Public company C-suite executives can find it challenging to identify their next executive role because the market size limits the number of available positions at public companies at that level. As of 2025, there are 4,300 publicly listed companies in the U.S., indicating fierce competition for top positions. Additionally, the average age of a sitting CEO is 59. Executives in this demographic may potentially face age bias, as the executive leadership team and board might harbor concerns that the candidate will plan to retire in the next five to ten years, leading to what they might consider a premature search for a successor and a limited ROI on their original investment in the candidate.
Private equity (PE) roles offer an alternative or additional search path for executive job seekers. A private equity firm is an investment firm that takes a majority stake in a portfolio of privately held businesses, aiming to increase their value before selling them at a profit.
There are 18,000 private equity-backed companies in the country, which suggests that statistically, the chances of finding a role at one of these companies are higher. PE leadership values the pedigree of a seasoned C-level executive and generally has a different expectation for tenure because the goal of a PE firm is to build value, scale quickly, and position the company for exit (sale or IPO), generally within five to seven years. Executives are incentivized with equity to remain in the role until the transaction is complete.
To be considered a suitable candidate for PE, you must communicate your knowledge and skills in terms that are relevant to PE decision makers. The competencies mastered in a public company role that will be most valuable to PE firms include:
M&A Due Diligence & Integrations
Business Turnarounds
Business Spinoffs, Exits & Divestitures
Operational or Technology Transformation
Talent Upskilling
Product Development
Your experience and success stories should be framed to maximize your fit with the firm’s needs and culture. Below are some questions a PE firm might ask C-suite candidates.
CEO. PE investors want visionary but execution-focused CEOs who can build and lead a high-performance team, scale quickly, and drive value creation.
Strategic Vision & Value Creation
- How have you led a company through rapid growth or transformation?
- What’s your approach to developing and executing a 100-day plan in a new PE-backed role?
- How do you align the leadership team around the investment thesis?
Metrics & Accountability
- What KPIs do you track weekly, monthly, and quarterly to ensure performance?
- How do you hold functional leaders accountable for outcomes?
- How do you balance top-line growth with margin expansion?
Board & Investor Relations
- How do you manage relationships with the board and PE investors?
- Describe a situation where you had to adjust strategy based on investor feedback.
- How do you prepare for and communicate during board meetings?
Exit Strategy & Readiness
- What experience do you have preparing a company for a sale or IPO?
- How do you drive toward an exit without compromising long-term sustainability?
CFO. PE firms depend on CFOs for financial diligence, risk management, cost control, and preparedness for acquisitions, exits, and refinancing.
Financial Stewardship
- How have you improved financial reporting or forecasting processes?
- Walk me through how you’ve improved cash flow or working capital management.
- What role did you play in increasing EBITDA in past roles?
PE-Specific Experience
- What’s your experience managing covenants and relationships with lenders?
- How do you ensure finance and accounting are audit- and exit-ready?
- Have you led a sell-side process, due diligence, or quality of earnings report?
Strategic Partnership
- How do you partner with the CEO and other functional leaders to drive value?
- What is your role in developing the annual operating plan and budget?
- How do you model and assess capital allocation or ROI for investments?
COO. COOs in PE-backed companies are expected to be operationally savvy, process-driven, and relentless about efficiency, execution, and scaling.
Operational Excellence
- How have you streamlined operations to reduce cost or improve efficiency?
- Describe your approach to implementing KPIs and performance dashboards.
- What operational levers have you pulled to expand gross or operating margin?
Process & Systems
- Have you led an ERP or systems upgrade? What was the outcome?
- How do you approach continuous improvement across departments?
- What tools do you use for operational visibility and workflow management?
Scale & Change Leadership
- What’s your experience scaling operations to support double-digit growth?
- How have you led through organizational restructuring or transformation?
- What role do you play in post-merger integration or expansion into new markets?
CTO. In a PE-backed environment, a CTO must bridge the gap between innovation, scalability, and bottom-line performance, all while aligning closely with the firm’s investment thesis and exit strategy.
Technology Strategy
- How do you align technology investments with the company’s exit strategy?
- Describe a time you rebuilt or replaced a legacy system—what was the business impact?
- How have you transitioned a company to a cloud-based or SaaS model?
Operational Efficiency
- What processes have you automated to improve scalability or reduce cost?
- How do you assess the ROI of engineering initiatives in a PE environment?
- Describe a tech roadmap you’ve created to support rapid growth.
Innovation & Product Development
- What’s your approach to balancing technical innovation with speed to market?
- How do you ensure tech and product teams are focused on business value, not just features?
- How have you led cross-functional collaboration between engineering, product, and operations?
Cybersecurity & Risk
- What is your cybersecurity playbook for a PE-backed portfolio company?
- How do you manage tech debt during accelerated growth or acquisitions?
- What’s your experience with IT due diligence (buy-side or sell-side)?
CMO. In a PE-backed company, the CMO is not just a creative leader—they are a revenue partner tasked with delivering measurable impact fast, often under aggressive timelines tied to an eventual exit.
Strategy & Growth
- How have you repositioned a brand to support revenue growth or a business pivot?
- What’s your approach to building a marketing plan aligned with a PE-backed company’s 100-day and three-year value creation plan?
- How do you prioritize marketing spend for ROI, especially when budget is tight?
Performance & Metrics
- What KPIs do you track most closely to measure marketing effectiveness?
- How have you used data and analytics to influence business decisions?
- Can you describe a campaign that significantly moved the needle for customer acquisition or retention?
Digital & Demand Gen
- What martech stack have you implemented or upgraded in a past role?
- How do you manage demand generation and lead quality across channels?
- What’s your strategy for integrating paid, owned, and earned media?
Commercial Alignment
- How have you aligned with sales and product teams to improve pipeline and conversion?
- What’s your experience implementing account-based marketing (ABM) strategies?
- How do you ensure marketing is accountable for revenue goals?
CHRO. PE firms rely on HR to lead talent strategy, scale teams, and drive value creation in a fast-paced performance-driven environment.
Change Management & Transformation
- How have you led a company through organizational change post-acquisition?
- What’s your playbook for talent transformation in a newly acquired or rapidly growing company?
- Describe a time you implemented cultural change aligned with a new business strategy.
Value Creation Through Talent
- How do you ensure that HR is directly contributing to EBITDA growth?
- In a PE-backed environment, how do you identify underperformance and make tough talent calls?
- What’s your approach to assessing and upgrading leadership across a portfolio company?
Scaling & Speed
- How have you scaled a workforce quickly without sacrificing quality or culture?
- Describe a high-growth environment you supported—what systems and processes did you implement?
- How do you handle organizational design during a rapid growth phase or restructuring?
Leadership Alignment & C-Suite Partnership
- How do you partner with the CEO, CFO, and COO to align HR with the business strategy?
- What role do you play in succession planning and executive team optimization?
- How do you evaluate leadership readiness in the context of an exit or M&A strategy?
Metrics & Accountability
- What HR metrics do you track and report to the board?
- How do you measure the ROI of people initiatives?
- How have you used workforce analytics to influence strategic decisions?
Compliance, Risk & Culture
- How do you ensure compliance across multi-state or international operations?
- What is your strategy for mitigating risk in areas like DEI, pay equity, or workplace safety?
- How do you retain top performers in high-pressure, high-change environments?
M&A, Due Diligence & Exit Readiness
- Have you supported due diligence in an acquisition or sale? What was your role?
- What HR issues typically come up during a PE exit, and how do you prepare for them?
- How do you handle communication and retention during a major transition?
PE represents a viable career path for many executives who have built successful careers in public companies. Their wealth of functional and/or industry knowledge and experience in organizations with professional rigor and structure can be an enormous asset to a PE firm looking to professionalize and scale a private company and position for growth and eventual exit.
This post was first published on Human Capital Solutions blog.
