What it takes to land a CIO gig in 2024

The personal traits that define high-demand IT leaders

As noted, CIO salary ranges depend largely on years of experience, industry experience and geographic market. But certain proven traits and accomplishments also help. Skills in leadership and collaboration, and the ability to inspire and motivate teams, foster collaboration, and build a strong company culture are among the key traits that are winning out over deep technical aptitude today, Licciardello says.

It also doesn’t hurt to have a degree from a top-tier university or graduate school. That can be a differentiator in this space, especially in highly competitive environments, Licciardello explains.

“For traditional companies, I think you will see a more balanced skillset,” Licciardello notes. “A combination of tech expertise and business acumen is crucial for understanding the needs of both the IT department and the broader organization. Someone who has vision and the ability to develop and execute a long-term technology strategy aligned with the company’s overall business goals is key.”

In terms of softer skills, strong communication, negotiation, and decision-making skills are essential for navigating the C-suite and influencing key stakeholders, Licciardello says, adding that the ability to build and maintain high-performing teams is also in demand.

Armed with these skills and traits, Licciardello recommends that newly-hired CIOs always do the ‘listening and learning tour.’

“Listen to what’s going well, and what’s not going so well,” Licciardello advises. “Ask questions. Ask for rationale on why something was done the way it was. I see many new hires assume things were done wrong without understanding the context or rationale behind the action. There is no better way to sour relationships in a new company if you make too many early or untested assumptions.”

One recently hired CIO that conducted the ‘listening and learning tour’ at her organization is Sandy Venugopal, at SentinelOne. Named CIO in April 2023, Venugopal says she especially enjoyed “getting to know the team, meeting some of our customers, and hearing about their experience with our product. Equally noteworthy has been learning about the exciting product roadmap that we have, and working with our new leaders and partners in marketing and sales.”

Key differentiator: A strong background in strategic actions and decisions

What Venugopal believes helped her stand out for this new role is her experience working at growth companies. Having an understanding of the challenges that fast growth can bring to processes, infrastructure, and applications not only helped Venugopal land the job, but also proved instrumental in her first months in the role.

“Having built and delivered strategies to scale the processes, systems, and teams to support international customers, expansion of product and services, and building out a global team are experiences I’ve drawn on for this role,” Venugopal explains. 

Her first nine months in the role have also served as “a reiteration of lessons I’ve learned,” including: 

• Understanding that passionate and talented employees are your No. 1 asset
• Having a clear vision that is well understood by the team will enable them to execute much more effectively 
• Having a culture that fosters and encourages strong collaboration — especially across various departments and time zones — is critical to success 

Beyond the mission set for her by SentinelOne, Venugopal has set a personal goal to “dig much deeper into the cybersecurity industry and learn about all the nuances, challenges, and opportunities in this space. I’m also excited to learn more about two regions where SentinelOne has a growing workforce: Prague and Costa Rica.” 

As to advice for landing a new CIO gig or earning that CIO promotion, Venugopal says “building your network and focusing on industries that you are passionate about and experienced in will be critical.”

“Building that muscle and incorporating it into your overall strategy — in addition to productivity, enablement, innovation, and efficiency — will be a key to success in landing and delivering in this role,” she says.

Licciardello concurs. Offering advice to those seeking new CIO roles, he says “being well balanced in the technology stack is important. When you have come up the ranks as a technologist and are exposed to operations, infrastructure, development, portfolio management, business analysis, data management, and cybersecurity — especially if you then lead all these teams — it creates a level of understanding of how all these parts and departments work together.”

Demonstrating to potential employers that “you can guide, mentor, and lead effectively with that level of experience and exposure” is critical in landing a CIO role today, Licciardello says.