How To Become A Chief Of Service: What It Is and Career Path

What is a chief of service and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

A chief of service, chief service officer, or CSO, is in charge of handling all service-related processes, products, and initiatives in a business. Their role is essential in generating the best profit margins for their company, as well as increasing customer retention and helping push the business towards new levels of growth.

The typical duties of a chief of service include designing an organization's workflow, optimizing service technology and operations, and making decisions related to vendors or suppliers. They also spearhead the implementation of new service strategies, which involves measuring results and making modifications when necessary.

The role of a chief of service requires at least a bachelor's degree, but many CSOs have master's degrees or even higher. Furthermore, a chief of services needs to have years of experience in the industry, which will give them the knowledge and expertise to develop strategies and make business decisions accordingly. Other important skills for this role are communication, collaboration, analysis, and, of course, leadership.

Just like other C-level employees, chiefs of service make six-figure salaries. On average, they earn around $110,000 per year, with the top earners taking home about $191,000 annually.

ScoreChief Of ServiceUS Average

Salary

6.5

Avg. Salary $83,278

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

9.7

Growth rate 12%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

5.5

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.88%

Asian 5.12%

Black or African American 12.94%

Hispanic or Latino 14.23%

Unknown 5.37%

White 61.46%

Gender

female 33.76%

male 66.24%

Age - 45

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 45

Stress level

9.7

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.8

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

5.0

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a chief of service

Explore chief of service education requirements

Most common chief of service degrees

Bachelor's

48.0 %

Master's

23.0 %

Associate

12.1 %

Start to develop specific chief of service skills

Skills	Percentages
Patients	14.04%
Veterans	9.58%
Rehabilitation	8.61%
Patient Care	7.82%
Oversight	7.22%

Complete relevant chief of service training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New chiefs of service learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a chief of service based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real chief of service resumes.

Research chief of service duties and responsibilities

Lead a restructuring of the office which encourage greater collaboration between subunits and eliminate redundancies.
Ensure that all OSHA require training are administered in accordance with establish standards.
Supervise and assure that all OSHA standards, and shop safety precautions are followed.
Perform leg pinning, tank isolation (LOTO), tank decommissioning/recommissioning, tank cleaning, ventilation.

Get chief of service experience

Generally, it takes 4-6 years to become a chief of service. The most common roles before becoming a chief of service include staff nurse, program manager team lead and director.

Prepare your chief of service resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your chief of service resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a chief of service resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable chief of service resume templates

Build a professional chief of service resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your chief of service resume.