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Chief Data Officer (CDO) jobs: 118 open roles, pay, industries and skills

118 open Chief Data Officer jobs (CDO), taken from employers’ own career sites and checked to still be open. Also listed as Chief Analytics Officer, Chief Data and Analytics Officer, Head of Data. Listings that state pay show a median of $230,500 a year.

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The market for Chief Data Officer work

Every figure is counted from verified open listings. Pay is what the employer advertises for the job.

Verified open Chief Data Officer jobs
118

Source: NextChapter, checked against employer career sites, last 7 days.

See the detail →
Median pay in listings that state it
$230,500

Source: NextChapter verified openings.

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State with the most openings
New York (26)

Source: NextChapter verified openings.

Industry hiring the most
Technology & Software (39%)

Source: NextChapter verified openings.

Listings that are remote
46%

Source: NextChapter verified openings.

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Listings that ask for an AI skill
74%

Source: NextChapter verified openings, read in full.

What a CDO does

C-suite role in Data & Analytics.

The company’s data: where it lives, who can use it, its quality, and the analytics and AI work built on it.

Usually reports to the CEO, CIO or CTO.

Other ways this role is written

  • CDO
  • Chief Data Officer
  • Chief Analytics Officer
  • Chief Data and Analytics Officer
  • Head of Data

Listings under any of these titles are counted on this page. Assistant, associate, manager and staff titles are not.

Open Chief Data Officer jobs

Verified against the employer’s own career site within the last week.

Showing the newest 15 of about 118 verified open jobs here. Search all jobs

Search all Chief Data Officer jobs

CDO salary

From 30 open listings that state pay. Annual, in US dollars, base pay only.

Lower quarter
$200,000
Median
$230,500
Upper quarter
$262,500

Leadership pay often includes bonus and equity that a listing does not state. Treat these figures as the floor of the conversation, not the whole package.

Best industries for CDO jobs

Employers hiring the most, as a share of listings whose employer has a known industry. Median pay shown where at least 8 listings state it.

Where CDO jobs are

States with the most open listings; median pay where at least 8 listings state it.

Skills CDO jobs ask for

Named in the listings themselves, as a share of 32 Chief Data Officer listings that name skills. Leadership listings name fewer skills than individual-contributor ones, so this is a signal, not a checklist.

Most named in CDO listings

  1. 1. machine learning53%
  2. 2. python25%
  3. 3. sql25%
  4. 4. snowflake25%
  5. 5. databricks19%
  6. 6. aws16%
  7. 7. audit16%
  8. 8. azure13%
  9. 9. supply chain13%
  10. 10. onboarding13%

Across all Data & Analytics openings

  1. 1. machine learning10%
  2. 2. python9%
  3. 3. sql8%
  4. 4. aws4%
  5. 5. azure3%
  6. 6. etl3%
  7. 7. databricks3%
  8. 8. power bi3%
  9. 9. snowflake3%
  10. 10. excel2%

AI skills for CDO jobs

Specific AI skills named in the full posting text, such as prompt engineering, AI governance or an AI tool. A general mention of AI does not count.

74% of 34 open Chief Data Officer listings ask for a specific AI skill, against 27% of all Data & Analytics openings.

AI skills named most often

  1. 1. AI strategy and use cases29%
  2. 2. AI adoption and change management26%
  3. 3. Responsible AI18%
  4. 4. AI governance and risk18%
  5. 5. MLOps15%
  6. 6. LLM application engineering15%

Do AI skills change chief data officer pay?

For Data & Analytics roles in general, as of November 9, 2026. This is the function’s figure, not one for chief data officer alone: one title rarely has enough listings on both sides.

Among Data & Analytics listings, those that ask for an AI skill advertise +43.6% (about $60.5k) compared with similar listings that do not, matched on level and industry.

Listings that ask for an AI skill
$207,500
median, from 2,325 paid listings
Listings that never mention AI
$135,000
median, from 343 paid listings

Advertised pay only: the midpoint of the range an employer posted, on live U.S. postings read from the full text. “Asks for an AI skill” means the posting names a specific AI skill; “no AI” means it never mentions AI. A difference in what is advertised is not a promise of what you would be paid, and it does not show that learning a skill causes a raise.

See the AI-skill pay table for every function · Check your own pay against these listings

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The Data & Analytics ladder

The same function at other levels: where this role comes from and where it leads.

All Data & Analytics jobs

Employers hiring for CDO roles

  • Confidential 4
  • RentSpree 3
  • Veeva Systems 3
  • Focal Systems 2
  • Bay FC 2
  • JPMorgan Chase 2
  • Mars 2
  • Alta Resource Technologies 2
  • Kroll Bond Rating Agency 2
  • Atlassian 2
  • Socure 2
  • Manifest o.s. 2

Recruiters who place CDO roles

Search firms with live public searches in Data & Analytics, counted from their own job postings, not self-described. Few firms have two searches at this level, so firms with three at the level below follow.

  • JRG Partners

    7 live public searches in Data & Analytics at this level

  • Harnham Inc.

    13 live public searches in Data & Analytics one level below

  • Brio

    3 live public searches in Data & Analytics one level below

All Data & Analytics search firms

Conferences for CDO leaders

Events tagged for Data & Analytics, with dates, cost and how to speak.

Showing 6 of 60 conferences, 60 with dates announced.

All conferences

Training for CDO leaders

AI and Data & Analytics courses from named providers, with cost shown.

All 4 Data & Analytics courses

Podcasts and media CDO leaders follow

Hand-picked, each checked to be live. Links go to the publisher.

  • Data Engineering Podcast

    Podcast · Tobias Macey

    Interviews on data pipelines, platforms and tooling.

  • Super Data Science

    Podcast · Jon Krohn

    Interviews on machine learning, AI and data careers.

  • The Analytics Power Hour

    Podcast · Michael, Tim, Moe and co-hosts

    A discussion show on analytics practice and the work of analysts.

  • Practical AI

    Podcast · Daniel Whitenack and Chris Benson

    Episodes on applying AI and machine learning in real projects.

  • Data Skeptic

    Podcast · Kyle Polich

    Interviews on data science, machine learning and statistics.

CDO questions

What does a CDO do?
The company’s data: where it lives, who can use it, its quality, and the analytics and AI work built on it. Usually reports to the CEO, CIO or CTO.
What does CDO stand for?
CDO stands for Chief Data Officer. The same job is also written Chief Analytics Officer, Chief Data and Analytics Officer, Head of Data.
How many CDO jobs are open?
118 verified open Chief Data Officer jobs, each checked against the employer’s own career site within the last week.
How much does a CDO make?
Among 30 open Chief Data Officer listings that state pay, the median is $230,500 a year, and half of listings fall between $200,000 and $262,500. This is pay the employer advertises for the job, not total compensation such as bonus or equity.
Where are CDO jobs?
New York (26), California (19), New Jersey (6), Florida (5) have the most open Chief Data Officer listings. About 46% of listings that state a work arrangement are remote.
Which state pays a CDO the most?
Of the states with enough listings that state pay, California has the highest median at $265,500.
Which industries hire for CDO roles?
Technology & Software (39%), Financial Services & Banking (22%), Healthcare & Hospital Systems (11%), Professional Services & Consulting (6%), as a share of listings whose employer has a known industry.
What skills do CDO jobs ask for?
The skills named most often in open Chief Data Officer listings are machine learning, python, sql, snowflake, databricks.
Do CDO jobs ask for AI skills?
74% of 34 open Chief Data Officer listings read in full name a specific AI skill. The most common is AI strategy and use cases.

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