C-Suite Job Titles: What Do They Really Mean?

What is the C-suite?

The C-suite (“chief” suite) is a term used to describe an organization’s top senior executives. These high-ranking employees are in charge of big-picture thinking for various departments. For decades, aspiring to the C-suite meant working toward half a dozen jobs; however, over the past several years, new titles have emerged as tech companies — and countless startups — began sprouting up.

Traditional C-suite roles

A company’s number of C-level positions depends on several factors, like its size, industry and mission. At the very least, most companies have about seven primary titles. 

Here’s a breakdown of these traditional C-suite roles.

CEO

The CEO is the highest-ranking C-suite member and acts as the face of the organization. They can have various leadership styles but typically consult other C-suite members before making major business decisions.

CFO

The CFO works closely with the CEO and oversees the organization’s finances and financial accounting. They help the organization weigh the financial benefits and risks of potential opportunities. All members of the finance team and accounting department ultimately report to the CFO.

COO

The COO is typically the second in command (after the CEO) and focuses on business operations and human resources (HR)-related functions. The COO oversees operations relating to recruitment, employee training, payroll, compliance and administration.

Chief marketing officer (CMO)

The CMO serves as the head of the marketing department. They set organizational marketing goals, create marketing plans and oversee marketing operations relating to advertising, branding and public relations.

Chief information officer (CIO)

The CIO leads the organization in information technology (IT). In addition to possessing leadership and business skills, this executive has technical skills, such as coding, programming and project management.

Chief HR officer (CHRO)

The CHRO is similar to the COO. However, their focus is directly on HR management and culture initiatives instead of overall business operations. Smaller organizations may need only a COO while larger organizations tend to have both.

General counsel (GC)

The GC, also known as a chief counsel or chief legal officer, is a corporate attorney who heads up all the organization’s legal matters, including business lawsuits.

Modern-day C-suite roles

As technology, customer service and sustainability gained vital importance in business, leaders saw a need to create additional C-level positions to manage these functions. Designating someone to one of these C-suite positions shows employees, customers, vendors and investors that the company considers that particular area to be of the utmost importance. 

Here are some of today’s popular modern C-suite roles. 

Chief data officer

The chief data officer is responsible for overseeing data-related business functions, including data management, data quality, data strategy, data analytics and business intelligence. They use the data as an asset to draw valuable business insights.

Chief technology officer (CTO)

A CTO, not to be confused with the CIO, is responsible for managing an organization’s technology solutions. They help solve technology-related problems and implement new tech solutions to help the organization move forward.

Chief product officer (CPO)

The CPO, also known as the head of product or vice president of product, oversees any product-related business activity, including product creation, product labeling, product launches and product quality. They are responsible for ensuring the organization creates a valuable product for consumers and the business.

Chief analytics officer (CAO)

The CAO is similar to the CDO in that they are responsible for collecting and analyzing business data. Although the CDO is primarily responsible for driving value from data and the CAO is responsible for driving insights from data, the two positions are sometimes merged to create the chief data analytics officer.

Chief design officer

Although the chief design officer may share an initialism with the chief data officer, the two serve very different purposes. The chief design officer is responsible for overseeing any innovation or design aspects of an organization’s product or service.

Chief experience officer (CXO)

The CXO, also known as the customer experience officer, focuses on that — a great customer experience. Their responsibility is to ensure that the organization’s consumers have a good experience with the products or services offered.

Chief sustainability officer (CSO)

The CSO is responsible for overseeing an organization’s environmental programs and sustainable business model. They analyze the business’s current processes and create strategies to improve their sustainability and long-term impact.

Chief relationship officer (CRO)

The CRO is responsible for high-level relationships with strategic partners, sales channel partners and business development organizations. This person ensures the company’s values and vision are expressed properly in these vital relationships and oversees related sales and revenue-producing activities across the company.

Chief happiness officer (CHO)

Businesses that want to improve employee retention are employing CHOs. These executives focus on ensuring that employees are happy and satisfied. [Related article: How Companies Can Change Their Culture to Attract (and Retain) Millennials]

Kraig Kleeman, founder and CEO of CEO Branding Worldwide, explained, “This shows that the company cares about the well-being of its employees. With so much focus today on mental health, work-life balance and employee satisfaction, there is a lot to be said for a member of senior management whose primary responsibility is to ensure employee satisfaction. This communicates to employees and outsiders that the company invests in its people, not just its products.” 

Why C-suite job titles need to adapt

A rigid corporate infrastructure can stifle a modern, growing company. In contrast, letting C-suite job functions evolve keeps organizations agile and ready to pivot to emerging trends. 

Here are a few reasons why C-suite job titles must adapt.

1. Big-picture thinking is bigger than the CEO.

Big-picture thinking was once limited to the CEO. Today, this is no longer the case. A strong leadership team that understands the fundamentals of business along with niche specialties can work together to lead an organization into the future. 

For example, CFOs are no longer just about number-crunching; they must be true company strategists. CMOs handle more than marketing initiatives. They have input into innovation, product development, sales and marketing across multiple platforms. 

2. The future of corporate structure looks flatter.

In 2015, American entrepreneur Brian Robertson saw a need to eliminate middle management from his Philadelphia-based software startup. It was an idea that spread across Silicon Valley — and the world — to become known as holacracy, a self-management system that distributes power among employees and teams. 

The most famous example of this theory in action is Zappos. Other examples include video game company Valve and book subscription firm Blinkist. Online platform Medium ran with a holacratic system until 2016, when it opted for a structure that included a blend of management systems.  

Whether or not companies embrace holacracy, many are open to hybrid management systems and new trends that won’t work with a rigid corporate structure. 

3. Businesses need thought leaders to direct growth.

According to research from PwC, over 77 percent of CEOs say creative thinking is the most important leadership quality. However, a rigid C-suite doesn’t foster the necessary creativity and innovation a growing company needs. Expanding C-suite job titles and functions helps attract the out-of-the-box thinkers and new perspectives companies need to stay ahead of industry trends and business innovations.  

Creative C-suite titles may attract ambitious free-thinkers eager to enact change and grow their careers. 

4. The customers’ needs are taking center stage.

Newer C-suite titles are tailored to customer needs. For example, CXOs aim to create an ideal customer experience and CPOs focus on product elements that will best appeal to a target audience. Even traditional C-suite titles are keeping customers’ needs top of mind. For example, CMOs create marketing strategies designed to appeal to target audiences. 

C-suite jobs evolve to meet trends and consumer demands 

Modern-day C-suite roles attract creative, dynamic executive team members and fill needs that ultimately benefit customers. As business and industry trends appear, expect more C-suite job titles to crop up and traditional roles to expand.

However, Steve Taplin, CEO of Sonatafy Technology, cautioned, “At the end of the day, it’s not the title that makes a great leader — it’s the impact they have on their team and the business. Whether you’re called CEO, chief innovation officer or chief people officer, what truly matters is how effectively you lead, inspire and drive results. Too much emphasis on creative titles can be distracting and even unhelpful. The best leaders focus on building a strong culture, aligning teams and achieving goals — not on how their title is perceived. Leadership is about action, not labels.”

 Jennifer Dublino contributed to this article.