The chief technology officer has emerged as a key player in the C-suite, as digital transformations become high strategic priorities for so many organizations. CTOs are responsible for translating the wishes, visions, and ideas of the company’s upper management into the realm of technology. In other words, a CTO is a go-to guy for the other leaders when they have technical issues like “how can we accomplish this? Providing technical leadership at the enterprise level and serving an integral role in operations and business development. They will own the procurement of both technologies and technology services and manage large-vendor relationships.

In this article, we discuss how to create a chief technology officer resume and share an example to help you write your own. Your experience includes executive leadership roles demonstrating a track record of technology innovation, design, development, and implementation. While the title chief technology officer has been around for decades, its definition has varied over time and across industries and types of organizations. In our experience, as the role was originally conceived, the CTO provided a single “buck stops here” point of view on the technology trends, policies, and procedures critical to developing or enhancing a company’s products and services. A chief technology officer is the highest technology executive position within a company and leads the technology or engineering department.

CTO role and key responsibilities

They will wear multiple hats and will require the hands-on experience of a range of skills including development, DevOps, risk, governance, and security. The most important role a CTO has is to use technology to generate value for a company and help it achieve its business objectives. At their core, they must develop a technology vision and strategy that will allow the company to thrive and build a solid competitive advantage.

Serving as Chief Information Officer of Global Portfolio Solutions at Carlyle since 2021, she advises CIOs across the firm’s global portfolio on implementing technology strategies to grow and optimize their businesses. Soares brings a wealth of experience in the technology industry and a proven track record of driving digital transformation and innovation, including previously serving in a variety of executive roles at Johnson & Johnson. In this article, we do not take a position on how these two roles should be distinguished from each other. Instead, we take the view that any large product-based company today must have someone at a CXO level who is explicitly responsible for understanding how emerging technologies will affect its customers and products.

Duties & Responsibilities 9

Both positions focus on the engineering, implementation, development and management of technology. However, the key difference is that the CIO role typically involves internal operations, while the CTO role focuses on external processes. A chief technology officer is the executive in charge of an organization’s technological needs as well as its research and development (R&D). Also known as a chief technical https://www.globalcloudteam.com/ officer, this individual examines the short- and long-term needs of an organization and utilizes capital to make investments designed to help the organization reach its objectives. The CTO usually reports directly to a company’s chief information officer , but may also report to the chief executive officer of the firm. Soares has over 25 years of experience in strategic technology leadership roles.

In organizations that have both a CIO and CTO, the CTO is typically the role with more technical knowledge and expertise and that reports to the CIO, while the CIO is responsible for designing and recommending the appropriate technology. They are typically in charge of discovering and analyzing how technology processes affect the business, as well as identifying potential areas of improvement. Researching and evaluating existing and emerging technologies, products and services. Monitor social and technology trends that could influence the company’s business goals.

Chief Technology Officer Overview

The size, type, and maturity of a company can have a huge influence on the role of the CTO. As businesses look for efficiencies, the role of Robotic Process Automation and other process digitization has become a core and influential part of business IT. So as well as being an expert technologist, they are the external face of the technology offering. However, a lot of businesses fail to understand the CTO role, and it is often the least defined role in the C-Suite.

• The Chief Technology Officer is in charge of running the entire engineering department.
• Overseeing and monitoring Key Performance Indicators of employee productivity, processes, tools, and overall product delivery.
• You must have a good knowledge of the latest clean technologies, low-cost, and green materials.
• Companies can often uncover new, transformative opportunities by finding the ideas that fall between the cracks in the organization and scaling new initiatives so that every business unit benefits.
• The Chief Technology Officer will also need great communication skills in drafting reports and recommendation for the executive committee as well as key stakeholders advising on technological aspects across the business.

For decades businesses have depended on enterprise core systems to run and operate their businesses. CTOs need to evangelise technology in order to inspire people inside and outside the company and drive change where necessary. This leaves the CIO to concentrate on more internally focused technology and systems.

How to become a CTO

At that time, the director of the laboratory was a corporate vice president who did not participate in the company’s corporate decisions. Instead, the technical director was the individual responsible for attracting new scientists, to do research, and to develop products. Management and leadership roles are the best steppingstones to obtaining the CTO role in an organization. The CTO title has been in use for over 10 years, but there is still confusion about the role and how it differs from the CIO. The title first developed at dot-com companies in the 1990s and then expanded to IT departments.

CTOs, on the other hand, preside over the overarching technology infrastructure. This includes developing marketable technology, suggesting new technologies to implement, interacting with external buyers and budgeting. Although a four-year or advanced degree will lay the foundation for the CTO role, future CTOs will have to work their way up the IT ranks. Individuals may need five to 10 years of experience in IT, according to Indeed.

CTO Resume Example

This top technology executive role comes with great responsibility and several duties, as it is, after all, a job that requires extensive expertise and experience. The CTO of a company or organization is the individual in charge of the overall technical vision; they orchestrate the teams behind technical solutions by leading them in projects that seek to align technology with a company’s business strategy. It is this cto roles and responsibilities facet of the business that is managed by the chief technical officer. He or she stays abreast of the latest trends in technology and studies the best ways to use this technology to increase revenue for the business. For example, this might include purchasing new computers or software that are able to process information at a faster rate, resulting in higher productivity levels and more product on the market.

“The role of the CTO continues to evolve,” says Craig Stephenson, managing director for the North America Technology Officers Practice at organizational consulting firm Korn Ferry. Solid understanding of current application development tools and practices and operating systems. Identify and implement processes and systems to facilitate the effective workflow of projects amongst various internal departments. Develop a differentiated approach to data ingestion and analysis that gives a competitive advantage and speed, including the application of sophisticated data science techniques. Oversee all stages of ideation to ingredient and product development, including formulation, validation, and commercialization. Lead the development of the Operation’s annual internal research and development portfolio and provide guidance to and management oversight of all projects.

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Additionally, Chief Technology Officer typically requires an advanced degree in Computer Science or Engineering. The Chief Technology Officer manages a business unit, division, or corporate function with major organizational impact. Establishes overall direction and strategic initiatives for the given major function or line of business.