Post job

Engineering director vs chief technology officer

The differences between engineering directors and chief technology officers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes More than 10 years to become both an engineering director and a chief technology officer. Additionally, a chief technology officer has an average salary of $172,989, which is higher than the $162,252 average annual salary of an engineering director.

The top three skills for an engineering director include java, architecture and infrastructure. The most important skills for a chief technology officer are infrastructure, cloud, and architecture.

Engineering director vs chief technology officer overview

Engineering DirectorChief Technology Officer
Yearly salary$162,252$172,989
Hourly rate$78.01$83.17
Growth rate2%6%
Number of jobs63,868124,289
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 67%Bachelor's Degree, 64%
Average age4852
Years of experience--

What does an engineering director do?

An engineering director or director of engineering is an individual who manages a team of engineering managers and coordinates all the engineering activities within the organization. Engineering directors work closely with the organization's executives to develop new strategies to reduce unnecessary costs and time to complete their projects. They must understand and interpret complex sets of data such as profits, losses, or value of liabilities to identify problems and come up with solutions. Engineering directors must also ensure that safety protocols are implemented in the workforce.

What does a chief technology officer do?

The job of chief technology officers (CTOs) is to oversee the technological needs and research and development of an organization. The CTOs, who are like chief information officers, make decisions for a company's technology infrastructure that aligns with the organization's business goals. They must ensure that they are updated on new and existing technologies for them to guide the company's future endeavors. Other responsibilities include fixing issues related to information technology, developing and managing the company's technological resources, and participating in management decisions on corporate governance.

Engineering director vs chief technology officer salary

Engineering directors and chief technology officers have different pay scales, as shown below.

Engineering DirectorChief Technology Officer
Average salary$162,252$172,989
Salary rangeBetween $109,000 And $239,000Between $105,000 And $284,000
Highest paying CitySan Francisco, CASeattle, WA
Highest paying stateCaliforniaHawaii
Best paying companyBrookfield PropertiesInPhonex
Best paying industryTechnologyTelecommunication

Differences between engineering director and chief technology officer education

There are a few differences between an engineering director and a chief technology officer in terms of educational background:

Engineering DirectorChief Technology Officer
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 67%Bachelor's Degree, 64%
Most common majorElectrical EngineeringComputer Science
Most common collegeUniversity of Michigan - Ann ArborUniversity of Pennsylvania

Engineering director vs chief technology officer demographics

Here are the differences between engineering directors' and chief technology officers' demographics:

Engineering DirectorChief Technology Officer
Average age4852
Gender ratioMale, 94.6% Female, 5.4%Male, 91.6% Female, 8.4%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 3.2% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 9.1% Asian, 13.1% White, 69.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%Black or African American, 3.8% Unknown, 3.9% Hispanic or Latino, 7.9% Asian, 7.7% White, 76.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.6%
LGBT Percentage9%12%

Differences between engineering director and chief technology officer duties and responsibilities

Engineering director example responsibilities.

  • Monitor and manage performance base on multiple KPI's.
  • Manage all FCC filings for the registration of license frequencies.
  • Improve network reliability and manage signal leakage and FCC compliance.
  • Lead implementation and remediation efforts to ensure HIPPA, SOX, and PCI compliance.
  • Manage a team to develop and support SaaS base access control product for health care industry.
  • Manage release and deployments for multiple, concurrent Java project across varying release cycles from inception to delivery.
  • Show more

Chief technology officer example responsibilities.

  • Implement, manage and customize Salesforce, a CRM system, allowing the company to convert sales leads into opportunities.
  • Manage windows and linux servers.
  • Manage patches and security on windows and RHEL/CentOS systems.
  • Develop and manage a complete network solution featuring EMC, Cisco and VmWare solutions.
  • Design, manage, and analyze PPC, SEO, strategies for internet marketing.
  • Manage computer operations, end-user computing, PC support, network systems and voice telecommunication systems.
  • Show more

Engineering director vs chief technology officer skills

Common engineering director skills
  • Java, 7%
  • Architecture, 7%
  • Infrastructure, 6%
  • AWS, 5%
  • Project Management, 5%
  • Customer Service, 4%
Common chief technology officer skills
  • Infrastructure, 8%
  • Cloud, 7%
  • Architecture, 7%
  • Python, 6%
  • Java, 5%
  • C++, 5%

Browse executive management jobs