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Sentinel Selection™

The executive you hire defines the decade.
We treat the selection that way.

Executive selection for public safety, government, and mission-critical agencies. Two founders. Two domains. One audit-defensible process. Built for the council chamber and the server room. Not the LinkedIn message.

See the Chief plus CTO Bundle Start a Selection Conversation
Practice areas Operational Executive Selection Technology Executive Selection Sentinel Testing Suite Mainstreet
The Premise

Executive selection goes wrong in two directions.

Big-city searches miss the technology inheritance. Small-town searches never happen properly at all. Sentinel exists because both gaps are real, both produce bad outcomes, and both deserve practitioner-grade work.

The Big-City Problem

The chief who cannot brief the CTO.

Generalist executive search firms recruit on community presence and policing philosophy. They do not ask whether the finalist can stand at a council dais in year two and defend a CAD/RMS modernization, an interoperability budget, or a 911 system transition. The chief takes office, inherits a technology backlog they were never briefed on, and finds out they are alone.

Sentinel briefs the finalist on the technology inheritance before the offer. We do it because Jason ran those programs. We do it because Justin sat at that dais.

The Small-Town Problem

The HR generalist who never should have been alone.

An HR director with no public safety background is told on Tuesday night to find a Police Chief by spring. They post on Indeed. They receive twelve resumes. They have no operational lens to vet which candidates can actually run an agency, command an incident, defend a budget, or pass a polygraph. The premium search firms will not take a town under fifteen thousand. The candidates the agency deserves never see the posting.

Sentinel runs the process for them. Same documented standard the big-city searches get. Scaled and priced for the town.

We have been in both rooms. Sentinel was built so neither one breaks.

Justin Scott and Jason Floyd · Founding Partners

Two Practices. One Firm.

Two founders. Two domains. One audit-defensible process.

Sentinel Selection is structured the way the work actually breaks. Agencies do not just need an operational leader. They need a technologist who understands the operational mission, and an operational leader who can defend the technology inheritance. We recruit both. Run side by side. With one documented standard.

Practice Area 1A

Operational Executive Selection

Led by Justin Scott · Founding Partner
The leader your council can defend.

Police chiefs. Fire chiefs. Sheriffs. Communications directors. EOC directors. City and county managers. Hospital administrators. Justin built and operated some of the largest public safety and mission-critical programs in the country. He briefs every finalist on the operational reality of the agency they would inherit, and presents only the candidates who can hold the room.

Public safety operational leadership. Civic and government executive leadership. Healthcare administration.
Practice Area 1B

Technology Executive Selection

Led by Jason Floyd · Founding Partner
The technologist they will inherit.

CIOs. CTOs. Directors of Technology. Directors of Public Safety Technology. CAD and RMS administrators. Mission-critical software leaders. Jason has engineered, deployed, and managed mission-critical platforms at the country's largest agencies. He briefs every finalist on the technical inheritance and the operational mission, and presents only the candidates who can serve both.

Public safety technology. Mission-critical software leadership. Government and healthcare IT executive roles.
Justin recruits the leader. Jason recruits the technologist.
One firm. One standard. One process the agency can defend.
Practitioner-led
Recruited by people who held the job.
Audit-defensible
Every decision documented for the record.
Retained, not contingency
Paid to run the process. Not paid to close.
Vendor-neutral
No referral fees. No back-channel placements.
Practice Area 1A · Operational Executive Selection

The leaders who carry the mission. The hires that define the decade.

Operational Executive Selection is Sentinel's practice for the leaders who carry the agency's operational mission. The chief who walks the floor. The director who briefs the council. The administrator who defends the budget. The manager who answers when the call goes wrong. We recruit them. We document every decision in the file. We brief them on the technology they will inherit before they accept the offer. And we stay close through placement and the first ninety days.

Led by Justin Scott · Founding Partner, Operations and Change Management
Roles We Recruit

From the floor to the chamber to the hospital boardroom.

Public Safety Leadership
Police Chief Sheriff Fire Chief EMS Director Public Safety Director Emergency Management Director Communications Manager 911 Director
Civic and Government Leadership
City Manager Assistant City Manager County Manager County Administrator City Attorney Public Works Director Civic Operations Director
Healthcare and Mission-Critical Operations
Hospital Administrator Healthcare Operations Executive Emergency Department Director Public Health Director Mission-Critical Operations Director
Other operational leadership roles considered. Discovery conversation defines fit.
The End-to-End Process

Engagement through placement. Then ninety days more.

Sentinel runs a documented selection process from the day the engagement letter is signed through the first ninety days after the candidate sits in the chair. Four stages. Every decision in the file.

01
Engagement and Definition
  • Engagement letter with scoped deliverables
  • Operational and cultural intake with hiring authority
  • Position profile development
  • Technology inheritance briefing prepared for finalist
02
Sourcing and Vetting
  • Regional and national sourcing
  • Active and passive candidate outreach
  • Initial screening and practitioner vetting
  • Sentinel Testing Suite where applicable
  • Slate presentation with documented rationale
03
Interview and Verification
  • Interview coordination and facilitation
  • Background, psychological, and polygraph coordination
  • Reference and past-employment verification
  • Sentinel Insight Assessment™ where applicable
  • Offer negotiation support
04
Placement and Continuity
  • Placement coordination and onboarding handoff
  • Relocation logistics for the finalist and family
  • Ninety-day post-placement support
  • Sentinel available through the first year

The agency leads. Sentinel runs the process. The record holds.

Practice Area 1B · Technology Executive Selection

The technologists who serve the mission. The hires that survive the upgrade.

Technology Executive Selection is Sentinel's practice for the leaders who carry the agency's technology mission. The CIO who can present to council. The CTO who can stand in the EOC. The Director of Technology who briefs the chief on the CAD vendor and briefs the vendor on the operations the agency runs. We recruit them. We document every decision. We brief them on the operational mission before they accept the offer. And we stay close through placement and the first ninety days.

Led by Jason Floyd · Founding Partner, Engineering and Technology
Roles We Recruit

From the server room to the council dais.

Public Safety Technology Leadership
Director of Public Safety Technology CAD Administrator RMS Administrator 911 Technology Director Radio Systems Manager Technology Operations Director Public Safety Implementation Director
Government and Civic Technology Leadership
Chief Information Officer Chief Technology Officer Director of Information Technology Director of Network Operations Cybersecurity Director Smart City Technology Director Civic Innovation Director
Mission-Critical and Healthcare IT Leadership
Mission-Critical Software Director VP of Engineering (Public Safety SaaS) Solutions Director Customer Success Director Healthcare IT Director Clinical Systems Director Health Information Director
Other technology leadership roles considered. Discovery conversation defines fit.
The End-to-End Process

Engagement through placement. Then ninety days more.

Sentinel runs the same documented process for technology executive selection as it does for operational. Four stages. Every decision in the file. The technology serves the agency. The agency carries the mission. We brief the finalist on both.

01
Engagement and Definition
  • Engagement letter with scoped deliverables
  • Technology and operational intake with hiring authority
  • Position profile development
  • Operational mission briefing prepared for finalist
02
Sourcing and Vetting
  • Regional and national technology executive sourcing
  • Active and passive candidate outreach
  • Technical screening and practitioner vetting
  • Sentinel Testing Suite where applicable
  • Slate presentation with documented technical and operational rationale
03
Interview and Verification
  • Interview coordination and facilitation
  • Background and credentials verification
  • Technical and operational reference verification
  • Sentinel Insight Assessment where applicable
  • Offer negotiation support
04
Placement and Continuity
  • Placement coordination and onboarding handoff
  • Relocation logistics for the finalist and family
  • Ninety-day post-placement support
  • Sentinel available through the first year

The mission depends on the technology. The technology depends on the leader. We recruit the leader who knows both.

Sentinel-Only Product
The Combined Chief plus CTO Bundle

Two seats. One process. One firm.

When an agency hires a Chief and a Technology Director in the same eighteen months, the second hire spends the first year learning what the first hire already inherited. Sentinel built the Combined Bundle so that gap never opens. Both finalists are briefed on the other before either accepts the offer. Both tracks run in parallel through one engagement letter, one slate event, one placement. Only Sentinel offers this.

Fig. 1 The Cross-Briefing
01
The Operational Candidate Briefed on the technology inheritance before the slate.
02
The Technology Candidate Briefed on the operational mission before the slate.
01 cross-briefed 02

No competitor offers this. Documented in the engagement record before any offer is made.

How The Bundle Runs

Two practice tracks. One synchronized process.

Operational Track · Justin
Technology Track · Jason
01
Joint Engagement
Operational position profile. Agency operational intake.
Technology position profile. Agency technical intake.
One engagement letter. One scope conversation.
02
Parallel Sourcing
National operational sourcing. Practitioner vetting.
National technology sourcing. Technical vetting.
Two slates developed in parallel. One project rhythm.
03
Cross-Briefing and Joint Slate
Operational finalists briefed on the technology inheritance.
Technology finalists briefed on the operational mission.
The differentiator. No competitor offers this.
04
Synchronized Placement
Joint interview coordination. Combined offer presentation.
Joint relocation logistics. Shared ninety-day support.
Two hires placed in alignment. Day one is not the first conversation.
What the Bundle Includes

Every Sentinel deliverable from both practices. One engagement letter.

Engagement
  • Single engagement letter covering both searches
  • Combined operational and technology intake
  • Two scoped position profiles
  • Cross-position briefing materials
Sourcing and Vetting
  • Parallel national sourcing on both tracks
  • Sentinel Testing Suite where applicable
  • Sentinel Insight Assessment where applicable
  • Two documented slates with rationale
The Cross-Briefing
  • Operational finalists briefed on technology inheritance
  • Technology finalists briefed on operational mission
  • Documented in the engagement record
  • Reviewed with the agency before offers
Interview, Verification, Placement
  • Joint interview coordination and facilitation
  • Background, psychological, polygraph, credentials
  • Combined offer presentation and negotiation
  • Synchronized relocation logistics
Post-Placement
  • Ninety-day support for both placements
  • First-year availability from Sentinel
  • Joint check-ins at days 30, 60, 90
  • Optional first-year alignment session
The Record
  • Single engagement file covering both searches
  • Documented decision log throughout
  • Diverse slate tracking on both tracks
  • Audit-defensible from intake to placement

The leader and the technologist.

Recruited together. Briefed on each other. Placed in alignment.

Only at Sentinel.

Mainstreet
Sentinel Mainstreet™ · Selection Edition

Premium executive search. Small-town reach.

Jason and I both came from towns under ten thousand people. We watched the firms that recruit chiefs for major cities pass over our hometowns without a return call. We watched HR generalists try to find a Police Chief on Indeed because the premium search firms would not take an agency that small. We watched bad hires take years to unwind, in communities that could not afford the cost.

Sentinel Mainstreet is how we make sure the small agency gets the same standard.

Same Sentinel Selection process. Same audit-defensible file. Same operational and technical briefing of every finalist. Scaled scope. Scaled timeline. A price point built for what the agency needs, not what the firm wants to charge. This is for the towns that built us. Operational and entry-level hiring at the same agency-scale runs through Sentinel Workforce™.

Justin Scott and Jason Floyd
Founding Partners, Sentinel Solutions Group
Mainstreet Selection · The Operational Specifics
Eligibility
Agencies serving fewer than 15,000 residents
Executive Search
Starting at $14,500
Roles Covered
Police Chief, Fire Chief, City Manager, and other operational or technology executive roles at the small-agency scale
Includes
Full Sentinel Selection process, condensed timeline, 30-day post-placement support, optional Sentinel Insight Assessment add-on

Serving fewer than 15,000? The premium firms passed. We will not.

Talk about MainstreetLearn about the Sentinel Mainstreet™ Program →
The Practice Leads

Two practitioners. The standard they built.

Sentinel Selection is staffed by its founders. The person on the engagement letter is the person at the close. No partner-bait-and-switch. No junior recruiter representing a senior firm. Every engagement carries the practitioner who built the practice.

Practice Area 1A · Operational Executive Selection

Justin Scott

Founding Partner · Operations and Change Management

Justin built and operated public safety and mission-critical technology programs for some of the largest agencies in the country. He has briefed councils, defended budgets, run deployments, and inherited the consequences. He leads Sentinel's Operations and Change Management practice and is the founding partner responsible for Operational Executive Selection.

Selects: Police Chiefs, Fire Chiefs, City Managers, Public Safety Directors, EOC Directors, Hospital Administrators, and other operational leadership roles.
Practice Area 1B · Technology Executive Selection

Jason Floyd

Founding Partner · Engineering and Technology

Jason has engineered, deployed, and managed mission-critical platforms at the country's largest public safety agencies. He has owned CAD modernizations, carried the pager, stood in the EOC, and briefed the chief on the technology inheritance. He leads Sentinel's Engineering and Technology practice and is the founding partner responsible for Technology Executive Selection.

Selects: CIOs, CTOs, Directors of Technology, Directors of Public Safety Technology, CAD/RMS Administrators, and other technology leadership roles.

Together, Justin and Jason carry over fifty years of combined operational and engineering experience in mission-critical environments. Sentinel Selection draws on their direct, hands-on time in the seats they now recruit for.

The Sentinel Standard for Selection

Six principles. Every engagement. Every file.

Every Sentinel Selection engagement runs on the Sentinel Delivery Framework™. The methodology is documented. The principles are non-negotiable. The file survives the inspector general, the council, and opposing counsel.

01
Practitioner-Led Engagement

The founder on the engagement letter is the founder at the close. No bait-and-switch. No junior representing the senior.

02
Documented Decision Log

Every advancement, every decline, every committee decision recorded in the file. The reasoning is in writing. The record holds.

03
Diverse Slate Tracking

Every slate documented for composition. We do not present a slate without it. Tracked through to the offer.

04
Retained, Not Contingency

No placement fees. No commissions on hires. Paid to run the process. Not paid to close.

05
Vendor-Neutral

No referral fees from candidates or third parties. No back-channel placements. The recommendation runs only to the agency.

06
Audit-Defensible from Intake to Placement

Every phase documented. The file survives the inspector general. The file survives the council. The file survives opposing counsel.

Promoted candidates enroll in Sentinel Leadership Pathway™ at preferential rates.

Newly-placed chiefs may receive a Sentinel Civic™ site rebuild as a transition deliverable.

Ready When You Are

Two founders. Two domains. One firm.

Sentinel Selection runs one engagement at a time. Each one staffed by a founding partner. Each one documented for the record. The next executive hire defines the decade. Let's get it right.

Start a Selection Conversation See the Chief plus CTO Bundle
Independent. Practitioner-led. Vendor-neutral.