Riviera Partners Assists HubSpot with Chief Product Officer Search

October 6, 2021 – Today’s chief product officer is responsible for all product-related matters, according to executive recruiters who place them. The post typically includes product conception and development, production, innovation, and project and product management.

In many IT/ telecommunications companies, the position includes release management and production. Chief product officers generally work on product strategy based on goals set by the CEO and/ or board members.

The high demand for chief product officers has also kept executive search firms busy. Just recently, Riviera Partners, a recruitment provider specializing in C-level engineering, product and design leader placements, assisted in the placement of Stephanie Cuthbertson as executive vice president and chief product officer at HubSpot in Cambridge, MA. Andrew Abramson led the assignment. “Stephanie’s deep experience in product strategy from Google, Amazon and Microsoft makes her well-poised to have a big impact at HubSpot,” said Yamini Rangan, CEO of HubSpot. “She has a strong reputation for leading with humility and empathy, coaching exceptional talent and operating with a customer-centric mindset.”

“We’re committed to building a product that people love, and we couldn’t be luckier to have Stephanie’s leadership to help us get there,” Ms. Rangan said. “As HubSpot continues to scale globally, I know her expertise will be invaluable to our employees, customers and partners.”

Ms. Cuthbertson brings a combination of technical and platform depth as well as business operational experience to HubSpot. Prior to being senior director, Google Ads, she led Android’s developer product, relations, and UX research and design, building the Android developer platform. She also helped to inform the hiring, learning, growth and promotion structure for Google’s product managers globally. Before that, Ms. Cuthbertson held key product management roles at Amazon and Microsoft. Ms. Cuthbertson has a bachelor’s degree from Brown University.

As HubSpot’s chief product officer, Ms. Cuthbertson will lead the product management, product design and UX research organizations in close partnership with the engineering team to build the CRM platform for scaling companies.

“It’s a privilege to join HubSpot, especially at this moment in the company’s history, and I’m looking forward to joining an inspiring executive leadership team, and helping to grow our product, engineering and UX teams globally,” said Ms. Cuthbertson. “For much of my career, I’ve worked closely with developers and customers to identify challenges and supported the teams working to build solutions and experiences that help drive sustainable growth. HubSpot has a real opportunity to build the No. 1 CRM platform for scaling companies, and I’m honored to be a part of the journey.”

“Steph has seen incredible scale, but is remarkably grounded and humble,” said Katie Burke, chief people officer at HubSpot. “Steph is a great recruiter and coach. She’s known for leading high performing and diverse teams. She is customer-centric in her operating system and approach. Her passion for customers is infectious.”

Related: Riviera Partners Receives Grant to Bridge Gender & Diversity Career Gap

HubSpot provides software and support to help businesses grow better. Its platform includes marketing, sales, service, and website management products that start free and scale to meet customer needs at any stage of growth.

Proven Recruiters

Riviera Partners is a global recruiting firm specializing in the technology industry. The firm provides clients with optimal placements by combining recruiter interactions and experience with data-driven findings about candidates. The firm has recruited for key executive roles at Pinterest, Postmates, Tinder, Twilio, Uber, Asana, Dropbox, GitHub, DoorDash, Hulu, and partnered with venture-backed concerns, including Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia, Benchmark, Accel, Menlo Ventures, KPCB, Greylock and General Catalyst.

Riviera Partners Secures $25 Million in Private Equity Funding

Private equity concerns continue to pour money into executive search firms as demand for senior-level talent remains strong. Riviera Partners, a recruitment provider specializing in C-level engineering, product, and design leader placements, has closed a minority investment of $25 million led by private equity firms Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors and ROCA Partners.

The financing will be used to fund Riviera Partners’ continued geographic expansion, strategic acquisitions, enhancements to its “Sutro” proprietary recruiting platform and the addition of staff to meet the increased demand for its services. 

Through machine learning algorithms, Riviera Partners identifies specialized, highly qualified candidates that fit an organization’s needs from 600,000 professionals across tech geographies. Riviera can often provide a short list of candidates in 30 days and has a success rate of over 95 percent. “Speed and efficiency are what clients now want, and demand, of their talent providers, especially in the PE and VC world where time is short and value creation has to happen at lightning speed,” said Scott A. Scanlon, CEO and co-founder of Hunt Scanlon Media. Leadership talent, he said, is more often than not the key lever driving it all.

Mr. Abramson joined the firm in 2018 and serves as a partner. He places VP-and-above level executives at VC-backed technology companies in the San Francisco area. Mr. Abramson has recruited senior-level executives across all primary functions. He focuses primarily on product and engineering.

Riviera Partners also recently placed Rachad Youssef as chief product officer at BrightDrop. As chief product officer, Mr. Youssef will lead the design, development and management of BrightDrop’s ecosystem of all-electric products, software and services for the commercial delivery and logistics sector. He brings nearly 25 years of product development experience in the technology industry, including most recently as vice president of software product management for NIO.

Related: Riviera Partners Assists Life360 with Chief Product Officer Search

Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief; Dale M. Zupsansky, Managing Editor; and Stephen Sawicki, Managing Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media