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How the CTO role is changing from 2025 onwards
5 min readNov 27, 2024
The CTO role confusion
Right now the CTO role is in a deep state of confusion. Here’s what many companies think counts as CTO:
- Software Engineers who are part of the founding team of a startup
- Software Engineers or developers who are leading a team of engineers or developers (often in a company that’s growing beyond 20 people)
- Solutions Architects with a lead on a particular industry are often labelled as CTOs, especially in larger companies
- Software Architects are also often labelled as CTOs, especially in medium to large companies
- Senior Scientists who were often an early member of staff or founder of a tech mixed with science company (like biotech for example) are also often called CTO or more rarely, CSO (Chief Scientific Officer).
The CTO role is going trough transition
What the CTO role has been
In the past we had businesses who had a bit of technology in the corner, but these days every business is a technology business.
Traditionally, the CTO was seen by the CEO and board as a “Chief Technologist” (in the UK, they were sometimes called “Technical Director”, CTO came later…
