CIO jobs · Chief information officer vacancies · Permanent, interim and fractional
CIO jobs · permanent, interim and fractional
CIO jobs are chief information officer roles: the most senior seat for the systems, data and IT a business runs on, setting IT strategy, owning the budget and the suppliers, and advising the board on technology risk.
They come as permanent full-time posts, interim assignments and fractional or part-time seats.
The board below shows the CIO roles on our board, with permanent roles first where the posting says full-time.
We recruit permanent, interim, fractional and part-time technology leaders, and non-executive directors.
Hiring rather than looking?
On every brief 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
In the press
Fast Company 16 leaders on when fractional C-suite hires make sense · 24 Jun 2026
Leaders disagree on when a part-time C-suite seat works and when a role needs a full-time owner. Read it before choosing between a permanent CIO job and a fractional or interim one.
15 minutes · video or phone
Book 15 minutes to hire a CIO
Tell us the scope and the days a week. We come back with CIO 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
CIO jobs jobs on the board
No CIO jobs roles on the board in the last three months. Showing technology leadership roles instead.
Current CIO roles on our board
Fractional recruitment works differently from a permanent search — shorter, scoped by days a week, and priced on the engagement. Send a CIO brief and we come back with a shortlist of three to five vetted candidates.
01/ the cross
Where a permanent hire becomes cheaper.
Move the day rate and the days a week: the rising line is a month of part-week cost, the flat line a permanent hire’s month. Where they cross, the seat should go full-time.
At 3 days a week a permanent hire costs less.
Our arithmetic. Permanent a month = the salary ÷ 12 plus 15% employer NI, plus the 30% search fee spread over 12 months — the calculator’s inputs. Hover, tap or use the arrow keys for each step.
Permanent = the £150,250 Robert Half 2026 (national) median salary. The full calculator below adds the months, the totals and the currency tabs.
- The fractional CIO at 2 days a week never passes permanent inside 24 months.
- Interim passes permanent at month 3.
Our arithmetic, cumulative. Permanent = the salary’s 30% search fee in month 0, then salary ÷ 12 plus 15% employer NI each month. Interim = the midpoint of the published interim band (£1,400 a day, Exec Capital 2026) × 5 days × 4.33 weeks. Hover, tap or use the arrow keys for each month.
02/ the route
Fractional, interim or permanent?
Four taps. The answer names the route for the seat and the page that covers it.
The route · Fractional
A fractional CIO.The work fills part of the week, so buy the days it needs.
A fractional CIO holds the seat on agreed days for as long as the seat is needed, and works for other clients on the rest.
The route · Interim
An interim CIO.The work fills the week, and it has an end: a programme, a cover, a transaction.
An interim CIO takes the seat full time for that stretch and hands it over when it is done.
The route · Interim, then permanent
Interim now, a permanent CIO after.The seat is full time and long term, and the need is now.
An interim CIO holds it while the permanent search runs, so the seat is not left empty.
The route · Permanent
A permanent CIO.A full-time seat that sits at the table for years is a permanent hire.
There is time to run a search, so run one.
03/ the role
CIO jobs: what the board holds
The board on this page holds the CIO roles on our board: chief information officer, chief digital and information officer, group CIO and CIO roles in every mode of work.
Roles whose posting says full-time come first.
Interim, fractional and part-time CIO roles follow, and where a posting states how the role is engaged, the listing says so.
When there are few CIO roles, the board widens to the CTO and CISO seats beside it, and says that it has.
What the seat does
Robert Half’s CIO profile calls the role typically the most senior position a technology professional can reach: a business leadership seat that meets the company’s objectives through IT services and systems.
Its list of duties runs from the IT budget and supplier management to data management, IT security and information risk, and the IT team.
In government the same seat is the chief digital and information officer, described as a trusted adviser to the board on digital, data and technology.
For the day-to-day picture, see what a CIO does.
One seat, several ways to hold it
A permanent CIO is employed full-time and owns IT for years.
An interim CIO holds the seat for a fixed period, to cover a departure or carry a migration, a merger or a recovery.
A fractional CIO holds it for agreed days a week, often in a mid-sized business that needs board-level IT leadership without a full-time salary.
The job title is the same; the contract, the days and the tax position are not.
CIO, CTO or IT director?
Where a company has both, the CIO looks after the systems the business runs on and the CTO the technology it sells or builds on; seats facing the product are listed under CTO jobs.
The ONS’s occupational classification (SOC 2020) puts chief information officers and IT directors in the same unit group, 1137 information technology directors.
In practice the CIO title usually carries the board seat and the strategy, and the IT director runs delivery.
See IT director jobs.
04/ scope
How to get a CIO job
1. Run IT before you run it all
Robert Half’s CIO profile says a CIO should ideally start with a degree in computer science, information technology, software engineering or information systems, and calls IT management experience crucial, with business experience beside it.
The usual path runs through IT manager, head of IT and IT director.
Our guide on how to become a CIO sets out the steps.
2. Show the level
SFIA’s levels of responsibility run from Follow to Set strategy, inspire, mobilise; a CIO works at the top of that scale.
BCS’s Chartered IT Professional (CITP) registration is assessed on written evidence of competence and conduct.
Neither is required, but both give a hiring panel something to test against.
3. Show the board work
A CIO shortlist is decided on budget, suppliers, risk and change.
The government’s Cyber Governance Code of Practice sets out the governance actions directors of medium and large organisations are responsible for, and the NCSC’s Cyber Security Toolkit for Boards explains how to carry them out.
A CIO is often the person who briefs the board on both.
Bring examples of programmes you led to the end, with what they cost and what they changed.
4. Pick the route in
Not every CIO job is permanent.
Interim CIO jobs cover a gap, a migration or a recovery for a set period; fractional CIO jobs hold the seat for set days a week.
If you work through your own company, the off-payroll working rules (IR35) may apply: status turns on how the engagement runs, and a medium or large client makes the determination.
Our IR35 guide sets out the tests.
05/ the maths
What the seat costs, by the days a week
Move the day rate, the days a week and the months: the totals and the permanent comparison for the period. The curve above shows where a permanent hire becomes the cheaper seat.
The slider runs across the published band for a fractional CIO: £800–£2,000 a day (Exec Capital 2026).
Cost over 12 months
£145,600
104 working days · 2 d/wk · 12 mo · before tax
Fractional costs less over 12 months£72,263
Fractional CIO, 12 months£145,600
Fractional CIO, a month at 2 d/wk£12,124
Permanent CIO, same period£217,863
Fractional CIO, 12 months$192,905
Fractional CIO, a month at 2 d/wk$16,063
Permanent CIO, same period$288,646
Converted from £ at $1.3249 per £1 (Bank of England spot rate), 2 Oct 2026. A conversion, not a US market rate. Source ↗
Fractional CIO, 12 months€171,022
Fractional CIO, a month at 2 d/wk€14,241
Permanent CIO, same period€255,901
Converted from £ at €1.1746 per £1 (Bank of England spot rate), 2 Oct 2026. A conversion, not a EU market rate. Source ↗
Our arithmetic, indicative. Permanent = the £150,250 Robert Half 2026 (national) median salary pro rata for the same months, plus 15% employer NI, plus a 30% search fee on the annual base (UK retained search runs 25–35%, Headhunters.co.uk). Excludes pension, bonus and equity.
06/ the week
How a week divides.
The days you buy are yours; the rest of the week goes to other clients. Move the days a week in the calculator above and the week redraws.
Illustration only: one way a fractional CIO’s week can divide at 2 days a week for you. Each block is half a day.
07/ the board
What the board holds.
A read of the roles on the board on this page, counted as they stand: how each is engaged, whether the posting gives the days and the rate, and where the work happens.
On this board, last 90 days · 2 roles · technology leadership
Engagement
- Fractional2
Seat
- CTO1
- CISO1
Days a week
- Stated in the posting2
- Not stated0
Day rate
- Verified rate0
- Estimated (est)2
- Rate not stated0
Work arrangement (as the job feed classifies it)
- Remote1
- Hybrid1
- On-site0
Newest posting on the board: 8 Oct 2026.
08/ related roles
CIO jobs by type
Every page we keep for the CIO seat, one per kind of role or question. We recruit permanent, interim, fractional and part-time CIOs.
09/ vetting
How we vet CIOs
What we undertake on every brief, before a candidate reaches you.
- 01
Qualification screen
Verify CIO 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
10/ chief information officer jobs
Chief information officer jobs the seat and its titles
Chief information officer jobs are advertised under several titles.
Chief information officer and CIO are the same seat; chief digital and information officer adds digital services to it; group CIO runs IT across a group of companies.
In mid-sized businesses the top IT seat is often called IT director or head of IT, with the same work at a smaller scale.
Read the posting for what the seat owns: infrastructure, business systems, data, security, digital change or all of them.
Ask whether a chief information security officer reports to the CIO or beside it, and who owns data.
Seats with security at their centre are listed under CISO jobs, and data-led seats under chief data officer jobs.
Ask who the seat reports to.
A CIO reporting to the CEO and attending the board is a different job from one reporting to the CFO or COO, even with the same title.
11/ permanent cio jobs
Permanent CIO jobs the market and the pay
Permanent CIO jobs are full-time employed roles, and they are the ones listed first on this page.
Robert Half’s 2026 salary guide puts a full-time UK CIO at £108,000 at the 25th percentile, £150,250 at the median and £200,000 at the 75th percentile (Robert Half).
In London it puts the CIO at £147,000, £204,250 and £272,000 at the same points (Robert Half, London).
Robert Half is a recruiter, and these are its own starting-salary projections.
Base pay is one part of a permanent package.
Bonus, pension and notice period vary with the size and ownership of the business, and regulated sectors ask more of the seat.
For the pay picture across permanent, interim and fractional seats, see our CIO salary guide.
Some permanent CIO searches are run by a headhunter rather than an open advert.
Our CIO headhunter page sets out how a permanent CIO search works from the hiring side.
12/ questions
CIO jobs FAQ
The questions people ask before bringing in a CIO.
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.
