If a small startup CTO works well, the company may grow quickly and the role of CTO will change significantly. It’s worth noting that you can expect a large pay increase as a CTO if you’ve worked in the position for a decade or more. CTO’s might receive an average total compensation of £111,000 if they’ve worked for anywhere between 10 and 19 years. Meanwhile, CTO’s with more than two decades of experience in the position received an average wage of around £124,000.

Get good at pattern recognition and embrace critical and comparative thinking. CTOs on average earn a salary of $163,309 per year, according to PayScale, a firm that provides a compensation platform to calculate cloud service cto responsibilities compensation rates. Total compensation for these positions ranges from $89,000 to $294,000 per year. Don’t make a mistake of employing a CTO just because every Silicon Valley company seems to have one.

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In this article, we do not take a position on how these two roles should be distinguished from each other. Instead, we take the view that any large product-based company today must have someone at a CXO level who is explicitly responsible for understanding how emerging technologies will affect its customers and products. Today, as nearly every company strives to achieve digital transformation and deliver tech-driven customer experiences, the CTO has become much more of a chief strategy officer, often with the CIO as a direct report. But just when you think the matter is settled, along comes the chief digital officer (CDO) and even a chief experience officer (CXO), creating a veritable Venn diagram of tech-focused executives with overlapping spheres of influence.

• This official’s main focus is to use technology to help stimulate job creation, improve healthcare and security systems, and increase broadband access.
• Because companies still need an executive whose job it is to keep an eye on the technology horizon and ensure the organization stays current, relevant and, ideally, ahead of the pack.
• In this article, we do not take a position on how these two roles should be distinguished from each other.
• We have a video explaining the role of solution architects that’s worth taking a look at.
• Above that, CTOs have to identify the skills at the stage of searching, obtaining, and retaining the tech force.

They will need to gain practical on-the-job and industry experience. Individuals may need five to 10 years of experience in IT, according to Indeed. With this experience, they may enter a leadership role, executive role or some other executive position where they can gain leadership experience. The full compensation package for a chief technology officer depends on a variety of factors, including but not limited to the candidate’s experience and geographic location.

What does a CTO do and what skills are required to succeed?

Most CTOs undergo training throughout their careers in IT departments, and they might also earn certifications in development, programming, database administration, or other related fields. CTOs also need to have a number of soft skills as well, including strong communications and collaboration. These executives work with many people across various functions, and the ability to collaborate well is essential. “Technology vision coupled with strategic thinking beyond technology” is important, says Ozgur Aksakal, president of the Global CTO Forum, an independent, global organization for technology professionals. As such, CTOs are among the most important hires organizations are making today, and it can be challenging finding the right person who possesses all the right skills. You lack tech knowledge for your startup and need a technical co-founder.

With this heightened demand, employers know they need to compensate CTOs well for their advanced degrees and skills, and the challenges they may face regarding investments in business technology post-COVID. CTOs may also handle customer experience, support, engagement and front-end content delivery. CTOs are more concerned with developing new technology to improve revenue and sales opportunities and extending the company brand than day-to-day operations. Rene Millman is a freelance writer and broadcaster who covers cybersecurity, AI, IoT, and the cloud.

Most Common Skills for Chief Technology Officer (CTO)

And there are non-tech companies, where a CTO manages engineering efforts in the organization and makes sure that the digital part of the product works. If a CTO is an enthusiast, then the VP of Engineering is a great manager. These two people can be peers or report to one another, and often, one can do the job of both, regardless of the title.

“Everyone knows CTOs need technical skills, but the development of technology is a process involving people,” she says. It won’t have escaped your notice that there’s plenty of hype around artificial intelligence right now. Hype is the operative word, because it’s vital that CTOs don’t allow the latest technology trends, no matter the buzz around them, to cloud their decision-making. They need to also find the right balance between business and technology strategies, absorbing information and breaking it down into simple, important, trends that highlight where an organisation needs to go next.

Chief Technology Officer Certificate Program at MIT Professional Education

Meanwhile, recent McKinsey research shows that companies that keep abreast of new technologies and build them into their strategies and operating models have greater success than those that do not. This versatility provides opportunities for CTOs to advance to the highest levels of organizations. The CTO role naturally requires a strong knowledge of various technologies, and “real technology acumen, especially in the architecture, software, and technology strategy areas to address legacy technology challenges,” Stephenson says. A CTO has to observe the market for related technology solutions, learn if they suit the company’s tech strategy and set the acquisition goals. As you’ve might have picked up, the CTO’s role and responsibilities need to be flexible even working for one company.

You will communicate with employees, stakeholders and customers to ensure our company’s technologies are used appropriately. By handling direction and vision, the CTO can work closely with the CEO to make sure there’s progress toward the company’s ultimate goals. This means that the CTO should be on a level playing field with the other chief executives, according to Mead. This allows company leadership to collaborate on financial decisions and company direction. An important distinction to keep in mind is that not all CTOs manage the IT side of a business. While some CTOs manage help desk professionals and make decisions about the tech tools companies use, many businesses are opting to let a chief information officer (CIO) handle these things.

The Role of a Chief Technology Officer (CTO)

In our experience, as the role was originally conceived, the CTO provided a single “buck stops here” point of view on the technology trends, policies, and procedures critical to developing or enhancing a company’s products and services. A chief technology officer (CTO) is the highest technology executive position within https://www.globalcloudteam.com/ a company and leads the technology or engineering department. They develop policies and procedures and use technology to enhance products and services that focus on external customers. The CTO also develops strategies to increase revenue and performs a cost-benefit analysis and return-on-investment analysis.

A good Chief Technology Officer has excellent written and verbal communication, allowing them to communicate with other Executives or lower-level management in a clear and effective manner. They should have a background in IT and have experience working in a business development role. Their professional experiences enable them to oversee company operations and identify areas to implement new IT systems or technologies. During downtime in their office, they review technology trends within their company’s industry and identify the types of IT systems that competitors use.

The evolving definition of the CTO

They ensure an organization has the technological resources to deliver top-performing products and services and meet business goals. A chief technology officer (CTO) is responsible for overseeing the development and dissemination of technology for external customers, vendors, and other clients to help improve and increase business. They may also deal with internal IT operations if a company is small and doesn’t have a chief information officer. Technology has become intertwined with business, and the primary role of a chief technology officer (CTO) is to make sure tech strategy aligns with a company’s overall goals.