The CIO mandate has changed. Has hiring kept pace?  

The CIO role has changed considerably over the past decade. But have the criteria organisations use to appoint technology leaders kept pace? 

CIOs are increasingly expected to shape business strategy, influence executive decisions and deliver measurable commercial value. Yet many organisations continue to approach CIO appointments with mandates that don’t fully reflect these expectations. 

Our analysis of ten years of CIO job descriptions, alongside insights from our executive search mandates, reveals the extent of this shift and what it means for boards and investors appointing their next technology leader. 

63%: CIOs now report directly to the CEO

A decade ago, the figure was 38%. The rise in direct CEO reporting is one of the clearest indicators of technology’s move from a functional concern to an enterprise priority. 

But greater executive visibility brings different expectations. 

Today’s CIO needs to contribute to decisions around growth, investment, risk and transformation, not simply technology. They must be able to challenge executive peers, influence business priorities and demonstrate how technology investment translates into commercial outcomes. 

However, reporting to the CEO does not automatically translate into greater strategic influence. Organisations can elevate the CIO’s position without fundamentally changing their mandate or decision-making authority. 

For boards, the question is not simply where the CIO sits, but what they are expected to influence and whether they have the authority to deliver. 

40% to 18%: Technology operations are becoming a smaller part of the mandate

Our analysis of ten years of CIO job descriptions reveals a significant shift in responsibilities: 

• Technology operations have fallen from 40% to 18%. 
• Strategy and business responsibilities have increased from 25% to 37%. 
• Risk and resilience have doubled from 10% to 20%. 

Cloud adoption, managed services and automation have changed how technology functions operate. At the same time, digital transformation, cybersecurity, AI and data have become increasingly central to business performance. 

This doesn’t mean operational excellence is less important. CIOs remain accountable for secure, resilient and effective technology environments, but are now expected to deliver this alongside broader strategic priorities. 

Crucially, the balance will differ between organisations. Some need a CIO to stabilise legacy systems and improve operational performance. Others need someone to accelerate transformation, support growth or create competitive advantage. 

There is no universal CIO profile. The right appointment depends on what the business needs technology to achieve. 

90%: Executive judgement is now a defining requirement

In 90% of our 2025 CIO search mandates, executive judgement was identified as an essential requirement, alongside the ability to navigate ambiguity, influence stakeholders and evaluate competing priorities. 

That tells us something important about how CIOs should now be assessed. Technical expertise and delivery experience remain important, but they don’t necessarily demonstrate how someone will approach complex decisions where commercial, operational and technological priorities compete and where, often, there are no straightforward answers. 

For boards, this means looking beyond what candidates have delivered to understand how they think, the trade-offs they’ve managed and the judgement they’ve demonstrated. 

The strongest CIO appointments require more than matching technical credentials to a job description. They depend on understanding how candidates have exercised judgement, navigated competing priorities and delivered outcomes in environments comparable to the one they’re being hired into. 

71%: Digital success depends on business and technology alignment

Gartner reports that 71% of digital initiatives succeed when led by highly engaged and commercially minded CIOs, particularly in so-called digital vanguard organisations. 

The important distinction is not simply between a technical and a commercial CIO. It is between a technology leader who operates as part of the business and one who remains confined to the function. 

When CIOs understand the commercial context, influence their executive peers and connect technology investment to measurable business outcomes, their impact extends well beyond the performance of the technology function itself. 

63%: the share of PE investors who cite digital maturity as a value-creation lever

Within private equity, 63% of investors identify digital maturity as a key value-creation lever in the first 24 months after investment, while CIOs in PE-backed businesses are typically expected to demonstrate time-to-value within 12 to 18 months, compared with 24 to 36 months in listed enterprises. 

That changes the profile required. A CIO entering a PE-backed business needs to diagnose quickly, prioritise ruthlessly and distinguish between technology investment that creates value and investment that can wait. 

The cost of an imprecise mandate is therefore particularly high. There is little room to spend the first year working out what the role was hired to achieve. 

What these figures mean for defining the CIO mandate

Taken together, these findings highlight a fundamental change in what organisations should expect from their technology leaders. 

The CIO role has moved closer to the CEO, away from day-to-day operations and towards strategy, risk and business performance. At the same time, CIOs are being asked to make more consequential decisions, often with incomplete information and, in some environments, within increasingly compressed timeframes. 

The risk for organisations is defining their next CIO appointment around what the role has historically required, rather than what the business needs from technology leadership in the years ahead. 

The starting point should instead be the business strategy. What does the organisation need technology to achieve over the next three to five years? Where will the biggest decisions and trade-offs sit? What does success look like, and what kind of leader is equipped to deliver it? 

The CIO mandate should follow from those answers. 

Our whitepaper, The Changing Face of the CIO, explores the full picture, including 10 years of job description data, the capabilities defining high-impact CIOs in 2026 and guidance on matching the right technology leadership model to your business type and stage.