CISO salary · permanent base, bonus and package
What a CISO earns, in base salary, bonus and package
A permanent CISO salary has a median of £135,250 across the country and £184,000 in London, in Robert Half’s 2026 salary guide.
Its national range runs from £96,250 to £161,750 in base pay.
Exec Capital’s 2026 technology guide puts CISO base pay at £120,000–£200,000 in the mid-market and £200,000–£400,000+ at large, regulated or listed firms.
Size, sector and regulation move the figure more than the title does.
Bonus, pension and equity sit on top of base.
When you hire a CISO through us, permanent, interim or fractional, 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 CISO
Tell us the scope and the days a week. We come back with CISO 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
CISO roles jobs on the board
Roles on the board: security leadership
How fractional recruitment agencies compare is set out in one place, including how we work: a CISO brief and a shortlist of three to five.
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 2.4 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 £135,250 Robert Half 2026 median salary. The full calculator below adds the months, the totals and the currency tabs.
- The fractional CISO 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 (£1,250 a day, Barclay Simpson) × 5 days × 4.33 weeks. Hover, tap or use the arrow keys for each month.
02/ the role
What the seat is, and what sets the pay
A chief information security officer owns the organisation’s information and cyber security: the strategy, the risk picture the board sees, and the response when something goes wrong.
The government’s Digital and Data capability framework describes the role as advising the board on how to mitigate risk and making sure the organisation can detect, respond to and recover from an attack.
For the full remit, see what a CISO does.
The title covers very different jobs.
One CISO builds the first controls at a scale-up.
Another reports to the risk committee of a bank and answers to regulators.
That is why the published ranges are wide.
Exec Capital publishes the mid-market seat at £120,000–£200,000 and the large, regulated or listed seat at £200,000–£400,000+, with a premium at FCA-authorised firms.
Board accountability has raised the stakes.
The government’s Cyber Governance Code of Practice, launched in April 2025, sets out what directors should do to govern cyber risk.
A CISO who reports to the board against it carries more personal accountability than a head of security inside IT, and is paid for it.
The seat below is head of information security.
Barclay Simpson’s 2026 guide puts it at £150k+ for a department of more than ten, and £100k–£160k for a smaller one.
The same guide lists a Global or EMEA CISO at £180k+.
Pay the scope and the reporting line, not the title.
03/ scope
How to hire a CISO on a permanent basis
1. Write down the risk, then the role
Say what must be protected, which regulators and customers are asking questions, and who the role reports to.
A brief that says "board reporting and regulator contact" draws a different shortlist from one that says "build the security function".
2. Choose the route
A permanent CISO suits a business that needs a security owner every day.
For a defined gap, such as an incident or a vacancy, hire an interim CISO.
For board-level security for part of the week, see fractional CISO jobs.
The open roles on our board are on the CISO jobs page.
3. Set base, bonus and equity together
Optima Europe’s 2026 benchmarks put bonus at 20–40% of base in financial services, 15–25% in technology and SaaS, and 10–20% at scale-ups, where equity does more of the work.
Put the targets, the bonus basis and any notice period in the offer.
4. Test for evidence
Ask for a board paper they wrote, a strategy they delivered and an incident they led from first alert to lessons learned.
Certifications show knowledge; the UK Cyber Security Council, the profession’s Royal Charter body, awards professional titles up to Chartered.
None replaces a track record.
What we do on a CISO brief
We recruit permanent, interim, fractional, part-time and temporary security leaders, 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.
04/ 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 CISO: £1,200–£2,000 a day (Optima Europe).
Cost over 12 months
£166,400
104 working days · 2 d/wk · 12 mo · before tax
Fractional costs less over 12 months£29,713
Fractional CISO, 12 months£166,400
Fractional CISO, a month at 2 d/wk£13,856
Permanent CISO, same period£196,113
Fractional CISO, 12 months$220,463
Fractional CISO, a month at 2 d/wk$18,358
Permanent CISO, same period$259,829
Converted from £ at $1.3249 per £1 (Bank of England spot rate), 2 Oct 2026. A conversion, not a US market rate. Source ↗
Fractional CISO, 12 months€195,453
Fractional CISO, a month at 2 d/wk€16,275
Permanent CISO, same period€230,354
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 £135,250 Robert Half 2026 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.
05/ 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 CISO’s week can divide at 2 days a week for you. Each block is half a day.
06/ 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 · 1 role · CISO roles
Engagement
- Fractional1
Days a week
- Stated in the posting1
- Not stated0
Day rate
- Verified rate0
- Estimated (est)1
- Rate not stated0
Work arrangement (as the job feed classifies it)
- Remote1
- Hybrid0
- On-site0
Newest posting on the board: 27 Sept 2026.
07/ rates by stage
CISO salary by source, size and location
Permanent base salary only, before bonus, pension and equity. Robert Half publishes projected starting salaries; Exec Capital, Optima Europe and Barclay Simpson publish recruiters’ ranges. Each figure is quoted as its source publishes it, 2026 editions.
08/ economics
The package: what a permanent CISO costs on top of base
Employer’s National Insurance is 15% on earnings above £5,000 a year for 2026 to 2027 (HMRC rates and thresholds).
On Robert Half’s national median of £135,250, that is £19,537.50 a year: our arithmetic, 15% of £130,250, before any bonus.
Pension comes next.
The legal minimum is an employer contribution of 3% on qualifying earnings under automatic enrolment (GOV.UK).
Optima Europe says UK employers typically pay 5–12% of salary for a CISO.
Bonus and equity depend on the sector.
Optima Europe puts bonus at 20–40% of base in financial services and 15–25% in technology.
At UK scale-ups it reports EMI option grants of 0.3–0.8% for a CISO, often vesting over four years.
09/ vetting
How we vet CISOs
What we undertake on every brief, before a candidate reaches you.
- 01
Qualification screen
Verify CISO 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 security officer salary
Chief information security officer salary: by company size
Company size is the largest single driver of a chief information security officer salary.
Optima Europe’s 2026 benchmarks put UK base pay at £110,000–£145,000 at SMEs, £145,000–£185,000 in the mid-market and £185,000–£260,000 at large enterprises.
A VC-backed scale-up pays £115,000–£165,000, with equity on top.
Exec Capital draws the line differently but lands in the same place: £120,000–£200,000 for a mid-market CISO and £200,000–£400,000+ at large, regulated or listed firms.
Both are recruiters’ indicative ranges, not surveys, and each defines company size its own way.
In the public sector the seat is usually a senior civil service post: the DDaT framework places it at SCS 1 or SCS 2.
For an official view of earnings by occupation, the ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings is the reference, though its occupation groups are broader than the CISO title.
11/ ciso salary london
CISO salary London and across the UK
Robert Half’s 2026 guide puts the CISO salary in London at a median of £184,000, with a range of £131,000 to £220,000.
Against that, its national CISO salary in the UK is a median of £135,250, ranging from £96,250 to £161,750.
The London median is £48,750 higher: our arithmetic on Robert Half’s two figures.
Exec Capital says London commands a premium of roughly 20–40% over equivalent regional roles across senior technology.
Financial services, fintech and critical infrastructure, which cluster in the capital, add their own premium.
Job-ad data is thin at this level.
ITJobsWatch, which counts salaries quoted in IT job ads, had too few permanent CISO ads with a salary in the six months to 8 August 2026 to publish a median, so this page does not quote one.
12/ permanent, interim or fractional
A permanent salary, an interim day rate or a fractional retainer
A permanent CISO is paid a salary and a package.
An interim CISO is paid a day rate for full-time cover over a fixed term, and a fractional CISO a day rate or retainer for part of the week.
The numbers are not comparable one for one: a contractor funds their own pension, holidays and gaps between assignments, and tax status depends on how the engagement runs.
Our interim CISO salary and fractional CISO salary pages set out each route’s pay, source by source, and the fractional CISO cost page works through what a part-time engagement costs.
For the interim role itself, see interim CISO; for the part-time one, fractional CISO.
13/ questions
CISO salary FAQ
The questions people ask before bringing in a CISO.
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.
