CoderPad, a growth equity-backed platform that helps teams interview and assess developers, was evolving its growth strategy from a product-led growth model to a more direct sales approach. With HR leaders becoming key buyers, they needed a marketing executive who could drive demand generation, build pipeline, and align go-to-market efforts.
NU was brought in to lead the search for a marketing leader equipped to fuel this next phase of growth.
Once we introduced Catherine Wood Hill, we assessed and placed her in just 26 days. The result was a high-confidence hire that aligned perfectly with CoderPad’s evolving needs.
The Challenge
CoderPad needed a marketing leader with the right mix of skills and experience to guide the company through a pivotal stage of growth. As the business moved toward outbound sales, the focus was on leaders who had:
- Built a marketing team from the ground up, with a strong operational mindset and experience in enterprise SaaS at the Series B/C stage
- Owned revenue targets and operated with fiscal discipline, ideally in PE-backed or capital-efficient settings
- Thrived in mid-market and enterprise motions, with experience across ABM, PLG overlays, event strategies, and high-impact GTM execution
- Worked directly with a CEO and board, ready to lead while staying in the weeds when needed
The NU Edge
Every leadership hire at a growth-stage company carries weight. At NU, we tailor our approach to the business context, leverage the latest tech and AI tools to accelerate search (we offer complimentary AI training for leadership teams), and work as a unified team.
- Samantha German led the search, drawing on her experience from 40+ GTM leadership placements. Her familiarity with CoderPad’s evolving GTM strategy, CoderPad’s mission, and the CEO’s leadership style helped sharpen the search strategy from day one. She’s a go-to partner to many of NU’s clients on go-to-market and commercial leadership searches.
- Nada Usina provided strategic direction throughout, helping ensure the search aligned with broader business priorities.
- Mike Faust played a key role in research, identifying and refining a targeted list of high-potential candidates. He also led strong first-round interviews that helped pressure-test early alignment.
- Alex Sadler managed logistics and scheduling with precision, ensuring a seamless experience for both the client and candidates throughout the process.
NU worked with CoderPad to build a tailored scorecard grounded in performance metrics and the buyer journey. We brought domain fluency to each phase of candidate evaluation, ensuring every finalist was assessed against the company’s growth model and GTM shift.
The search reflected NU’s consistent approach: blending functional expertise, sector insight, a broad network, and collaboration with the executive team to deliver results. Though based in the Bay Area, Catherine was already operating on East Coast hours and aligned seamlessly with CoderPad’s leadership rhythm.
The Right Leader for CoderPad
Catherine Wood Hill had done exactly what CoderPad needed. She built pipeline engines, worked directly with CEOs and boards, and delivered results with a deep understanding of mid-market buyers.
- Led marketing at Phil, a Warburg Pincus-backed company, where she partnered with the CEO to double ARR
- Held demand gen leadership roles at Forter and Nutanix, delivering revenue growth and building scalable programs
- Excelled in CoderPad’s interview process by demonstrating both strategic thinking and deep metric ownership
However, high-performing leaders like Catherine bring more than a strong track record. They’re the right cultural fit. Catherine said it best:
“The NU team really took the time to understand me — my background, how I work, and what kind of team and leadership style I connect with. They cared as much about the people and culture fit as they did about the role itself, especially when it came to alignment with the CEO. It made the whole process feel thoughtful and grounded.”
— Catharine Wood Hill, VP of Marketing at CoderPad
Efficient, Focused & Impact-Driven Process
The NU and CoderPad teams partnered closely to run a focused, metrics-driven process that surfaced the right leader. One of the final steps was a case-based exercise where candidates were asked to map out a pipeline strategy to support the company’s growth targets for 2025. This revealed who could connect strategic thinking to execution and separate true operators from surface-level marketers.
CoderPad’s hiring process is a strong model for evaluating marketing leaders: define your scorecard early, clarify roles on the interview panel, and structure every step to reveal who can truly deliver results, not just recite metrics.
Key Market Insights
- Demand gen DNA matters. More than ever, organizations are prioritizing marketers with real pipeline ownership and revenue accountability. Generalists or product marketers often fall short.
- The bar is higher. The most in-demand marketing leaders combine strategic thinking with hands-on execution. Those who can own the full funnel, align with sales, and lead with data stand out in a competitive market. Compensation trends reflected this demand, with top candidates commanding strong packages, signaling the rising market value of full-stack marketers.
- Experience and versatility win. Successful candidates blended early-stage experience in PLG-led environments with the ability to scale more complex, outbound motions. The strongest profiles demonstrated fluency beyond digital-only tactics—bringing ABM, field events, and other high-touch approaches into play—and owned performance metrics like pipeline coverage and win rates.
The Impact on CoderPad
Catherine hit the ground running. Within her first 30 days, she:
- Audited marketing operations and analytics
- Aligned campaign strategy with sales priorities and targets
- Began refreshing messaging based on buyer insights
The client said it best:
“Grateful to always have Samantha German and NU by my side. No one works harder to deliver results. We’re thrilled with the outcome. Since joining, Catherine’s already made a big impact, bringing focus to our marketing efforts, tightening alignment with sales, and helping us better connect with our core buyers.”
— Amanda Richardson, CEO of CoderPad
Why Growth-Stage Companies Choose NU
At NU, we partner with private equity and growth equity firms to help their portfolio companies hire leaders who match the complexity and pace of growth-stage businesses. Our approach combines functional expertise with tech and AI to streamline the search process. Clients rely on us to place leaders who can drive commercial performance, align with the company’s GTM strategy, and evolve with their business.
NU Advisory Partners is an AI-native executive search and advisory firm specializing in senior executive, operating, and board roles, with deep expertise in private capital-backed environments. If you’re interested in learning more, get in touch here.