Overview
Chris Nagel is a partner in Heidrick & Struggles’ Berlin office and a member of the global Technology & Services Practice. He specializes in building leadership teams for fast-scaling software and AI companies across Europe. He works with founders, CEOs, and investors at every stage of growth from early scale-ups to breakout companies, IPOs, and global scale.
Experience
Chris operates at the nexus of technology, capital, and growth, helping companies navigate their most critical business decision: hiring executives in product and engineering.
He has over a decade of experience advising founders, investors, and boards on hiring leadership teams for many of Europe’s most consequential software and AI growth stories. He is dedicated to partnering with venture capital and growth equity-backed software and AI businesses, joining them at strategic inflection points where executive hiring decisions carry outsized weight.
Chris's experience centers on placing chief product officers, chief technology officers, and their leadership bench across all stages of growth. This focus gives him direct insight into what strong product and technology leadership looks like, and close ties to the talent driving it globally. A distinctive part of his practice involves bridging talent markets between the US and Europe, frequently placing experienced product and engineering leaders from Silicon Valley and beyond into European scale-ups.
Prior to joining Heidrick & Struggles, Chris was a partner at True Search, where he was co-head of their B2B software practice across EMEA. Earlier in his career, Chris worked at another international search firm and a boutique firm.
Education
University of Augsburg, Law Studies