Hitch Ignite
(beta)
AI-Driven Security Leadership Hiring
Optimize Hiring for Key Roles
Hitch Understands
In today’s evolving threat landscape, hiring the right security leadership isn’t optional—it’s critical. Whether you are a CISO, CEO, CFO, CTO, SVP of Engineering, or Head of Talent, you have experienced difficulty with your security leadership hiring.
The standard playbook is to post a job. Once a job is posted, internal recruiters quickly become overwhelmed with 400+ unqualified applicants.
Without specialized security expertise, they might struggle to assess these highly nuanced roles, leading to delays, prolonged vacancies, and increased risk.
Hitch Ignite Provides the Solution
We deliver a curated list of 25 highly qualified candidates for your internal recruiting team to target within 24 hours, allowing your team to focus on freeing up your leaders to focus on business-critical initiatives
Deputy CISO | Product Security | Corporate Security | GRC
The Challenge
Even the most capable teams can face challenges when hiring for complex security leadership roles—here’s what that can look like
No Budget for a Retained Search
Your company may not see the value in engaging retained search consultants for your direct report hires; budgeting battles over key technical hires impacts the quality of your team.
Your Internal Recruiting Team May Not Have Specialized Security Expertise to Assess Candidates Effectively:
The dynamic nature of cybersecurity makes it challenging to stay current and understand the nuances of the latest skillsets required.
Overwhelming Applicant Volume
Posting cybersecurity leadership roles attract a high number of applicants, however, most lack the required expertise.
Extended Vacancies Impact Business Security:
According to the Wall Street Journal, the global cybersecurity talent shortage is estimated at 4.8 million professionals, and the U.S. alone is short 450K cybersecurity experts. Hiring delays not only prolong exposure to cyber threats but also overextend security teams, increasing burnout and risk.
Every day without your critical hire is a missed opportunity - let’s get the right person in place now!
Hitch Ignite eliminates this problem by delivering a curated, pre-qualified candidate target list in just 24 hours.
The Solution
Introducing Hitch Ignite
Strategic Consultation: We meet with your leadership team to define role priorities, trade-offs, and align on realistic expectations based on current market realities.
AI-Driven Candidate Ranking: Hitch’s Talent Intelligence Machine Learning algorithm evaluates and ranks thousands of security leaders in our proprietary database to evaluate domain expertise, leadership trajectory, technical skills and real-world achievements to create a list of viable candidate targets for your role.
Curated Target List Within 24 Hours: Hitch performs a sanity check on the data and delivers a list of the top 25 curated candidates for you and your internal recruiting team to target. No more irrelevant resumes or wasted interviews.
Built-In Risk Mitigation: If your internal team fails to fill the role, your fee can be credited toward a full retained search.
📊 AI-Powered Curation + 📂 Hitch’s Proprietary Database +🏆 10+ Years of Security Hiring Expertise =
🎯 Cost-Effective Streamlined Hiring Process
Specialized Roles We Support
Hitch Ignite focuses exclusively on security leadership positions, including:
Deputy CISO (Succession Planning & Internal Promotions)
Product Security Director (Security Engineering Leadership, SDLC Implementation)
Corporate Security Director (Identity & Access Management, Data Protection, Incident Response, Security Operations)
GRC Director (Governance, Risk, Compliance)
Pricing and Guarantee
Flat Rate: $9,750 Per Search Includes:
Interviewing the Interviewers (ITI): CISO & Security Leadership Role Alignment Strategy Session
25 AI-Generated, Hitch-Curated Candidates Delivered within 24 Hours of Meeting Your Team
Retained Search Credit if Needed*
* If the internal team is unable to fill the role, the $9750 fee can be applied towards a full retained search.
Scale your team with the right talent
Why Hitch Partners?
Hitch Partners has been the go-to executive search firm for CISOs and security leadership hires for over a decade. We know that hiring a security leader is not just about technical skills—it’s about leadership, business acumen, and strategic alignment.
100+ Security Leaders Placed in Top Companies
10+ Years Focused on Security Leadership Hiring
Deep Understanding of What Makes Great Security Leaders
Trusted by Fortune 500s, High-Growth Startups & Private Equity Firms
Joining the beta means you’re getting exclusive early access to a tool designed by the same team companies already trust for their most critical security leadership hires.
With Hitch Ignite, we’ve taken our security domain expertise and built an AI-powered tool that reflects how security hiring actually works in the real world—curating a list of 25 top-tier candidates in just 24 hours.
ROI Analysis
The Business Case for Hitch Ignite
-
Eliminates 6-8 weeks of the CISO having to step in operationally while the role remains vacant instead of focusing on security strategy and risk mitigation.
Prevents wasted time reviewing unqualified resumes and fewer wasted interviews.
Delivers a high-quality candidate, curated list (many will be pre-vetted) within 24 hours instead of weeks of sourcing. text goes here
-
Internal Recruiting teams are often asked to juggle 30+ open roles—spending weeks learning the nuances of security for a single hire is an inefficient use of time.
Reduces time sorting through 400+ applicants to identify viable very few potentially viable candidates.
Curated candidate list in 24 hours empowers the internal teams to proactively engage passive candidates, rather than relying only on inbound applicants.
-
Cost Savings: 25% ($3,292) compared to internal recruitment methods (see below for assumptions & calculation).
Speeds up hiring, reducing risk exposure caused by prolonged leadership vacancies.
Minimizes hiring mistakes—leveraging Hitch’s 10+ years of security hiring expertise ensures a stronger candidate pipeline from the start.
Built-in risk mitigation—if the internal team doesn’t close the hire, the investment applies toward a full retained search.
ROI Calculation
Here’s the Math
Fully Loaded Internal Technical Recruiter Costs: We estimate it would take an internal technical recruiter approximately 6 to 8 weeks to generate a list of qualified candidates that meet the CISO’s hiring bar. Conservatively, let’s use 1 full month of a technical recruiter’s time calculated as follows:
Base Salary: The average annual salary for a Technical Recruiter is approximately $94,641 (Source: Built-In)
Benefits and Overheads: Additional costs, including benefits, taxes, and overheads, typically add about 30% to the base salary, totaling approximately $25,168
Fully Loaded Total Annual Compensation: $123,033 ( $94,641 + $28,392 )
Monthly Cost: One month of effort = $10,252
CISO Involvement Costs: CISOs are forced to review irrelevant resumes and interview unqualified candidates, diverting focus from mission-critical security responsibilities
CISO Salary: $816,000 (source: Hitch Partner 2025 CISO Survey Results)
Fully Loaded Salary (+ 30% overhead): $1,060,800
Hourly Rate (Based on 2,080 hours/year): $510 per hour
Time Spent Reviewing Irrelevant Resumes (2 hours): $1,020
Time Spent interviewing Irrelevant Candidates (2 hours): $1,020
Total CISO Time Cost: $2,040
Security Team Involvement Costs: A CISO’s security team members will also spend time in non-productive interviews with candidates who don’t meet expectations
Estimated Salary Per Security Team Member: $200,000
Estimated Fully Loaded Salary (+30% overhead): $260,000
Estimated Hourly Rate (Based on 2,080 hours/year): $125 per hour
Estimated time spent Interviewing Unqualified Candidates (3 team members x 2 hours each) = $750
Total Costs: $ 13,042 ( $ 10,252 + $ 2,040 + $ 750)
Total Savings: $ 3,292 ( $ 13,042 - $9,750 )
Cost Savings: 25% ($3,292)
Reduced Time to Hire: 6 to 8 weeks
FAQs
-
They can—but you’ll be inundated with unqualified applicants. Hitch Ignite eliminates wasted time by delivering 25 best-fit candidates in 24 hours. Hitch will save your company at least one full month of recruiting time.
-
Hitch has developed a Machine Learning-powered matching system which searches thousands of pre-scored security leaders in Hitch’s proprietary database to evaluate real-world expertise, leadership potential, and industry alignment. By factoring in specific job requirements, our system ensures precise matches tailored to your organization's unique needs.
-
Your Hitch Ignite investment applies toward a retained search. No wasted budget.
-
Within 24 hours of our CISO strategy session.
-
Hitch values ML for its efficiency in research, but our expertise ensures a targeted approach. That’s why we validate the list before sending it to you.
