UK salary guide

These pages collect published UK figures for senior AI and technology roles. Each range sits next to the source that printed it, with the date we read that source.

Last reviewed: 2 November 2026. The underlying sources were accessed on the dates named on each page. We do not fill gaps with estimates.

How to use these figures

A published average is not the salary you should offer. It is a check. If the number in your brief is far from every published row for that title, the field you attract will be smaller, or the title on the brief is describing a different job.

Read the label before the number. "Average, large corporate firms" is not the same population as "SME" or "starting level". Robert Half, Hays, Harvey Nash and Indeed do not survey the same employers. Where two sources disagree, both are shown. We do not average them into a single Clario figure.

Base salary and total package are not the same thing. Some published rows are base pay. Others mix bonus and allowance into a typical package, and the source does not always say which. The note under each row keeps the source's own wording. If you are comparing a base salary in your brief with a total package in a survey, the gap can look larger than it is.

Company size and stage move the number as much as the title does. A Head of AI in a scale-up with a small platform team is not the Harvey Nash Chief AI Officer average for large corporates. Use the row that matches the employer you are, and treat the rest as context.

London and regional differences

Where a source splits London from the rest of the UK, we keep that split. Hays publishes separate London CTO rows for FTSE 100, FTSE 250 and SME employers, and a Midlands CTO row. It also publishes London and Midlands rows that combine Chief Data Officer and Head of Data. Those anchors are on the CTO salary and Chief Data Officer salary pages.

We do not invent a Manchester figure because none of these sources prints one. For a role based in Manchester, the Midlands rows are the nearest published regional check, and the London rows show what a candidate may be comparing you with. Say in the brief if the salary is set against London, against the Midlands, or against a national average.

Location is not a reason to publish a lower number than the role's scope. A London-sized remit with a regional salary, or the reverse, is something we will flag before the search starts.

Roles covered

Each page below holds the published rows, the source link and the date. The hiring brief for the same role is linked from that page.

• Chief AI Officer salary in the UK. Harvey Nash average for large corporates, reported by Computing for 2026.
• Head of AI salary in the UK. Robert Half's published range, kept separate from Chief AI Officer.
• CTO salary in the UK. Harvey Nash, Indeed, and Hays rows for London and the Midlands.
• Chief Data Officer salary in the UK. Hays and Robert Half rows, including London and the Midlands.

The hiring brief for these roles is on the Chief AI Officer, Head of AI, CTO and CDO and CIO pages. A practical brief is in Hiring your first Chief AI Officer.