Definition
The chief technology officer (CTO) is the executive in charge of a company’s technology strategy and engineering organization, setting the technical direction and leading the R&D team that builds the product, usually reporting to the CEO.
Meaning and usage
At an early-stage company the CTO often writes code and sets the architecture personally; as the company grows, the role shifts toward technology choices, team building and cross-department collaboration. The CTO differs from the CIO (chief information officer): the former faces the product and technology capability, the latter more the company’s internal systems.
Usage
The title appears in tech company launches, architecture reviews and engineering job postings. Public statements by a CTO are also read as signals of where a technology company is heading.
Related and confusable terms
The CEO runs the whole company while the CTO runs technology — a difference of scope, not of rank, since the CTO sits in the same executive team. At a ten-person startup, the CTO is often simply the technical co-founder.