Chief technology officer · job description template
CTO job description
The short answer · updated
A CTO job description sets out the most senior technology role in a company: the person who owns the technology strategy and makes it work. The core duties are technology strategy and architecture, leading engineering teams, security and resilience, the technology budget and suppliers, and reporting on technology risk to the CEO and board.
Job purpose
The chief technology officer (CTO) decides how technology serves the business, then builds the teams and systems that deliver it. The government’s Digital and Data capability framework calls the CTO the organisation’s technology strategist, making decisions about technical direction and working closely with other senior leaders.
Write the purpose as one or two sentences about the outcome the business needs: a product that scales, a platform that stays up, a security posture the board can defend, an engineering team that ships. The rest of the job description should follow from that sentence. For the role itself, see what a CTO does.
Key responsibilities
Pick the duties that match the company’s stage and cut the rest. A typical list:
- set a technology strategy and roadmap that serves the business plan, and agree it with the CEO and board;
- own the technical architecture: platforms, infrastructure, data and the build, buy or partner decisions;
- lead, hire and develop the engineering, product engineering, data and infrastructure teams;
- set engineering practices for delivery, code quality, testing, release and incident response;
- keep systems and services running and resilient, with tested recovery plans;
- own information security and report cyber risk to the board;
- make sure personal data is handled lawfully and securely across products and systems;
- hold the technology budget, and choose and manage cloud providers, vendors and contractors;
- assess new technologies, including AI, and adopt the ones that earn their cost;
- translate technical risk, cost and trade-offs for the CEO, the board and investors;
- lead technical due diligence in fundraising, acquisitions or a sale.
Reporting line and scope
A CTO usually reports to the chief executive. In a larger group the CTO may report to a chief operating officer or chief digital officer, or share the ground with a chief information officer who runs internal IT (see what a CIO does). Heads of engineering, architecture, infrastructure, data and security typically report to the CTO.
State the board exposure plainly. Most CTOs attend board meetings to present the technology plan and its risks, and the NCSC Cyber Security Toolkit for Boards sets out why boards need to govern cyber risk, which the CTO usually briefs. If the CTO will sit on the board as a director, say so: a director is legally responsible for running the company, not only the technology.
Skills, experience and qualifications
Describe experience by what the candidate has done, not by years served. Acas warns that phrases such as “highly experienced” can discriminate on age, and that each requirement needs a good reason. No law requires a CTO to hold a particular qualification.
- a record of setting and delivering technology strategy at a comparable scale or stage;
- hands-on depth in the company’s core stack, enough to judge architecture and hires;
- experience building and leading engineering teams, including through growth;
- working knowledge of security, resilience and data protection;
- budget ownership and supplier management;
- the ability to explain technical risk to a non-technical board;
- optional: a professional registration such as BCS Chartered IT Professional (CITP), which requires BCS membership and evidence of competence; a computer science or engineering degree is common but not required.
Fractional CTO job description
A fractional CTO works a set number of days a week or month. The job description changes in three ways. It names the days and how they fall. It narrows the scope to the few problems that matter most: a platform rebuild, a security review, investor due diligence, hiring the first engineering leader. And it sets outcomes for the first six to twelve months rather than an open-ended list of duties.
A fractional CTO often works through their own company, so the engagement may fall within the off-payroll working rules (IR35). Status depends on how the engagement runs in practice, and a medium or large client makes the determination. Our IR35 guide sets out the tests. To see how it works, read how to hire a fractional CTO.
Interim and permanent versions
An interim CTO works full-time for a fixed period: a crisis, a migration, a turnaround, or cover while the permanent search runs. The job description adds the start date, the length of the assignment and the handover expected at the end. See interim CTO roles.
A permanent CTO job description carries the full scope, the long-term strategy and the terms of employment. For an employee, the job title or a description of the work goes into the written statement of employment particulars from the first day, so the job description and the statement should agree. For a permanent search, see our CTO headhunter page.
A template you can copy
Acas publishes a free outline job description with the main headings, the role’s main duties and the reporting line. For a CTO, use these headings:
- Job title: Chief Technology Officer, and whether the role is permanent, interim, part-time or fractional.
- Reports to: the CEO (or named executive), the teams that report to the CTO, and any board or committee attendance.
- Purpose: one or two sentences on the outcome the business needs from technology.
- Responsibilities: six to ten duties from the list above, the most important first.
- Requirements: the experience and skills the role needs, each with a reason; qualifications as optional unless the role truly needs them.
- Terms: location and hybrid pattern, days a week, start date, length of engagement for interim or fractional roles, and how pay will be set out.
Questions people ask
What should a CTO job description include?
The job title and engagement type, the reporting line, a short purpose statement, the key responsibilities, the skills and experience the role needs, and the terms: location, days, start date and length. Keep responsibilities to what the company needs now.
How long should a CTO job description be?
Long enough to show the scope and short enough to read in a few minutes. A fractional or interim brief can be shorter, because it names a few outcomes rather than the whole remit.
How is a fractional CTO job description different?
It names the days a week or month, narrows the scope to the problems that matter most, and sets outcomes for the first six to twelve months. It also notes that IR35 status depends on how the engagement runs. See how to hire a fractional CTO.
What does a CTO earn?
It depends on the company’s size, stage and sector, and on whether the role is permanent, interim or fractional. Our CTO salary page sets out permanent pay and fractional day rates, each figure with its source.
What is the difference between a CTO and a CIO?
A CTO usually faces outward, owning the product technology and the platform customers use. A CIO usually faces inward, running the systems the business runs on. In smaller companies one person often does both. See what a CTO does.
How do I hire a CTO?
Define the technology problem, choose between permanent, interim, part-time and fractional, write the job description around it, and test every candidate against the same problem. We recruit fractional, interim, part-time, temporary and permanent executives, and non-executive directors, and send a shortlist of 3–5, each with pay or day rate, availability and IR35 position set out, after our five-stage vetting. See how to hire a fractional CTO or our CTO headhunter page.
