You do not assess and select AI executives on a CV.
You select them on seat criteria.
Before the yes. With a selection frame. Without certificate theatre.
Assessing competence is a judgment instrument. Assessing and selecting is the buy decision — who carries the seat.
Christian Pobbig and Beyond Chiefs work from Hamburg on AI Executive Search in DACH. This page is the buyer selection frame — not a competence-assess clone and not a find-how-to.
A buyer frame before the yes.
It asks: Which criteria decide the seat — and which stay out on purpose?
Not: Which certificates sit on the CV.
Not: Whether someone once wore “AI” in a title.
Select means writing the criteria before you open the market.
Not the “assess AI leadership competence” instrument.
Not a find-how-to and not a KEY farm.
Not a credentials checklist and not assessment-percentage theatre.
A one-line pointer to competence assess is fine. The spine here: selection criteria before the yes.
Blur that boundary and you buy the wrong product.
Seat: Which mandate does the bearer carry in the first months — and what stays elsewhere?
Stop: What may they kill without escalation theatre.
Proof: What will the board accept as evidence — measurable, dated, not slides?
Miss one axis and selection becomes chemistry.
The frame makes the criteria public in the mandate — not only in the exit round.
Because longlists without a selection frame substitute chemistry for judgment.
Because candidates without criteria import their own agenda.
Because boards without a frame say “still unclear” months later — and burn the seat.
Because search without selection criteria is research, not a decision.
If the AI leadership seat is real, retain the AI Executive Search mandate with written selection criteria.
If you are still sorting certificates, you are not search-ready.
No. Competence assess tests judgment. Here you choose the bearer on seat criteria.
No. A JD markets. The selection frame is a signed mandate.
The CEO — or whoever owns the contested yes — not HR alone.
