Chief Technology Officer Job Trends

Chief Technology Officer (CTO)
UK

The median Chief Technology Officer (CTO) salary in the UK is £100,000 per year, according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months leading to 6 May 2026.

The table below compares current salary benchmarking and summary statistics with the previous two years.

6 months to
6 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 690 634 829
Rank change year-on-year -56 +195 +102
Permanent jobs requiring a Chief Technology Officer 36 18 54
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.039% 0.041% 0.056%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.042% 0.046% 0.060%
Number of salaries quoted 29 13 45
10th Percentile £98,500 £90,000 £77,750
25th Percentile - £120,000 £80,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £100,000 £130,000 £87,500
Median % change year-on-year -23.08% +48.57% -20.45%
75th Percentile - £155,000 £140,000
90th Percentile £141,375 £180,000 £173,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £100,000 £120,000 £84,700
% change year-on-year -16.67% +41.68% -23.00%

All Permanent IT Job Roles
UK

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all permanent IT job vacancies. Most job vacancies include a discernible job title that can be normalized. As such, the figures in the second row provide an indication of the number of permanent jobs in our overall sample.

Permanent vacancies in the UK with a recognized job title 84,854 38,887 90,629
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 92.95% 89.46% 94.55%
Number of salaries quoted 54,818 23,400 66,698
10th Percentile £30,000 £30,250 £28,500
25th Percentile £40,000 £41,250 £38,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £59,000 £52,777
Median % change year-on-year -6.78% +11.79% -12.04%
75th Percentile £75,000 £77,500 £71,250
90th Percentile £95,000 £100,000 £90,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £50,000 £52,500 £50,000
% change year-on-year -4.76% +5.00% -5.66%

Chief Technology Officer
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of permanent IT job postings featuring 'Chief Technology Officer' in the job title relative to all permanent IT jobs advertised.

Chief Technology Officer job vacancy trend in the UK

Chief Technology Officer
Salary Trend

Salary distribution trend for Chief Technology Officer job vacancies in the UK.

Salary distribution trend for Chief Technology Officer job vacancies in the UK

Chief Technology Officer
Salary Histogram

Salary distribution for jobs citing Chief Technology Officer over the 6 months to 6 May 2026.

Salary histogram for Chief Technology Officer in the UK

Chief Technology Officer
Top 12 Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing Chief Technology Officer within the UK over the 6 months to 6 May 2026. The 'Rank Change' column provides an indication of the change in demand within each location based on the same 6 month period last year.

Location Rank Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Matching
Permanent
IT Job Ads
Median Salary
Past 6 Months
Median Salary
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Live
Jobs
England -17 33 £100,000 -16.67% 33
UK excluding London -50 23 £100,000 -16.67% 10
Work from Home +16 14 £100,000 -23.08% 7
South East -17 12 £100,000 -16.67% 2
London -28 9 £100,000 -28.57% 23
Midlands - 7 £100,000 -
North of England -48 4 £100,000 - 4
West Midlands - 4 £80,000 -
North East -29 2 £100,000 - 2
East Midlands - 2 £100,000 -
Yorkshire - 1 £165,000 -
North West - 1 £100,000 - 2

Chief Technology Officer Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities

For the 6 months to 6 May 2026, Chief Technology Officer job roles required the following skills and capabilities in order of popularity. The figures indicate the absolute number of co-occurrences and as a proportion of all permanent job ads featuring Chief Technology Officer in the job title.

1 13 (36.11%) AWS
1 13 (36.11%) SaaS
2 12 (33.33%) Node.js
3 11 (30.56%) Technology Strategy
4 10 (27.78%) Roadmaps
5 9 (25.00%) IT Strategy
6 7 (19.44%) ERP
7 6 (16.67%) AI
8 5 (13.89%) DevOps
8 5 (13.89%) Presales
9 4 (11.11%) B2B
9 4 (11.11%) CI/CD
9 4 (11.11%) Customer Requirements
9 4 (11.11%) Data Governance
9 4 (11.11%) GDPR
9 4 (11.11%) Machine Learning
9 4 (11.11%) Observability
9 4 (11.11%) Release Management
9 4 (11.11%) SOC 2
9 4 (11.11%) Software Engineering
9 4 (11.11%) Test Automation
9 4 (11.11%) Use Case
10 3 (8.33%) Agile
11 2 (5.56%) Business Strategy
11 2 (5.56%) Decision-Making
11 2 (5.56%) Enterprise Architecture
11 2 (5.56%) Product Strategy
11 2 (5.56%) Stakeholder Management
11 2 (5.56%) Strategic Roadmap
11 2 (5.56%) Technical Leadership

Chief Technology Officer Skill Set
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities by Category

The following tables expand on the one above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. They cover the same employment type, locality and period, with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each category:

Cloud Services
1 13 (36.11%) AWS
1 13 (36.11%) SaaS
2 1 (2.78%) Azure
General
1 5 (13.89%) Manufacturing
1 5 (13.89%) Social Skills
2 2 (5.56%) Automotive
2 2 (5.56%) Finance
2 2 (5.56%) Retail
3 1 (2.78%) Agriculture
3 1 (2.78%) Banking
3 1 (2.78%) Public Sector
3 1 (2.78%) Public Speaking
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 12 (33.33%) Node.js
2 1 (2.78%) .NET
2 1 (2.78%) .NET Framework
2 1 (2.78%) React
Miscellaneous
1 4 (11.11%) Enterprise Software
2 1 (2.78%) AI Agents
2 1 (2.78%) Driving Licence
2 1 (2.78%) Greenfield Project
2 1 (2.78%) IoT
2 1 (2.78%) Legacy Systems
2 1 (2.78%) PropTech
Processes & Methodologies
1 11 (30.56%) Technology Strategy
2 10 (27.78%) Roadmaps
3 9 (25.00%) IT Strategy
4 7 (19.44%) ERP
5 6 (16.67%) AI
6 5 (13.89%) DevOps
6 5 (13.89%) Presales
7 4 (11.11%) B2B
7 4 (11.11%) CI/CD
7 4 (11.11%) Customer Requirements
7 4 (11.11%) Data Governance
7 4 (11.11%) Machine Learning
7 4 (11.11%) Observability
7 4 (11.11%) Release Management
7 4 (11.11%) Software Engineering
7 4 (11.11%) Test Automation
7 4 (11.11%) Use Case
8 3 (8.33%) Agile
9 2 (5.56%) Business Strategy
9 2 (5.56%) Product Strategy
Programming Languages
1 1 (2.78%) C#
1 1 (2.78%) JavaScript
Qualifications
1 1 (2.78%) Degree
1 1 (2.78%) Master's Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 4 (11.11%) GDPR
1 4 (11.11%) SOC 2
2 1 (2.78%) QA