What Does a CTO Do? The 5 Types of Chief Technology Officer Explained

Signal Boost: “Chandelier”, Sia
Because sometimes, holding the vision, the codebase, the hiring plan, the technical debt, and the architecture all together feels like swinging from the ceiling.

Five Role Profiles, One Acronym

You walk into five different organisations. You meet five different CTOs.

One is sketching service diagrams on a whiteboard. One’s leading an exec offsite. One’s in a hoodie fixing a failing deploy. One’s prepping for a board meeting. One’s never been seen in the wild.

All of them? Chief Technology Officers.

“CTO” is one of the most shapeshifting titles in modern business. Depending on the context, a CTO could be your tech visionary, your scale enabler, or your hands-on fixer.

So what does a CTO actually do?

It depends on the sector, the stage, and the strategy of the organisation they serve.

Out of all the C-suite roles, the one I find myself most aligned with, based on my background and experience, is the Chief Technology Officer. I’ve been reflecting on what that role really means in different contexts, and as part of that exploration, I pulled together the following thoughts. (No recruiters, please!)

What Does a CTO Own?

At its heart, the Chief Technology Officer is accountable for the technology architecture, engineering capability, and technical strategy of the organisation.

But how that plays out can vary massively.

Core domains of a CTO’s role:

• Architecture: owns the shape and scalability of the tech estate
• Engineering: responsible for dev practices, tooling, and delivery flow
• Strategy: aligns tech decisions to business outcomes and market evolution
• Culture: sets the tone for craftsmanship, quality, and technical leadership

That’s the foundation. Now let’s look at the flavours.

The 5 Types of CTO (And Where They Belong)

1. The Startup CTO (a.k.a. The Builder)

• Often a co-founder or first engineer
• Codes daily, chooses the stack, sets the tech culture from scratch
• Balances MVP thinking with long-term scale risks

Works best in: Pre-seed to Series A startups, technical founding teams
Biggest risk: Holding too tightly as the team scales

2. The Product CTO

• Deeply embedded in product development and UX strategy
• Works closely with CPO or Head of Product
• Often owns product engineering and customer facing tech

Works best in: SaaS, platform, or scale-up environments
Biggest risk: Underinvesting in internal systems and infrastructure

3. The Engineering CTO

• Focused on team performance, velocity, and developer experience
• Obsesses over hiring, code quality, and dev tooling
• May have been a VP Engineering or Head of DevOps

Works best in: Mature engineering orgs needing stability and throughput
Biggest risk: Losing strategic voice at exec level

4. The Enterprise CTO

• Owns large-scale architecture, integration, and resilience
• Works alongside CIO and COO
• Often leads platform modernisation and cloud strategy

Works best in: Regulated, multi-layered orgs (like financial services)
Biggest risk: Getting trapped in governance without shaping direction

5. The Advisory CTO

• Tech visionary or external expert
• Influences strategy, often without line management
• May advise the board, or be part-time/fractional

Works best in: Private Equity/Venture Capitalist backed firms, along with boards, consultancies, and public sector organisations
Biggest risk: Drifting into theory without impact

A Fractional What Now?

A fractional CTO is a senior technology leader who works with an organisation on a part-time or retainer basis, often as little as a day a week, to provide strategic input, oversight, and leadership without being on payroll full-time.

They're different from:

• A contractor, who’s usually focused on hands-on delivery within a defined scope
• An interim CTO, who steps in full-time to cover a vacancy or drive a turnaround

A fractional CTO is more like a trusted advisor who embeds within the organisation to help founders or execs make big tech decisions, shape a hiring plan, evaluate vendors, or prepare for scale or investment.

They’re especially valuable for:

• Startups that need senior expertise but can’t afford a full-time CTO yet
• Scale-ups going through funding rounds or technical audits
• Non-tech organisations launching digital products but lacking internal leadership

The benefit? You get experienced leadership without long-term commitment, helping you avoid early missteps while keeping your burn rate in check.

The CTO Type Matrix

CTO vs CIO: What’s the Real Difference?

In large orgs, they’re partners. In smaller ones, the CTO often wears both hats — until they can’t anymore.

Transitioning As the Company Grows

One of the biggest challenges isn’t becoming a CTO, it’s staying one.

Many Startup CTOs eventually face a decision:

• Grow into the exec leader the company needs
• Shift into a narrower technical role (e.g. Head of Engineering or Architect)
• Step away to become an advisor or fractional CTO elsewhere

Knowing your natural shape as a CTO, and being honest about where you thrive, is what matters more than chasing the title.

What Makes a Great CTO?

It’s not just technical depth. The best CTOs:

• Understand the business model
• Translate complexity without dumbing down
• Balance short-term pressure with long-term integrity
• Create environments where engineers thrive
• Know when to speak, and when to shield

They’re not the smartest in the room, but they build the room where smart people thrive.

What It All Comes Down To

The CTO title might be three simple letters, but it covers a spectrum of roles, responsibilities and realities. From product builder to architecture steward, from founder to advisor, the CTO adapts to the shape and scale of the organisation around them.

This post rounds out our C-suite series:

• We began by rethinking the CEO as Chief Vision Officer
• Then explored the inner workings of the CIO, CTO, and COO as a delivery engine for the organisation
• And we examined the evolving influence of Chief Data and Chief Digital Officers
• Now we’ve peeled back the label on the CTO role itself — and why clarity matters more than job titles

Great tech leadership isn’t about picking the right stack. It’s about understanding who you are, what your business needs, and how to close the gap between the two.