--- title: "Get Hired: Talk to CTOs Directly, Not HR | Engineering Leadership | Marian Kamenistak" description: "Land your next engineering leadership role through direct coffee talks with CTOs and VPEs, not the ATS black hole. Marian opens his CEE decision-maker network and Marian's List, the vetted hiring channel." url: "https://www.marian.coach/get-hired-talk-to-ctos/" lang: "en" image: "https://www.marian.coach/_astro/talk-38.BcxUtQok_1my6Jn.jpg" --- Engineering leaders who want to get hired through the people who decide # Get Hired by Talking to CTOs Directly. Not by feeding the ATS and hoping HR forwards your CV. The role you want isn't on a job board. It gets decided over coffee by the CTO or VPE who owns the headcount, before HR writes the posting. If you're applying into the ATS and waiting, you're last in a queue you never needed to join. I've run 3,400+ mentoring sessions and I know most of the CEE decision-makers by first name. I get you in front of them: warm coffee talks with the people who do the hiring, plus Marian's List, the vetted channel where senior candidates get found before any CV lands on a desk. [Book the intro →](https://www.marian.coach/meet) **9.2/10** from 300 mentees who rated the work. ## Five situations behind a stalled search Composites. The mechanics and the numbers come from real searches I have run with people; the individuals are invented. ![Marian Kamenistak in a 1:1 mentoring session.](https://www.marian.coach/_astro/mentoring-01.BaBhsinu_Z1Ehb3c.webp) ### Forty applications, three replies The postings look right. You tailor the CV, write the letter, hit apply. Then nothing, or a rejection from a system that plainly never showed a human your name. And somewhere underneath you already know the real market for someone at your level isn't on those boards at all. It isn't. Above a certain seniority, roles get filled from a list somebody already trusts, and the posting exists because policy says one has to. By the time you apply, two or three people have been informally sounded out. You're not being rejected so much as arriving after the decision. So we stop feeding the machine. We build a target list of 10 to 15 companies where a CTO or a VPE could genuinely hire you, and we get you a coffee with the person who owns the headcount rather than the person screening for keywords. The senior tech market in this region runs on coffee, and I know most of the people whose diaries you need. Sixty days out you should have had three to six real conversations with decision-makers and at least one live path to an offer. Related reads - [What hiring managers screen for](https://www.marian.coach/blog/6-strategies-for-high-candidate-conversion/) - [The secret weapon (works externally too)](https://www.marian.coach/blog/want-to-get-promoted-the-software-developers-secret-weapon-for-advancing-in-your-career/) - [How the network opens doors](https://www.marian.coach/blog/from-vpe-to-solo-mentoring-year-one/) ![Marian Kamenistak in a 1:1 mentoring session.](https://www.marian.coach/_astro/mentoring-02.BQRj2gmR_10nbng.webp) ### A recruiter with a checklist decides whether the CTO meets you Someone screening on exact title match, a keyword, and a gap in your timeline is deciding whether a Head of Engineering with fifteen years of scars gets a call. The CTO who'd understand you inside five minutes never sees the CV. The uncomfortable part is that the recruiter isn't wrong to work that way. They're handed 200 CVs and a rubric, and the rubric has no column for judgment. That filter is unbeatable by writing a better CV, which is where most of your effort has gone. So we go around it. A warm introduction from somebody the CTO already trusts puts your name on their desk directly, and it converts at a rate cold applications never approach, because the trust is borrowed rather than built from scratch. I open my own network where I can, and hand you the intro scripts I use for the ones you'll make yourself. You stop being a CV in a stack of 200 and start being a person somebody already wants to meet. Related reads - [The warm-referral advantage](https://www.marian.coach/blog/6-strategies-for-high-candidate-conversion/) - [What the hiring side is really testing](https://www.marian.coach/blog/10-interview-questions-to-hire-the-right-engineering-manager/) - [Getting taken seriously by decision-makers](https://www.marian.coach/blog/how-to-influence-my-manager/) ![Marian Kamenistak in a 1:1 mentoring session.](https://www.marian.coach/_astro/mentoring-03.80EmKxtE_WBn5T.webp) ### You'd network. You just don't know whose door to knock on. Everyone says it's about who you know. Fine. You know your current team and a handful of ex-colleagues. You have no line at all into the CTOs of the fifteen companies you'd genuinely want to work for, and cold messages to strangers feel like begging and convert like spam, because they mostly are spam. We build the map together: which fifteen companies fit the direction you're going, who holds the decision at each one, and who could introduce you. That last column is the one nobody fills in, and it's usually less empty than people expect once you look properly. Then I make the introductions I can make, and coach the ones you have to make yourself. You end up with a ranked list, a named decision-maker per company, and a warm path into the few at the top. Related reads - [Why the network is the job market](https://www.marian.coach/blog/community-of-practice-for-engineering-managers/) - [Relationships over applications](https://www.marian.coach/blog/want-to-get-promoted-the-software-developers-secret-weapon-for-advancing-in-your-career/) ![Marian Kamenistak in a 1:1 mentoring session.](https://www.marian.coach/_astro/mentoring-04.DW02JUAo_J9dPP.webp) ### You get the meeting and then bunt Thirty minutes with a VPE, finally. You spend it being pleasant. You describe your current job, you both agree the market is difficult, somebody says let's stay in touch, and nothing happens afterwards. You had the shot and you were too polite to take it. The reason is almost never nerve. It's that you walked in without a specific ask, so the conversation defaulted to the socially safe ending, which is the one that costs nobody anything. We rehearse it before you go: your sixty-second story, the two questions that make a CTO think I could use this person, and the one specific ask that converts a friendly chat into a next step. I play the CTO, including the version who is distracted and running nine minutes late, because that's the one you'll get. After that, every coffee ends with a concrete next move rather than a vague promise to keep in touch. Related reads - [Turning conversations into offers](https://www.marian.coach/blog/want-to-get-promoted-the-software-developers-secret-weapon-for-advancing-in-your-career/) - [Positioning yourself in the room](https://www.marian.coach/blog/10x-your-market-value-tech-leader-8-steps/) - [What makes a candidate memorable](https://www.marian.coach/blog/6-strategies-for-high-candidate-conversion/) ![Marian Kamenistak in a 1:1 mentoring session.](https://www.marian.coach/_astro/mentoring-05.BrINwYEC_ZmuMrk.webp) ### You want to be on the list before the posting exists You keep hearing that the good roles get filled off a list the founder already trusts, well before anything goes public. You'd like to be on that list rather than refreshing job boards after the role has effectively gone. Getting there is less mysterious than it sounds. It's a portfolio somebody can inspect, a story that holds up in one paragraph, and enough visible proof that a founder can say yes without a committee. Then it's being in the room, repeatedly, when you don't need anything. We build the first part properly. Then, where the fit is genuine, I put you in front of the CEE hiring channel where senior leaders are matched to companies directly, vouched for by the community, with no recruiter markup on top. You stop chasing postings and start being approached by companies that already trust the source. Related reads - [Becoming the obvious hire](https://www.marian.coach/blog/10x-your-market-value-tech-leader-8-steps/) - [What earns a spot on the shortlist](https://www.marian.coach/blog/6-strategies-for-high-candidate-conversion/) - [How the CEE network compounds](https://www.marian.coach/blog/from-vpe-to-solo-mentoring-year-one/) ## The questions I hear most from Engineering leaders who want to get hired through the people who decide These are the exact asks from mentees in the last 12 months. Bring one to the intro call and we start there. - The roles I want are never on job boards. How do I find them? - How do I get a coffee with a CTO who doesn't know me yet? - HR keeps screening me out. How do I reach the decision-maker directly? - How do I get warm introductions without feeling like I'm begging? - What do I say in a coffee with a VPE so that it leads somewhere? - How do I get onto Marian's List? - I have a job. How do I look without my employer finding out? - How do I build a target list of the right 15 companies? - Recruiters keep ghosting me. Is there a better channel? - How do I turn "let's stay in touch" into a real offer? ## How mentoring with me works Free 30-min intro. Two KPIs to move in 3-6 months. Small homework after every session. The full method, step by step: [See how mentoring works →](https://www.marian.coach/#how-it-works) ## Frequently asked What is Marian's List?+ A vetted hiring channel: senior CEE engineering leaders that companies browse directly, community-vouched, before a CV ever hits an ATS. Companies pay a fraction of an agency fee, and the shortlist is people I would personally stand behind. [See the list](https://marianslist.com/). Do you guarantee a job?+ No, and anybody who does is lying to you. What I'll guarantee is that you stop wasting shots: a real target list, warm intros I can genuinely make, and coffees you've prepared for. Closing the offer is yours. I'll be in your corner when you negotiate it. Is this recruiting? Do you take a cut of my salary?+ Not from you. Mentoring is mentoring: you're paying for my time and for access to the network. Marian's List charges the hiring company a placement fee and never the candidate. The two are separate businesses, and on this track you're the client, full stop. I am employed and cannot be seen job-hunting. Is this discreet?+ Fully. Nothing leaves the conversation. Coffee talks sit off the public market by design, which is rather the point of not broadcasting open to work to 3,000 connections. Does this work if I am not in Prague?+ The network is strongest across CEE and reaches into North America. Coffees happen in person where that's possible and over video where it isn't. The mechanism, a warm intro straight to the person who decides, travels fine either way. ## Explore other roles - [Increase your Salary →](https://www.marian.coach/increase-your-salary-and-value/) - [Career path Decision →](https://www.marian.coach/engineering-career-coach/) - [Life and Wellness →](https://www.marian.coach/life-and-wellness/) - [CTO, VP Engineering, Head of Engineering →](https://www.marian.coach/cto-mentor/) - [Engineering Director, Tribe Lead, Chapter Lead →](https://www.marian.coach/engineering-director-mentor/) - [Engineering Manager, Team Lead →](https://www.marian.coach/engineering-manager-mentor/) - [Senior or Staff Engineer →](https://www.marian.coach/staff-engineer-mentor/) - [Product Manager →](https://www.marian.coach/product-manager-mentor/) ## Why me ![Marian Kamenistak, mentor for Engineering leaders](https://www.marian.coach/_astro/marian-about.BisGE32e_mbivh.webp) 9.17/10 average across 300+ mentees. 3,400+ mentoring sessions since 2019. - Been in the seat. Built Mews into a $2bn+ unicorn: 8 to 80 teams, roadmap still shipping. Led engineering at Manta before that, acquired by IBM. - CEE-native, US-fluent. 4+ years in the Bay Area as Principal Software Architect at Databricks. - Still highly technical. AI freak. Bullshit me on estimate, effort, code quality or architecture and I'll ask to see the code or your AI skill set. - Financially independent. I don't need your money. I'm financially retired. Seeing you grow is my payoff. - Direct. Mentoring first. I boost you fast. No esoteric loops. [The full story →](https://www.marian.coach/#about) The one discount ## 16 minutes. 16% off. The First quarter lists at €2,580. Build the inquiry with my AI and the same six sessions come to €2,166 — €361 a session. No more than 16 minutes from the first question to a formal itemized offer in your inbox. [Get my offer →](https://www.marian.coach/mentoring-chat/) [or connect your own AI assistant](https://www.marian.coach/mentoring-ai/) ## Ready to start? Free 30-min intro. No pricing conversation on the first call. We figure out if we can move your specific problem forward. That is it. [Book the intro →](https://www.marian.coach/meet)Or email[marian@marian.coach](mailto:marian@marian.coach) ## From the blog [All posts →](https://www.marian.coach/blog/) - [![10x Your Market Value: The Tech Leader’s 8-Step Playbook](https://www.marian.coach/images/blog-covers/10x-your-market-value-tech-leader-8-steps.png) ### 10x Your Market Value: The Tech Leader’s 8-Step Playbook Learn how to 10x your market value as a tech leader with 8 proven steps to boost your impact and become an irreplaceable asset in any company. 1 July 2025 · By Marian Read → ](https://www.marian.coach/blog/10x-your-market-value-tech-leader-8-steps/) - [![Full auditorium audience at an engineering leadership conference where Marian Kamenistak spoke.](https://www.marian.coach/_astro/speaker-09.Cgx0l7B4_OIr2s.webp) ### Should I Become a Team Lead? A 6-Dimension Answer Six dimensions predict whether the team lead role will fit you, drawn from 3,400+ mentoring sessions. Take the 3-minute test, get a straight verdict. 22 July 2026 · By Marian Read → ](https://www.marian.coach/blog/should-i-become-a-team-lead/) - [![Marian Kamenistak on stage in front of the Engineering Leaders Community logo, addressing a full auditorium.](https://www.marian.coach/_astro/talk-43.Dg7RtBjJ_RbnLs.webp) ### How to Become a VP of Engineering: The Three Gaps A VP of Engineering wrote me about his stuck senior EM. The email defines the EM-to-VPE gap better than any career guide. 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