Chief Executive Officer
Chief executive officers set the direction of an organisation and carry final responsibility for how it performs.
- Median salary*
- $182,000
3.9%vs last year, before tax
- People employed
- 63,000
1.3%vs last year
- Projected growth
- +14.1%
to 2035
- AI exposure*
- Low
- automation risk
- Average hours
- 50/wk
+10h vs all jobs
- Shortage status
- Not in shortage
national
A chief executive officer holds final responsibility for an organisation's performance, strategy and culture, and reports to a board or to the owners rather than to another executive. What separates the role from a general manager is authority: a general manager delivers within a strategy that someone else sets, while a chief executive sets that strategy and answers for the result. The work exists at every scale, from a small business with a handful of staff to a listed company with thousands, and the day to day changes a lot with that size.
How much do chief executive officers earn?
The median full-time salary for a chief executive officer is $182,000 per annum, before tax, up $37,900 since 2018.
Pay at this level moves with the size of the organisation and its sector, and a listed company, a private firm, a government agency and a charity pay on quite different scales. A large part of the package often sits in bonus and equity that vest against performance targets, so what actually lands in a given year can move around. Boards benchmark the role against comparable organisations, which is why the same title carries very different numbers.
What does a chief executive officer do day to day?
The list below is what fills most weeks; the exact mix shifts with seniority and whatever stage the current work is at.
- Setting the handful of priorities the organisation will be judged against this year, and dropping the work that doesn't serve them
- Meeting the board or the owners to report on performance and agree the next move, whether that's an acquisition, a cost cut or a change in strategy
- Deciding where capital and people go when every division makes its case for more of both
- Fronting investors, media or staff to explain a result, a setback or a change in direction
- Building routes around the reluctance of senior people to bring bad news, by asking directly and checking the numbers yourself
What skills do chief executive officers need?
Employers look for strategy development, financial analysis and modelling, risk and internal controls, backed by ERP systems (SAP, Oracle) fluency and strong people leadership.
Specialist skills
- Strategy development
- Financial analysis and modelling
- Risk and internal controls
- Project management
Software and tools
- ERP systems (SAP, Oracle)
- Business intelligence dashboards (Tableau, Power BI)
- Board management software (Diligent, Boardvantage)
- Financial forecasting tools
- Strategic planning platforms
General skills
- People leadership
- Stakeholder management
- Problem solving
- Written communication
Is the job growing?
About 63,000 people work as chief executive officers in Australia, and employment is projected to grow 14.1% over the decade to 2035. That's healthy, above-average growth, and the role should stay in solid demand.
How do you become a chief executive officer?
Here's the path most chief executive officers take, step by step.
- 1Study a degree in business, commerce, law, engineering or whatever field your industry runs on
The most common qualification held by people in the role now is a Bachelor degree, held by 32% of the current workforce, which describes the people who hold the job rather than a rule for entering it. Finance, accounting or legal training is common because the role turns on capital, risk and contracts.
- 2Build a record of running something with a budget and a team
Most chief executives are promoted from a role where they already carried profit and loss responsibility, such as a division, a region, a plant or a business unit. The results from that role are what boards examine first.
- 3Move into a senior executive job
Titles vary by organisation: chief operating officer, chief financial officer, general manager or executive director are typical. This stage is where you learn to work with a board, present to it and carry collective decisions you may disagree with.
- 4Get governance training and board exposure
The Australian Institute of Company Directors runs the Company Directors Course, and a non-executive directorship, an audit and risk committee seat or a not-for-profit board gives you governance experience before you need it at the top.
- 5Apply through executive search or an internal succession plan
Chief executive openings are usually handled by search firms or settled through internal succession, so a track record the board can see and a current network matter more than an application. Starting or buying a business is another route to the top job, usually at a smaller scale.
Ready to apply as a chief executive officer?
Whether you're working toward becoming a chief executive officer or already are one and want a hand with the next step (sharpening your resume for ATS screening, tightening your cover letter, or knowing what you'll actually be asked at interview), here are examples grounded in this specific role, not generic templates.
What jobs can a chief executive officer move to?
Moving into Construction Manager typically comes with the biggest pay rise, worth $13,100 a year more on average.
| Move to | Typical pay change | Overlap | Retraining |
|---|---|---|---|
| Construction Manager Executive leadership and project oversight carry into construction management, with retraining in building delivery and site compliance.Known move | +$13,100 | 23% | reskill |
| Policy and Planning Manager Executive governance and stakeholder experience carry into policy and planning leadership, with retraining in public sector frameworks.Known move | −$28,900 | 45% | reskill |
| General Manager The chief executive brings whole-of-organisation leadership and governance to general management, with retraining to refresh operational delivery.Known move | −$33,800 | 41% | reskill |
| Marketing Manager Executive oversight of brand and growth strategy carries into marketing management, with retraining in campaign and channel execution.Known move | −$42,800 | 31% | reskill |
| Management Consultant Strategic oversight and organisational leadership carry into management consulting, with retraining in consulting methods and client engagement.Known move | −$54,900 | 40% | reskill |
Moves are chosen from Jobs and Skills Australia's Data on Occupation Mobility, which follows income tax records between 2011-12 and 2020-21, together with entry requirements and skill overlap. A known move is one people were seen making in that data. Pay change compares median full-time pay for the two roles.
Who works as a chief executive officer?
The typical chief executive officer is 50 years old; 69% are men, 85% work full-time, and full-timers average 50 hours a week.
- 50
- Median age
- 31%
- Female share
- 85%
- Full-time
- +10h
- vs all-jobs avg
What's it like being a chief executive officer?
The rhythm of the role is long days spent setting direction rather than executing it: board papers, executive meetings and a lot of reading before either. The pressure comes from the fact that nobody above you supplies the answer, and the information you receive has been filtered by people who want your approval. It suits someone willing to carry accountability for outcomes they influence but don't personally control, and who enjoys building the team and the conditions for other people to do the work.
What people like
- You decide where the organisation goes next. Strategy is the part of the job only you can do, and it means choosing between options that all sound reasonable when their sponsors explain them.
- You see the whole organisation at once. Every function reports up through your executive team, so you get the view across sales, operations, finance and people that specialists never see.
- You build the team around you. Hiring the senior people, setting how decisions get made and shaping how the place treats its staff are all within your reach.
- The results are visible. Performance is measured across the whole organisation rather than in one team, and the wins are shared with everyone who did the work.
What people find hard
- People stop telling you the truth. Senior staff grow reluctant to bring bad news or disagree, so you have to build other channels and verify what you're told.
- The job doesn't switch off. A full-time chief executive averages about 50 hours a week, and decisions, calls and worrying about the organisation continue well outside them.
- Decisions take months to show up. You commit to a direction and often wait several quarters before the evidence arrives, by which time the market has moved as well.
- Part of the job is unavoidably public. Investor briefings, media questions and all-staff announcements come with the role, and a bad result has to be explained in person.
Based on our synthesis of professional-body surveys and public accounts of the role, not first-person verified reviews.
Which industries employ chief executive officers?
Professional, Scientific and Technical Services employs the largest share of chief executive officers, followed by Health Care and Social Assistance.
Top employing industries
- 1Professional, Scientific and Technical Services
- 2Health Care and Social Assistance
- 3Construction
Ranked by employment share; the source doesn't publish an exact percentage per industry.
| Bachelor degree | 31.5% | |
|---|---|---|
| Postgraduate | 25.3% | |
| Year 12 or below | 16.3% | |
| Diploma / Advanced Diploma | 11.8% | |
| Certificate III/IV | 11.8% |
Will AI replace chief executive officers?
Chief executive officers rate low for AI exposure, because the job is built on accountability, judgement about people and relationships that a system can't hold. Analytics changes the layer beneath: dashboards, forecasting models and board management software make information faster to assemble, which shortens the preparation and leaves the decisions where they were.
Share of typical working time by exposure level
- Leading the executive team and the wider workforceHiring, performance conversations and setting the tone for hundreds or thousands of people stay with the chief executive, even though engagement surveys and rostering data now arrive pre-analysed.30%low
- Setting strategy and priorities with the executive teamAI will draft scenarios and summarise market research, but choosing between them depends on what the board, the staff and the customers will accept.25%moderate
- Answering to the board, investors and the publicA chief executive personally fronts the annual general meeting or a poor result; briefing packs can be drafted quickly, but the accountability can't be handed to software.25%low
- Reading performance and market data before a decisionForecasting tools and business intelligence dashboards can pull the divisional numbers and scenarios together in minutes, so the work shifts from compiling figures to interrogating them.20%high
Common questions about becoming a chief executive officer
Straight answers to the questions people ask most.
How much do chief executive officers earn?
$182,000 per annum, before tax, is the median for full-time chief executive officers, and the range around it is wide. Pay depends heavily on the size of the organisation, its sector, and how much of the package sits in bonus and equity tied to performance.
How do you become a chief executive officer?
There's no single route, but most people get there by running something first, whether that is a division, a region or a whole business unit. Employers are not the ones who decide this appointment: a board or a search firm assesses your record, your governance knowledge and your references. Experience presenting to a board and sitting on a committee helps, and the Australian Institute of Company Directors course is a common way to get that grounding.
Are chief executive officers in demand?
Chief executive officers are currently not in shortage, and employment across the occupation is projected to grow 14.1% over the decade to 2035. Openings usually come from internal succession or executive search when an incumbent leaves or a board decides on a change of direction, so the practical route in is a senior executive role with a visible record of results.
Will AI replace chief executive officers?
No, and the role rates low for AI exposure because it turns on accountability, judgement about people and relationships that software can't hold. Forecasting tools and business intelligence dashboards do change the work underneath, assembling divisional numbers and scenarios in minutes instead of days. That shifts your time from compiling figures to interrogating them, which is a gain rather than a threat.
What can chief executive officers move into?
Chief executives often move into general management, where pay is $33,800 less, and the work overlaps because both roles run an organisation against a strategy and a budget. Management consulting is another step across, where pay is $54,900 less, and the executive view of strategy and governance transfers to client work. The move also runs the other way, with marketing and sales managers stepping up into the seat and developing the financial and governance side as they go.
What is the difference between a chief executive officer, a managing director and an owner?
Managing director is the Australian title for the chief executive of a company when the same person also sits on its board, and the duties are largely the same. An owner holds the equity and can hire or replace a chief executive, so the two roles separate once a business grows large enough to need one.
Related roles
- General Manager
- Marketing Manager
- Management Consultant
- Policy and Planning Manager
- Construction Manager
- General Manager
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