Chief data officer salary · 2026
What a chief data officer earns, nationally and in London
The chief data officer salary in Robert Half’s 2026 figures runs from £88,250 at the 25th percentile to £132,500 at the 75th, with a median of £110,250. In London, Robert Half puts it at £120,000, £150,000 and £180,250. These are projected starting salaries, base pay only; bonus and other variable pay come on top. Experience, sector and the size of the data estate move the number.
If you need data leadership for part of the week, or full-time for a fixed term, the fractional and interim routes are priced by the day. When you hire a chief data officer through us, permanent or flexible, we send a shortlist of 3–5, each with pay or day rate, availability and IR35 position set out.
How a brief runswhat we undertake
- 01Brief30-MINUTE SCOPING CALLDay 0
- 02Shortlist of 3–5VETTED · RATE BENCHMARK · IR35After the brief
- 03InterviewsYOU MEET THE SHORTLISTYour diary
- 04Scoped startFIRST-MONTH OUTCOMES AGREEDYou set the date
- 05Fractional, interim and permanentIR35 POSITION SET OUTOn every brief
Shortlist3–5
15 minutes · video or phone
Book 15 minutes to hire a chief data officer
Tell us the scope and the days a week. We come back with Chief Data Officer candidates, their day rates and availability.
- 0115 minutes, video or phone
- 02We scope the role and the days a week
- 03A shortlist of 3–5 after the call
- 04Fractional, interim and permanent briefs
Pick a day that suits · live availability
On the board · last 3 months
Chief data officer jobs on the board
No Chief data officer roles on the board in the last three months. Showing fractional executive roles instead.
- FractionalSyndicatedFractional General Counsel
Ffern · London
est £1,000/day1 d/wk - FractionalSyndicatedPerformance & Development Lead (Fractional)
Unity Advisory · London
Rate not stated3 d/wk - FractionalSyndicatedFractional COO / Operations Director
genesis labels & packaging · Leeds
est £750/day2 d/wk - FractionalSyndicatedFractional CFO
Amitours · United Kingdom
Rate not statedUnited Kingdom - FractionalSyndicatedFractional CISO (Contract / Project Based)
Cambridge Spark · United Kingdom
est £1,500/day2 d/wk - FractionalSyndicatedHead of Medical Compliance, Governance & Diligence (Fractional)
CNX Therapeutics Ltd · Greater London
est £1,000/dayGreater London - FractionalSyndicatedFractional Product Practice Leader - 9 Month Contract
Tails.com · London
est £1,000/day2 d/wk - FractionalSyndicatedFractional Finance Directors
PWF Associates Limited · Manchester
est £750/dayManchester - FractionalSyndicatedFractional legal counsel
Nifina · London
est £750/dayLondon
Live data and technology leadership roles
Fractional recruitment works differently from a permanent search — shorter, scoped by days a week, and priced on the engagement. Send a Chief Data Officer brief and we come back with a shortlist of three to five vetted candidates.
01/ the role
What a chief data officer does, and what sets the pay
A chief data officer makes sure the organisation can use its data to make better decisions, policies and services. The government’s Digital and Data Profession Capability Framework lists the work: a data strategy aligned with the organisation’s objectives, the data and data technology it needs, data quality, ethical use and compliance with standards and regulation, data literacy across the organisation, and working with cyber security so data stays secure but usable. In the Civil Service the role is usually graded at Senior Civil Service 1 or 2. For the role in full, see what a chief data officer does.
Three things set the salary. Location: Robert Half’s London median is £150,000, against £110,250 nationally. Experience: Robert Half places a candidate with little or no prior experience in the position at the 25th percentile and one with above-average experience and specialised qualifications at the 75th. And the remit: a chief data officer who owns the data platform, the analytics team and the governance programme is a bigger job than one who sets policy for others to run.
A chief data officer is not the data protection officer. Under the UK GDPR, the ICO’s guidance on data protection officers says a DPO must be independent, expert in data protection and report to the highest level of management, and any other duties must not create a conflict of interest. Some organisations need both roles; pay the one you are hiring.
02/ scope
How to hire a chief data officer
1. Scope the seat
Write down what the role owns: the data strategy, the data platform, the analytics and data science teams, governance and quality, or a mix. Say who it reports to: the chief executive, the CTO, the CIO or the COO. A brief that does not say whether the data platform is in scope draws an analytics shortlist.
2. Choose the route
A permanent chief data officer suits an organisation whose data needs an owner every day. If the need is a strategy, a governance framework and a plan for the team, set for part of the week, see fractional chief data officer jobs and how we hire a CDO on fractional terms. For every chief data officer role on the board, permanent first, see chief data officer jobs.
3. Set the whole package
Salary is the start. An employer also pays employer’s National Insurance and must enrol eligible staff in a workplace pension and contribute. The CIPD’s introduction to reward separates fixed base pay from variable pay such as bonuses, which is not guaranteed. Robert Half’s figures are base salaries, so decide the variable part before you compare offers.
4. Assess against the work
Give candidates a real problem: your data estate as it stands, and the decision the board most wants data for. Ask how they would sequence the strategy, the platform and the governance, and what they would stop doing. Take references yourself, from people the candidate reported to.
What we do on a chief data officer brief
We recruit permanent, fractional, interim, part-time and temporary executives, and non-executive directors. We send a shortlist of 3–5, each with pay or day rate, availability and IR35 position set out, and every candidate goes through our five-stage vetting first.
03/ rates by stage
Chief data officer salary by location and level
Robert Half’s 2026 projected starting salaries for the chief data officer, the head of data and analytics below it, and the CTO and CIO beside it. Base pay only. Every figure is Robert Half’s published 25th, 50th and 75th percentile, named in the table.
04/ economics
Fractional or interim: what the seat costs by the day
Not every organisation needs a full-time chief data officer. A fractional one sets the strategy and governance for agreed days a week; an interim one holds the seat full-time for a fixed period, through a platform migration, a regulatory programme or a vacancy. We have found no verified published day rate for either, so we do not print one. We set out the day rate for each candidate on the shortlist instead.
A day rate does not compare one for one with a salary. An employee also costs employer’s National Insurance and pension contributions; a contractor funds their own, along with holidays and unsold days. Tax status is set by how the engagement runs in practice, not by its label. Under the off-payroll working rules (IR35), a medium or large client makes the status determination; a small client outside the public sector leaves it to the worker’s own company. Our IR35 guide sets out the tests.
05/ vetting
How we vet chief data officers
What we undertake on every brief, before a candidate reaches you.
- 01
Qualification screen
Verify Chief Data Officer tenure, sector context and stage fit.
SOURCING - 02
Mandate fit
Match to your situation — stage, board dynamics, timing.
MATCHING - 03
Reference deep-dive
We take references ourselves, from recent past clients — real outcomes, not titles.
VERIFY - 04
Shortlist
Three to five candidates with day rate, availability and IR35 position set out.
SHORTLIST OF 3–5
06/ chief data officer salary London
Chief data officer salary in London: the premium over the national figure
On Robert Half’s 2026 London figures, the chief data officer salary in London is £120,000 at the 25th percentile, £150,000 at the median and £180,250 at the 75th. Every London point sits above the national 75th percentile of £132,500 except the lowest, which sits between the national median and the national 75th.
Use the London figures for a London seat and the national figures elsewhere; Robert Half publishes the two separately, and the gap between them is wide at this level.
For an official cross-check on employee pay by occupation and region, the ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings reports earnings by occupation, although its groups are broader than any single data title.
07/ head of data salary
Head of data salary: the tier below the chief data officer
Robert Half benchmarks the head of data and analytics as the nearest related position. Its 2026 head of data salary figures are £65,500 at the 25th percentile, £75,750 at the median and £85,000 at the 75th nationally, and £89,000, £103,000 and £115,500 in London.
The gap to the chief data officer is the step from running the analytics team to owning the organisation’s data strategy and governance. In a mid-sized company the head of data is often the most senior data role and carries some of a chief data officer’s work; read the remit, not the title.
Beside the chief data officer sit the CTO and CIO. On Robert Half’s 2026 national figures the CTO median is £160,500 and the CIO median £150,250, both above the chief data officer’s £110,250. For those seats in full, see the CTO salary and CIO salary pages.
08/ questions
Chief data officer salary FAQ
The questions people ask before bringing in a chief data officer.
Book 15 minutes · shortlist of 3–5
Bring the brief. We architect the team.
A shortlist of 3–5 with day rate, availability and IR35 position set out, after five-stage vetting.
