Who is Dan Tudorache?

Dan Tudorache is an executive coach and career advisor to senior corporate leaders — Engineering Managers, Directors, VPs of Engineering, CTOs, Staff and Principal ICs, and senior functional heads earning $120K+. Ex-Global Director of Delivery across EMEA and the US, 20+ years operator, 50+ enterprise platforms shipped, 200+ leaders advised since 2016. Based in New York; serves clients across the US, EU, UK, and Canada. Every engagement is 1:1, personally run, no associates.

What's the difference between a career coach and an executive coach?

A career coach helps you get the next job: positioning, resume, interviews, offer. An executive coach helps you hold the job you already have — authority, presence, decision-making, board narrative, stakeholder posture. Dan's practice runs both, as separate programs. Senior Landing Program is career coaching, done-for-you. Leadership Identity Recode and Executive Advisory are executive coaching. You pick the one that matches the actual problem — trying to buy both at once is usually a signal you haven't diagnosed the real issue yet.

Not for people looking for a job board, a mass-application service, or a recruiter — Dan is none of those. Not for entry or mid-level roles below $120K TC — the methodology is calibrated for senior corporate leadership. Not for founders raising venture capital — different discipline. Not for anyone looking for a group program, cohort, or mastermind — every engagement is individual 1:1.

Do you work with people outside tech?

Yes. The methodology is domain-agnostic for senior corporate leaders — Managers, Directors, VPs, and senior functional heads in Product, Data, Operations, Delivery, and Customer Success sit in the same practice. Clients typically sit at Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, Stripe, OpenAI, Anthropic and many more, corporate and on-rise startups. The center of gravity is technology leadership because that's Dan's operator background, but roughly a third of the roster is non-engineering.

How much does an executive coach for VPs of Engineering cost?

Real senior executive coaching in the US ranges from about $500 to $2,000+ per hour, or $5,000–$25,000+ per month for retained engagements. Dan's Executive Advisory starts at $5,000/month with a 3-month minimum. Leadership Identity Recode starts at $5,000 for a scoped 90–180 day engagement. Senior Landing Program is a flat $2,997 for the full 90-day done-for-you search. No success fees, no ISAs, no equity, no hidden costs.

How much does the Senior Landing Program cost?

$2,997 flat, for the full 90-day done-for-you job search — positioning, resume, LinkedIn, daily application engine, interview prep, and offer negotiation. Primary outcome: land a senior role with 1–3 competing offers in 90 days. Payment plans available. Includes the 180-day landing guarantee: if you don't have a competitive offer within 180 days, Dan keeps working with you free until you land.

Do you offer a guarantee?

Yes, on the Senior Landing Program specifically. Land a senior role with 1–3 competing offers in 90 days, or Dan keeps working with you free past the 180-day mark until you do. The guarantee is contractual, not marketing copy. It applies to clients who show up, do the assignments, and follow the search discipline; it does not cover clients who go dark for weeks or refuse offers inside their agreed target band.

Do you take a success fee or ISA?

No. No success fees, no Income Share Agreements, no equity, no percentage of your first-year salary, no referral kickbacks from recruiters or employers. Flat fee only. The number in the proposal is the number on the invoice. Success-fee models create the wrong incentives — Dan gets paid to help you land the right offer, not the biggest one.

Yes. Current pricing is the floor for anyone contracted before September 2026. Post-summer demand pushes rates up. Existing clients keep their contracted rate for the duration of the engagement.

How is this different from a recruiter?

Recruiters are paid by employers to fill a specific requisition. Their incentive is closing the role, not maximizing your outcome. Dan is paid by you and works exclusively for you — resume, positioning, target list, applications, prep, negotiation. He does not place candidates and takes no fees from hiring companies. Use both if you can: recruiters for inbound requisitions in their pipeline, Dan for the 80% of the market recruiters never see.

How is this different from a job-search bootcamp or cohort program?

Bootcamps run cohorts on a fixed curriculum with group calls and shared templates. Dan runs 1:1 only, with a hard cap of 6 active Senior Landing engagements at any time. Your positioning, resume, target list, and interview prep are built from your operator résumé — not filled in on a template. No group calls, no Slack community, no shared homework, no cohort start date.

How is this different from LinkedIn career coaches?

Most LinkedIn coaches sell content coaching or personal branding — how to post more, get more views, generate inbound. Useful, different discipline. Dan's Senior Landing Program is a done-for-you search: he and his team run the applications, iterate the resume weekly, prep every interview, and negotiate the offer. The point is a signed offer at your target band inside 90 days, not a following.

How is this different from executive coaching firms like BetterUp or Torch?

Platform coaching firms match you to one of thousands of coaches, at scale, usually paid for by your employer as a benefit. Different product. Dan's practice is one senior operator, individually retained, with a hard cap on active clients. Every session is run by Dan personally. No coach-matching, no swap-outs, no shared coach across your entire org.

Should I hire a coach to negotiate my salary?

If the offer is meaningful — mid-six-figures TC or above — yes, almost always. Senior offers have 10–25% of total comp on the table in negotiation, and most candidates leave it there because they don't know the levers, the recruiter script, or the timing. On the Senior Landing Program, negotiation is included. As a standalone: Dan takes a small number of one-off negotiation engagements when capacity allows.

What credentials does Dan hold?

Certified Professional Coach (CPC). Schema Therapy training (ISST, International Society of Schema Therapy). Psychological Profiler. PMP (Project Management Professional). Organizational Leadership at Northwestern University. MSc Computer Engineering & Distributed Systems. BSc Psychology. TEDx Speaker. The operator résumé is the primary credential: 20+ years, ex-Global Director of Delivery (EMEA + US), 50+ enterprise platforms in production.

How do you actually run a job search?

Week 1–2: positioning, target company list (typically 40–120 companies), resume rebuilt from operator artifacts, LinkedIn rewritten for inbound. Week 3 onward: daily application engine at 5–15 highly targeted applications per day, with weekly iteration on messaging and resume based on response rate. Interview prep is per-loop: role, company, panel, likely questions, written debrief. Negotiation is run live with Dan on the call. Median time to competitive offer across the roster is 2–4 months (~3.1 months average).

How does Executive Advisory actually work?

Standing 60-minute session every 1–2 weeks, plus asynchronous text and voice access between sessions for live decisions — interview debriefs, board prep, an offer landing Friday night, a reorg dropping Monday. Monthly retainer, 3-month minimum, month-to-month after. Every session run by Dan personally.

Is everything confidential?

Yes, by default. Mutual NDA on request and standard on most senior engagements. Case studies on the site are anonymized; named references are introduced only after the relevant client has explicitly agreed. Your employer, board, recruiters, and peers will not learn we are working together from us.

Where do you work? Do you meet in person?

Based in New York. Serves clients across the US, EU, UK, and Canada. Sessions are remote by default over Zoom or equivalent. In-person available in New York on request for retained clients.

How long is the wait?

Hard caps: 6 Senior Landing / 3 Leadership Recode / 3 Executive Advisory active engagements at any time. When full, there is a waitlist and typical wait is 2–6 weeks. Book a call to see current capacity.

What happens on the first call?

30 minutes, no charge, diagnostic — not a sales call. You leave with a sharper read on the situation whether or not we end up working together. If it isn't a fit, Dan says so on the call and, where he can, points you to someone better placed.

Answers

Straight answers, before we talk.

The questions senior corporate leaders ask before hiring an executive or career coach — pricing, guarantees, comparisons, fit, and method. Written to be read, quoted, or forwarded. Skim the categories below, or jump straight to book a 15-minute call.

Pillar guides — the deep dives

Long-form answers on the specific moments senior corporate leaders search for — skip-level meetings, promotion, and tech offer negotiation. Written from 200+ engagements since 2016.

Skip-level meeting questions
What to ask, what to avoid, template agenda.
What to say in a skip-level meeting
Word-for-word openers and positioning.
How to negotiate a tech offer
Anatomy, timing, scripts, mistakes.
Staff engineer promotion
The real bar, the packet, the mistakes.
Principal engineer promotion
Sponsorship math, org-level scope, external signal.
IC to manager transition
Should you? First 90 days, mistakes, reversing.

Section 01

Fit & positioning

Section 02

Pricing & guarantee

Section 03

Comparisons

Section 04

Method & credentials

Section 05

Logistics

Question not answered here?

Book a 15-minute Authority Gap Diagnostic Call. No pitch, no intake form. One useful observation guaranteed, whether or not we work together.

Book your 15-minute call