CTO: skills & capabilities the market requires

Based on 710 real CTO job postings, here is what companies actually require for this role today: the capabilities that define it, the hard skills named most often, the scope expected, typical experience and pay. The market leans hardest on Technical Depth (74%) and Strategic Leadership (70%).

Open the interactive Skill Check to filter by country, industry and company size.

Core capabilities for a CTO

Technical Depth — required in 74% of postings
Strategic Leadership — required in 70% of postings
People Leadership — required in 34% of postings
Risk, Security & Compliance — required in 33% of postings
Executive Communication — required in 32% of postings
Cross-functional Leadership — required in 32% of postings
Change & Transformation — required in 27% of postings

Most-required hard skills

Technology Strategy
Product Development
Cloud Infrastructure
Software Architecture
Cloud Architecture
Enterprise Architecture
Software Engineering

Leadership & soft skills

Strategic Thinking
Cross-Functional Collaboration
Leadership
Stakeholder Management

Scope, experience & pay

CTO roles expect deal / M&A experience in 2% of postings, IPO or capital markets in 2%, and transformation in 38%. Typical stated experience: 10 years. Pay signal from postings (base): $200K–$239K.

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