CEO · job description template
CEO job description
The short answer · updated
A CEO job description sets out the most senior executive role in a company: the person who proposes the strategy to the board and runs the business to deliver it. The core responsibilities are strategy and priorities, leading the executive team, allocating capital and people, owning results and risk, and answering to the board, usually through the chair.
Job purpose
The purpose of a CEO role is to set the direction of the business with the board and then deliver it. A good job description says that in two or three sentences, names the problem the next chief executive has to solve (growth, a turnaround, a sale, a succession) and makes the scope clear before anyone reads the list of duties. For the role itself, see what does a CEO do.
Acas publishes an outline job description template whose headings (the main duties and who the post reports to) work for a chief executive as well as any other role. In a listed company, the FRC’s UK Corporate Governance Code asks that the responsibilities of the chair and chief executive be clear, set out in writing, agreed by the board and made publicly available (Provision 14), so the job description should match what the board has agreed.
Key responsibilities
Order the duties by importance and start each with a verb. A typical CEO job description covers:
- proposing the strategy and business plan to the board, and delivering the plan the board agrees;
- setting annual priorities, budgets and targets with the executive team;
- leading, hiring and developing the executive team, and planning for their succession;
- allocating capital and people across the business;
- owning trading results, cash and the forecasts the board relies on, with the CFO;
- setting the culture and the standards of conduct the rest of the business follows;
- managing the principal risks: commercial, financial, operational, regulatory and reputational;
- representing the company to investors, lenders, customers, regulators and the media;
- leading major transactions: fundraises, acquisitions, disposals and partnerships;
- reporting to the board, usually through the chair, on performance against the plan.
Reporting line and scope
The CEO reports to the board, usually through the chair, and in most companies sits on the board as an executive director. The executive team reports to the CEO: typically the CFO and COO, and the heads of sales, marketing, product, technology and people. Say which of these roles exist today and which the new CEO is expected to hire.
Board exposure is the whole job: the CEO attends every board meeting, works with the committees (audit, remuneration, nomination) and answers to the non-executive directors. A CEO who is a director owes the seven general duties that Companies House guidance sets out under the Companies Act 2006. In FCA-regulated firms the chief executive is a senior management function, and anyone performing one needs approval before they start, so the job description should say so.
Skills, experience and qualifications
No qualification is required by law to be a chief executive. Ask for experience of the problem in front of the company and describe it specifically. Acas warns that phrases such as “highly experienced” in a job advert can discriminate on age, so define the experience rather than counting years. Our guide on how to become a CEO covers the usual routes in.
- experience running a business, a division or a profit and loss account of comparable complexity;
- a record against the specific problem: growth, turnaround, integration, a sale or a listing;
- experience working with a board, investors and, where relevant, regulators;
- financial literacy: reading accounts, cash flow and forecasts, and challenging them;
- hiring and leading senior executives through change;
- sector knowledge, where the market, customers or regulation demand it;
- desirable, not essential: a board-level qualification such as the IoD’s Chartered Director programme.
Fractional CEO job description
A fractional CEO works a set number of days a week or month, so the job description narrows. Name the days, the outcomes expected over the first six to twelve months (a plan agreed with investors, a leadership team hired, a fundraise closed), what the fractional CEO owns and what stays with the founder or chair, and who decides on the days they are not there.
Our page on how to hire a fractional CEO sets out how the engagement works. If the fractional CEO is to be appointed a director, say so: the directors’ duties apply in full whatever the number of days.
A fractional CEO working through their own company may fall within the off-payroll working rules (IR35). Status depends on how the engagement runs in practice, not on the wording of the job description, and a medium or large client makes the determination. Our IR35 guide sets out the tests.
Interim and permanent versions
Interim. An interim CEO works full-time for a fixed period, so the job description leads with the situation (a founder stepping back, a CEO leaving at short notice, a turnaround or a sale) and the date or event that ends the assignment. See our interim CEO and interim executive recruitment pages.
Permanent. The permanent version looks further ahead: the strategy over several years, succession, and the executive team to be built. When the CEO is hired as an employee, the job title or a description of the work goes into the written statement of employment particulars they must have on the first day, so keep the two consistent. For a charity chief executive, see charity CEO recruitment.
We recruit fractional, interim, part-time, temporary and permanent executives, and non-executive directors. For a CEO brief we send a shortlist of 3–5, each with pay or day rate, availability and IR35 position set out, after our five-stage vetting.
A template you can copy
Copy these headings and write one short block under each. Keep pay out of the job description and state it in the offer.
- Job title: chief executive officer, and whether the role is fractional, interim, part-time or permanent.
- Reports to: the board, through the chair; list the executive team who report to the CEO.
- Purpose: two or three sentences on why the role exists now and the problem it must solve.
- Responsibilities: eight to twelve duties, each starting with a verb, in order of importance.
- Requirements: essential and desirable experience, described specifically, and a qualification only where the job needs one.
- Terms: full-time or days a week, location, start date, fixed term or permanent, and the pay basis (salary or day rate).
Questions people ask
What should a CEO job description include?
The job title and type of engagement, who the CEO reports to, the purpose of the role, the key responsibilities, the experience and skills required, and the terms. Acas suggests giving applicants the job description together with a person specification and information about the organisation.
How long should a CEO job description be?
Long enough to cover purpose, responsibilities, reporting line, requirements and terms, and short enough to read in a few minutes: one to two pages is usually enough. The detail of the strategy belongs in the candidate pack and the interviews.
How is a fractional CEO job description different?
It names the days a week or month, the outcomes expected over the first six to twelve months, and what stays with the founder or chair. See how to hire a fractional CEO.
Does a CEO need a qualification?
Not by law. Boards look for experience of the problem the company faces. Director qualifications, such as the IoD’s Chartered Director programme, are useful but are best listed as desirable rather than essential.
What does a CEO earn?
It depends on the size of the company, its sector and ownership, and whether the role is permanent, interim or fractional. Our CEO salary page sets out CEO pay, each figure with its source.
How do I hire a CEO?
Define the problem the next CEO must solve, choose between permanent, interim, part-time and fractional, write the job description around that problem, test every candidate against it, and check references and directorships. Our fractional CEO page sets out the process; we send a shortlist of 3–5, each with pay or day rate, availability and IR35 position set out.
