Hire CTOs pre-screened for technical and cultural fit

Chief technology officers (CTOs) are vital members of research, development, and technology teams, overseeing daily development and software operations and leading software development teams and processes. Proficient CTOs can provide mentorship, share technical experience, and help acquire and manage relevant software. These professionals help businesses grow, scale, and remain top contenders in a competitive industry.

As beneficial as these experts are, it can be challenging to secure their employment. Many companies compete for the best CTOs in the business. It may also be costly, especially within a highly competitive market.

This article explains CTOs and their roles and gives insights into their salaries and the hiring process. It will also discuss Revelo's services and how we can help you hire a CTO for your organization.

What Is a CTO?

CTOs oversee and manage a company's research and development (R&D) teams and help with technological needs. They are the highest level of technology executives and often have many organizational roles, including customer relations liaison, strategic planner, and infrastructure manager. CTOs have a background in IT, with around 15 years of IT experience, and often possess degrees and certificates in business administration and computer sciences.

Though they assume more of a leadership role, it's not uncommon for CTOs to help with development. Due to their extensive knowledge and background, they can offer expertise and unique insights into development practices. In the past, CTOs assumed the chief information officer (CIO) role. However, these two roles have split, each with its own focuses and responsibilities.  

What Does a CTO Do?

The roles and responsibilities of CTOs vary across industries. There are, however, a few commonalities that CTOs share in their daily operations, including:

• Leading, overseeing, and managing technology teams across the company
• Designing and implementing technology strategies for an organization's development
• Collaborating with other team leads to ensure adherence to an organization's vision and best practices
• Monitoring hardware, software, databases, and licenses to ensure compliance
• Overseeing company systems and technology to determine when updates are needed
• Reviewing company products and systems to determine possible value to the company
• Planning out strategic business decisions and allocating resources as needed
• Staying up-to-date on digital trends and how they impact businesses
• Ensuring technological processes concerning privacy and security remain compliant with federal guidelines
• Reporting to the CIO and CEO regarding software needs, engineering success, and more
• Supervising software development and R&D teams, managing IT infrastructure, and encouraging innovation

CTO Salary

Because CTOs have extensive education and experience, hiring for this role can be expensive. According to Glassdoor, a U.S.-based mid-level CTO with four to six years of experience (in this role) makes an annual salary of $207,461.

While CTOs in Latin American countries are equally skilled, their lower cost of living means they usually earn 30% to 50% less than their counterparts, with salaries varying based on location and experience. Revelo provides a cost-effective solution while offering highly qualified, pre-vetted Latin American CTOs.

How to Write a Job Description for a CTO

Standing out with a compelling job description to persuade and attract the best talent to your company is crucial in a competitive market. Well-crafted job descriptions should clearly outline the position requirements, skills and qualifications, and information about your company's vision and goals. Below are additional areas to include in your description:

• Required qualifications: CTOs should have a bachelor's or master's degree in computer science or a related field. They should also have relevant industry experience, such as 15+ years of experience as an IT specialist.
• Desired skills: CTOs are expected to have specific technical and soft skills. These skills include experience in IT infrastructure, security, and R&D and soft skills such as business management, leadership, decision-making, communication, and more.
• Job responsibilities: Thoroughly outline the duties the position regularly requires. For a CTO, this could be anything from leading teams to helping with development processes.
• Salary and benefits: Include a salary range for the position, as well as benefits offered. A comprehensive benefits package can set your company apart, so highlighting pension plans, paid sick leave, vacation time, or flexible working hours is necessary.  
• Company information: Include a short paragraph about your company’s vision, mission, and culture, so you can both feel aligned and confident the candidate will be a good fit.

Interview Questions for CTOs

Asking the right interview questions can help you assess a candidate’s knowledge, skills, leadership style, and personality. Make sure your questions are tailored toward the specific seniority level you’re hiring for, and ask questions that revolve around a candidate’s educational background, work history, and attitude.

How would you create an IT architecture that can adjust to a constantly changing environment?

This question lets you learn more about a candidate's problem-solving, leadership, and critical-thinking skills. Candidates should be able to explain how they would use micro-services instead of monoliths and other methods to create an IT architecture that can keep up with changing environments.

Explain a time you’ve worked on a deployment pipeline and what you liked or disliked about it.

Asking this question can help determine what workflows your CTO is familiar with and comfortable with. Learning what they disliked about past deployments can also help you gauge where their skills may be lacking or areas for improvement.

Because candidates should be familiar with DevOps, it should be easy for them to talk about the features and benefits of deployment.

How do you lead your team and organization through technological issues?

This question can help further gauge a candidate’s leadership skills. A CTO must know how to lead both a team and an organization. Working within a technological field means they’ll likely encounter issues, especially regarding change. Change always requires planning, such as cost analysis and risk mitigation, so your candidates should be able to explain a time that they had to deal with these challenges and how they overcame them. 

Why Hire CTOs With Revelo?

Finding and hiring CTO talent in a competitive market can be exhausting and time-consuming. Revelo can help, so you can focus your energy on growing your business. 

Our talent marketplace is designed to help entrepreneurs and tech leaders find and hire top-notch talent from Latin America. Our dedicated team will match you with highly vetted tech talent based on your requirements. Once you’ve found an ideal hire, our team will handle the rest, including payroll processing, benefits administration, taxes, local compliance, and more.

Contact us to learn more about how to hire the best talent for your growing team.