Before rushing to post a job description or start interviewing, take a moment for a quick reality check. Do you really know what you need from the new hire? What problems will this person solve? How will success look a few months in?
The best hiring decisions start long before the search begins, with a clear understanding of what the company truly needs and who will make the biggest difference at this stage.
In early stage startups, every hire is a building block. Defining the role right isn’t just a formality, it’s one of the most strategic decisions a founder and founding team make
In this guide, we’ll offer a set of questions to help distinguish between ‘must have’ and ‘nice to have’ traits and skills, and to define the role in a way that truly serves the company’s goals.
How to Define the Role
Before anything else, make sure you can clearly articulate why this position is required and what needs it answers.
Here are a few questions to help sharpen the definition:
- Why are you hiring?
What is the underlying goal of this hire? - Why now?
What makes this the right time to add this role to the team? - What pain is this role meant to solve?
Be specific about the problems or gaps this person will address. - Where does the role sit in the organization?
Who will they report to? Which teams will they work with cross-functionally? What are the key points of collaboration?
How to Define the Role’s Responsibilities
Once you understand why you are hiring, translate the need into clear areas of ownership and day to day work.
Use these questions to sharpen the definition:
- What will this person be responsible for?
List the core ownership areas and primary deliverables. - How will these responsibilities solve the pain you identified earlier?
Describe the concrete actions that close the gap. - Are there milestones with defined timelines?
For example, full system onboarding within two months. - What will success in this role look like in six months? In a year?
- Outline both qualitative and quantitative goals.
- Try to stay close to the SMART framework (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound).
- Try to focus on goals that depend mainly on the individual’s performance, not on the work of others.
How to Define the Personal and Interpersonal Qualities for the Role
Defining the right profile isn’t just about experience or technical skills. It’s about the personal traits and soft skills that will enable someone to succeed and work effectively within your team’s dynamics.
Use these questions to refine the profile:
- Which interfaces in this role tend to be complex, challenging, or prone to conflict?
Once you’ve mapped them, ask yourself what qualities are needed to collaborate effectively with the teams and managers involved. - Where do people in this role typically face the most pressure or difficulty?
Understanding where things get tough helps define the mindset and interpersonal skills required to handle those situations. - What contribution or behavior made you promote someone in this role in the past?
This question highlights the traits and attitudes you value most as a hiring manager. - What kind of pattern or behavior has led you to let someone go?
This helps clarify your red lines and identify the traits that are essential versus those that are deal-breakers.
Example: Hiring a Customer Success Manager
The following example illustrates how the questions from the previous section can be answered when defining a Customer Success Manager role.
How to Define the Role
- Why are you hiring?
Because we have a SaaS product and need someone to manage customer relationships and provide ongoing support. - Why now?
We’ve just hired a new Sales Manager, and we expect significant growth in the number of customers over the coming year. - What pain is this role meant to solve?
Improve customer retention by reducing churn and maintaining ARR growth. - Where does the role sit in the organization?
Reports to the VP of Customer Success.
Works closely with the Sales and R&D teams: receives customers from Sales after signing (and often supports Sales during product demos), collaborates with R&D on integrations and onboarding, opens bugs or support tickets on behalf of customers, and suggests new features based on customer needs.
How to Define the Role’s Responsibilities
- What will this person be responsible for?
Managing the onboarding process and ensuring customers don’t “fall through the cracks” between sales and implementation. Building strong relationships with customers, delivering meaningful value, and collecting feedback and insights to keep the product competitive and aligned with market needs. - How will these responsibilities solve the pain you identified earlier?
By ensuring a smooth onboarding experience, maintaining ongoing engagement, and creating a feedback loop that improves retention and supports ARR growth. - Are there milestones with defined timelines?
- Product familiarity and ability to lead demos within two months.
- Proposals for a structured workflow with R&D within four months.
- Full documentation of customer onboarding processes within six months.
- What will success in this role look like in six months? In a year?
Same as above – the milestones represent the expected indicators of success.
How to Define the Personal and Interpersonal Qualities for the Role
- Which interfaces in this role tend to be complex, challenging, or prone to conflict?
- The Sales Manager is disorganized and doesn’t maintain proper documentation
- The R&D team is often unavailable and insists on a very structured, documented process for opening tickets.
- The CS Manager will sometimes lack the full data from Sales needed to work smoothly with R&D and may need to handle customer dissatisfaction when promised solutions can’t be delivered, finding creative alternatives to meet their needs.
- After mapping these interfaces, which traits are required to work well with the teams and managers identified as key counterparts?
Strong communication skills, adaptability to different communication styles, and the ability to motivate and engage others. A proactive approach, comfort with ambiguity, and ownership beyond one’s immediate scope. Highly organized, methodical, and able to manage and prioritize multiple tasks effectively. - Where do people in this role typically face the most pressure or difficulty?
Maintaining positive and respectful communication with customers while being the point of contact for issues that are outside their control, for example, gaps between what was promised and what can actually be delivered. - What contribution or behavior made you promote someone in this role in the past?
Proactiveness and Ownership- Employees who went above and beyond their core responsibilities, taking initiative and building cross-organizational collaborations. - What kind of pattern or behavior has led you to let someone go?
Negativity and criticism that did not contribute to solutions but created tension within the team.
Disclaimer: This playbook is provided for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice or create an attorney-client relationship. Employment laws vary by jurisdiction, and founders should consult a qualified employment attorney before acting on any hiring, termination, or other HR decisions discussed here.