CISOs to see steepest annual salary rise among UK IT leaders

A 3.5 per cent increase in salary is higher than the increases for CIOs, CTOs and IT directors

Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) will see a 3.5 per cent increase in their annual salary in 2014, the biggest rise of all IT leader roles, and one per cent higher than the UK average change of 2.5 per cent.

The increase is noted in Robert Half Technology's 2014 salary guide, which draws on market observations, research it conducts with CIOs and CTOs and data from the industry.

In the UK, CISOs earned an average salary of between £72,000 and £130,500, which is to rise in 2014 to £75,000 - £134,500.

Meanwhile, CIOs earned an average salary of between £117,750 and £225,000+ in 2013. Robert Half forecast this to increase by 2.3 per cent to between £120,500 and £230,000.

CTO salaries were forecast to grow by 1.5 per cent to between £79,750 and £150,250, and chief architects salaries will range between £78,750 and £148,500 - a 2.4 per cent hike.

IT directors will see a 2.2 per cent rise to a maximum salary of £120,750, while IT managers' in 2014 are within the £77,000 and £108,500 bracket.

IT security managers and officers' salaries will climb by four per cent, the guide claimed.

While IT leaders in London shouldn't expect increases as big as those noted in the national guide, they can expect higher salaries overall. The CIO salary range for 2014 is between £159,750 and £239,000, while CTOs' salaries will range between £139,500 and £193,000. Chief architects, IT directors and IT managers in London enjoy salaries that are above the national average for their roles. However, CISOs in London can expect a lower salary range than the national guide, at between £97,000 and £125,250.

The biggest pay increases in other IT roles in 2014 according to the guide, are for mobile applications developers (up by 4.1 per cent), web designers (4 per cent), web developers (3.8 per cent), database managers (3.4 per cent) and business intelligence analysts (3.6 per cent).

According to the report, the main IT skills in demand in 2014 include: business intelligence, SQL, UI/UX development, networking, virtualisation, IT security, programming and project management. Certifications and other business skills are also highly sought after.