How to Hire Deep Tech Leaders Across the Atlantic
Deep tech leadership hiring is entering a new era. As valuations return to 2021 peaks and the race for specialised talent intensifies across both sides of the Atlantic, the decisions founders make about who leads their organisations - and where - have never mattered more.
Whether you're a European founder making your first US hire, or a US-based company tapping into Europe's talent pool, this article and full report covers what to consider - from first hire sequencing and cultural fit, to why partnering with a leading search firm for deep tech and AI sectors can be the strategic differentiator that others can't easily replicate.
What to think about when it comes to deep tech leadership
Leadership in deep tech requires a different mindset from traditional startups. Founders are building companies, commercialising complex technologies, navigating long development cycles, and operating in rapidly evolving AI-driven markets.
The strongest leadership teams combine technical depth, commercial thinking, and adaptability.
We comment in a new Drumbeat Capital survey on deep tech and transatlantic recruiting:
“The deep tech founders we’ve worked with who’ve built successfully across the Atlantic understand something their peers often miss. That accessing the best talent, regardless of geography, is not a cost to be managed but an investment to be maximised.
Those who invest in expertise, relationships, and cultural understanding gain hard-to-replicate advantages. Those who treat it casually pay a price beyond the financial.
The Atlantic is not a barrier. For the founders willing to cross it properly, it is the opportunity.”
3 takeaways for deep tech in 2026
Our report with Drumbeat Capital brings together perspectives from across the deep tech landscape. The full report explores a range of insights, which you can download here.
We highlighted three takeaways that capture the report’s most important conclusions – insights we believe every deep tech leader should keep in mind.
1. Deep tech’s next winners won’t be regional, they will be transatlantic
The data highlighted in the recent deep tech report shows the best deep tech companies won’t be built in regional silos. Outside China, the winners will be those that successfully bridge two worlds: the capital and commercial scale of the US with Europe’s engineering excellence and industrial heritage.
2. Deep tech is no longer a niche
As software moats erode, fresh capital is flooding into physical technologies across defence, quantum, semiconductors, and advanced manufacturing. Deep tech is no longer a niche; it’s the next dominant cycle.
3. Europe’s engineering depth is a structural advantage – not a funding gap
Europe produces proportionally more STEM graduates than the US, and this shows in the quality of deep tech companies emerging from places like Delft, Cambridge, Paris, and Munich. So, the gap has never been about talent. It’s been capital and commercial scale, and this is where the transatlantic bridge closes.
Making your first external leadership hire in deep tech? Here is what to consider:
In the report, Erevena explores several key considerations around transatlantic hiring, including the critical question of who to hire first in deep tech. For European deep tech founders expanding into the US, the first hire is often either commercial or technical.
A commercial-first hire, typically a VP of Sales or Head of North America, works when the technology is mature enough to clearly demonstrate value. This hire can generate early revenue, build customer relationships, and validate demand while the core team remains in Europe.
A technical-first hire is more appropriate when the product requires localisation, regulatory adaptation, or deep integration with US-specific infrastructure, particularly in sectors like medtech, fintech, or aerospace.
This is not an emotional decision. It is determined by product readiness, customer proximity, regulatory context, and the founding team’s own strengths and weaknesses.
US founders making first European hires
For US founders expanding into Europe, it is important to recognise that Europe is not a single market. It consists of distinct labour markets, each with its own legal, cultural, and operational realities, from contracts to payroll and benefits.
For the first one to five hires in a new country, using an Employer of Record (EOR) or Professional Employer Organisation (PEO) is usually the most practical option.
This is more cost-effective than setting up a legal entity, which is slower and more complex. Once a company reaches five or more employees in one country and has long-term conviction, establishing a local entity becomes more viable.
Co-founder at Qblox, Niels Bultink, reinforces this point: “When opening your first US office, cultural fit isn’t a nice-to-have, it’s the foundation. Choose wisely as that first person sets the tone, the norms, and the DNA of your transatlantic organisation for the years ahead.”
European founders making first US hires
The US market moves faster, compensation expectations are higher, and leadership profiles that worked in the past may not fit today’s AI-driven environment.
Founders need leaders who combine technical credibility, commercial execution, and adaptability at scale.
You can read more about considerations European founders should keep in mind when making their first US hires here.
Deep tech leadership hiring overseas is not simply an operational exercise
Consider a leading search firm for deep tech and AI sectors
Companies building globally in AI and deep tech face a unique challenge: they are competing for a relatively small pool of highly specialised talent on an international stage.
Successful founders treat transatlantic hiring as a strategic capability, not an operational exercise. They invest accordingly through local expertise, trusted advisors, or partnerships with leading deep tech and AI recruiting firms that provide access to hard-to-reach talent.
Those who build these capabilities early create harder-to-replicate organisations.
To read the full report in collaboration with Drumbeat Capital, please see here. The report also features insights from deep tech industry leaders on the sector’s evolution, including coMind, constellr, Cradle, Spore.Bio, Qblox and Jua.ai.
Erevena supports deep tech and AI start-ups with international hiring as they scale into new markets overseas.
If you are looking for a search partner to assist you on that journey, you can get in contact here.
FAQS:
What should the first hire in a deep tech startup be?
Your first key hire is usually either technical or commercial, depending on the company’s stage. Early product development often requires strong technical leadership, while startups entering the market may benefit more from a commercial hire focused on customers, partnerships, and growth.
What to look out for when looking for the leading recruiting firms for deep tech and AI sectors?
Look for firms with proven experience in deep tech and AI hiring, strong networks across the US and Europe, and an understanding of highly specialised technical roles. The best recruiters combine technical fluency with commercial insight, move quickly, and know how to attract senior talent in competitive markets.
How do deep tech headhunters assess leadership beyond technical expertise?
Technical expertise is only one aspect of evaluating executive talent. An experienced deep tech headhunter assesses a candidate’s ability to translate innovation into commercial success by examining their leadership style, strategic decision-making, track record of scaling teams, experience securing investment, stakeholder management and ability to lead through periods of growth and change. The strongest deep tech leaders combine scientific or technical credibility with commercial insight, operational excellence and the ability to build high-performing organisations.
How long does a deep tech executive search typically take?
While every search is different, executive searches for senior deep tech leadership generally take several months from initial briefing to accepted offer. At Erevena, we aim to complete searches within 100 days although we do typically complete them sooner. The timeline reflects the specialist nature of the market, the importance of thorough assessment and the need to engage highly sought-after executives who are often already succeeding in demanding leadership positions.
What separates a strong deep tech and AI search partner from a generalist one?
Not every executive search firm that lists “technology” as a sector is set up for deep tech and AI mandates specifically. A few things tend to separate the firms that place well here from the ones that have simply added it to their coverage:
Sector fluency, not sector labelling. Knowing the difference between a research-led AI lab and a commercially scaling deep tech business changes who you’d put forward for a CEO or Head of Growth role. That’s difficult to substitute with a broader tech generalist’s network.
Reach beyond the obvious shortlist. The strongest candidates for these roles are rarely active job seekers. A firm working from a single regional network or inbound interest will keep resurfacing familiar names; genuine reach across Europe and the US usually means a wider and less obvious pool.
Technical and commercial assessment together. A strong consultant isn’t automatically a strong executive, and a commercially sharp operator without technical credibility won’t hold a technical team’s confidence. Assessing both sides properly, rather than defaulting to one, is what makes a placement stick.
Relevant stage experience. Finding a replacement CEO for a Series D business, looking to IPO, is different to finding a CEO for a Series A AI business. Worth asking a firm what stage of company it has actually placed into, not just what sector.
The types of firms you’ll typically come across:
- Large generalist search firms. Global reach, significant institutional resources and decades of experience placing C-suite and board roles across many industries. Deep tech and AI usually sit inside a much broader technology or industry-wide practice here, rather than as a dedicated specialism, so the consultant on your search may be working across several unrelated sectors at once.
- Single-market specialist boutiques. Genuine sector focus on AI, robotics or deep tech, often built around strong founder and operator relationships. The trade-off is usually geography: many of these firms are concentrated in a single region, most often the US, which narrows the pool for a role that needs to work across multiple markets.
- Broad technology generalists. Cover software, SaaS, fintech and other technology verticals under one roof. Useful for general tech hiring, but AI and deep tech tend to be one sector among several rather than where the firm’s depth actually sits.
- Transatlantic deep tech and AI specialists. A smaller category: firms whose core focus is deep tech and AI specifically, with genuine operating reach across Europe rather than a head office in one region and a claim to the other. Fewer firms fall into this category than claim to.
Most search firms sit clearly in one of the first three groups. The fourth is worth asking about directly, since it’s easy for a firm to claim international reach without the placements or the local network to back it up.
Erevena: the leading partner for deep tech and AI leadership
Erevena is a global executive search advisor specialising in technology leadership, with more than 25 years of experience partnering with ambitious technology companies. Its work spans board, general management and go-to-market leadership, with teams across Europe, the US and other international markets.
Measured against the criteria and firm types above, Erevena sits in the fourth category: a dedicated deep tech and AI specialist with genuine transatlantic reach, rather than a generalist practice that happens to cover the sector.
- Dedicated deep tech and AI specialism.
- Genuine transatlantic reach, with teams across Europe and other international markets.
- Technical and commercial assessment in one process.
- Experience across company stages.