Off-market reach
Most senior AI leaders ignore inbound. Our process is built for engaging passive candidates inside Tier-1 banks, frontier labs and category-defining public companies.
Executive search · Chief AI Officer
Hire a Chief AI Officer who can ship — not just brief the board.
We run retained CAIO searches for enterprises operationalizing AI inside regulated, complex organizations — and for AI-native scale-ups appointing their first executive AI lead.
The Chief AI Officer market is small, fragmented and almost entirely off-market. The strongest candidates are heads of applied research, VPs of engineering with a model-platform mandate, or operators who built and shipped the AI roadmap of a Fortune 500 inside the last 24 months. Zero to One Search runs CAIO mandates as confidential, retained engagements — mapping the global pool, narrowing to a calibrated shortlist, and closing inside 10–14 weeks.
The profile
What we look for in a CAIO
- Operationalized AI inside a real P&L — not just a research org or an advisory role.
- Comfort across model strategy, platform engineering, governance and stakeholder communication.
- Track record of building and retaining a 30–250 person org spanning research, engineering, product and risk.
- Native fluency with the regulatory frame the company operates in (financial services, healthcare, public sector, defense).
- Evidence of shipping — measurable revenue, cost or risk impact attributable to their AI program.
Why teams brief us
What you get when you engage us
Calibrated shortlist
We deliver 4–6 finalists with full diligence on commercial impact, regulatory fluency and culture-add — not 30 résumés.
Confidential by default
We can run the entire mandate without disclosing your name in market. Many CAIO searches are replacements or first-of-kind hires that need that discretion.
Global, with a European spine
Strongest coverage across the EU, UK and US. Comfortable structuring relocation, second-passport and cross-border comp packages.
Search by city
Hire a Chief AI Officer in your city
Coming soon
- Chief AI Officer · London
- Chief AI Officer · Berlin
- Chief AI Officer · New York
Frequently asked
Questions before you brief us.
- How long does a Chief AI Officer search take?
- Typical timeline is 10–14 weeks from kickoff to signed offer. We deliver a calibrated shortlist within weeks 5–6, and most clients run two interview rounds before final.
- What does a CAIO actually own?
- It varies by company. We help clients align on the mandate before launch — most CAIO charters cover model strategy, applied AI engineering, AI governance & risk, and (often) the data platform underneath. We push back hard on briefs that mix CAIO and CTO scope.
- Are you comfortable with confidential or replacement searches?
- Yes — a meaningful share of CAIO mandates are confidential replacements. We run the entire process without disclosing your name in market until the finalist stage.
- Do you cover the US as well as Europe?
- Yes. Our strongest coverage is EU, UK and US. We have placed CAIO and Head of AI talent across New York, London, Berlin, Paris and the Bay Area.
Next step
Ready to brief a CAIO mandate?
Most CAIO engagements begin with a 60-minute scoping call. We respond to every inbound brief within one business day.