
• Tie learning spend to demonstrated proficiency and successful deployment.
• Strengthen leadership depth, succession and knowledge continuity.

The first 12 months

During the opening 90 days, validate critical work, meet the 30 stakeholders closest to the capability constraint and assess talent leadership. Establish demand and supply definitions, identify immediate knowledge risks and agree investment gates for build, buy, borrow and automation choices.

Months four to nine should launch assessed mobility pathways, redirect hiring and retire low-value learning. Priority product teams should receive verified capability, while closing lines transfer knowledge through dated plans. Leadership succession and selected external appointments need to move from slate to accepted placement.

By the first anniversary, capability supply, internal mobility and leadership depth should be evidenced in delivery. The value case must sit within 10% of approval, supported by three consecutive outlooks joining roadmap demand, talent supply, cash, customers and product milestones. Severe capability gaps require a board-owned action before they exceed a 30-day escalation window.

What the board will measure

• Priority roles filled by people with verified rather than assumed proficiency.
• Internal moves sustaining performance in destination teams.
• Time, cost and quality improvements for scarce external hiring.
• Learning investment converted into assessed work capability.
• Retention of 90% or more of essential talent and ready cover for 70% of direct roles.
• Product knowledge transferred before teams or systems are retired.

The person

You are a Chief Talent Officer, Learning and Capability Head or Deputy CHRO with 22–28 years in technology or an adjacent enterprise. You have addressed capability shortages during product or organisation consolidation and can connect talent interventions to delivery and economics.

Your accountability has touched at least €1,000 million of P&L, book, budget or portfolio, and you have led 400 or more people. Evidence should identify your decisions, show how proficiency was verified and demonstrate outcomes sustained for two reporting periods.

Relevant backgrounds include software, cloud services, digital platforms, IT services and technology-enabled business services. The board needs a leader who can challenge inflated skill inventories, make hard investment choices and create credible opportunity for people whose current product is being consolidated.

Compensation and terms

Base pay is €240,000–320,000 plus annual incentive. The permanent role is hybrid in Amsterdam, with international relocation supported and no fully remote design. Notice periods up to six months can be accommodated.

Confidentiality

The organisation, incumbent and product decisions are protected throughout succession. Identity and detailed workforce evidence will be shared with qualified candidates after reciprocal interest and execution of confidentiality terms.