Recruiting senior executives for a cybersecurity company is not simply hiring a CISO or Head of Cyber – it is about safeguarding the resilience, reputation, and long-term sustainability of the organisation. For the rapidly expanding cyber companies in the Middle East as well as worldwide, a formalised, tactical recruiting system is a must—and that’s where a specialist executive search partner such as Robbert Murray and Associates brings tangible value.
Before writing the job description, determine what “success” will look like for your cybersecurity head in the next 18–36 months. This should tie back to your security roadmap, client expectations, and regulatory environment, and shouldn’t be a generic list of technical skills.
Critical components of a strategic brief are:
– Business goals: Target markets, product releases, compliance goals (such as regional critical infrastructure, data residency, or sector-specific regulations).
– Risk posture: Current maturity, recent incidents, client pressure points, and board risk appetite.
– Leadership mandate: Is the role largely transformational (creating in a green field environment), optimisation related (developing a current operation), or customer facing (aiding sales and trust).
Robbert Murray and Associates generally partners with clients at this juncture to challenge presumptions, refine the mandate and ensure the role is positioned as an enterprise leadership role, not simply a technological one.
Today’s cyber leaders need to be business-savvy as well as security-savvy. Instead of defaulting to a “unicorn” wish list, create a profile based on a handful of must-have talents.
Key dimensions to classify by:
– Strategic security leadership: Can develop and implement a security strategy that is business (revenue/product/customer) aligned.
– Technical domain focus: For example, cloud security, managed services, OT/ICS, or identity; you are probably not going to have depth in every area.
– Governance and compliance: Knowledge of the frameworks and regulations that apply to your markets and experience in reporting to your board.
– Commercial: Comfortable talking to clients, supporting pre-sales and explaining cyber value in business terms.
– People and change leadership: Proven ability to build and lead high-performing teams, mentor emerging leaders, and drive cultural transformation.
A respected executive search firm will be your reality-check, testing this profile against the talent in the market, advising you when to either broaden or tighten the requirements so you can realistically attract top talent.
Senior cybersecurity leaders are infrequently active job seekers; they are generally passive candidates located within ecosystems of complexity. As a result, strategic hiring is based on research-led market mapping and quiet engagement, not on reactive advertising.
A good market-mapping process will:
– Determine target sectors/competitors that deliver the kind of cyber leadership you want (e.g., global MSSPs, cloud providers, regulated financial institutions or critical infrastructure operators).
– Develop a longlist of prospective leaders which includes local candidates from the GCC as well as international candidates willing to relocate.
– Study pay, line of report and team size in order to evaluate and improve your bid.
Robbert Murray and Associates brings local expertise in the Middle East to complement our global capabilities to serve clients in the UAE and Saudi Arabia and better access both local and global cybersecurity leaders.
Why traditional executive interviews SoE fail for cyber candidates Most traditional SoE for executives focuses too much on high level generic leadership qualities and not enough on real world security decision making. A strategic framework personalises the evaluation process to assess both technical and business capabilities.
Create a cyber-aligned assessment journey by:
– Do scenario interviews: Play recent incidents or client situations and have candidates walk you through how they responded, communicated with stakeholders, and the trade-offs.
– Introducing the board and client aspect: Have candidates present a security strategy or risk briefing as if they were talking to your board or major clients.
– Screening for culture fit: Evaluate style of leadership, collaboration with product/engineering, experience in high-growth, under-resourced situations.
– Checking references thoroughly: Hone in on how they handle a crisis, persuade non-technical execs, and have they demonstrated an ability to build teams.
Niche search firms can partner to co-develop these assessments, they will brief interviewers, and help you deliver a consistent, candidate-positive experience that reflects well on your brand in an intimate, trust-driven cyber community.
Getting the right leader is only half the battle; how you close and onboard them will dictate how fast they can drive impact. Even more so in cybersecurity, where long notice periods and delicate handoffs make timing and communication paramount.
A strategic closing and onboarding strategy should address:
– Competitive, holistic packages: Consider the right mix of base, variable, long-term incentives, and non-financial incentives such as mission, autonomy, and board access.
- Clear first-90-day plan: Pre-established priorities on current posture evaluation, key clients introduction, and security roadmap development.
– Structured integration: Introductions to executive peers, governance forums, and key technology and operations leaders.
– Continued support: Of external peer networks, coaching, and transparent success metrics reviewed with the CEO and Board.
Executive search firms that remain active beyond placement—like Robbert Murray and Associates—can assist in managing candidate expectations, integration support and reducing early attrition risk.
For cybersecurity firms, the senior hire stakes are uniquely high: a bad hire impacts not just operations but also client trust and market perception. Robbert Murray and Associates offers a boutique, high-touch approach while also having global reach and a strong presence in the Middle East, completing the vast majority of the mandates it undertakes.
With a well-defined strategic brief, an achievable leadership profile, disciplined market mapping, cyber-specific assessment, and sensitive integration, organisations can develop senior cyber leaders who enable confident scale. With a firm that navigates the complexities of executive search and intimately understands the regional talent pool, cybersecurity firms can transform hiring from a reactive headache to a strategic feather in their cap. Contact us at www.robbertmurray.com to know more.
