Chief digital officer appointments on the rise in NZ

We continue to see the blurring of skills between one discipline into anotherSteve Jackson, Madison

IT is coming to the fore within organisations as a key business driver, rather than a service division, according to the 2017 New Zealand Employment Market Report.

The report by recruitment firm Madison notes the shift over the past year from the narrower CIO (chief information officer) designation to CDOs (chief digital officers) as the technology leaders within a business.

“We continue to see the blurring of skills between one discipline into another,” says Steve Jackson, chief operating officer, Madison.

“The increasing prevalence of the chief digital officer highlights the convergence of traditional IT and marketing roles,” he states in the report.

“This is also evident in other areas such as data analysis, which increasingly sits across various functions within an organisation.”

The report notes how over the last few years, traditional ‘big’ players in ICT have begun to see their market share usurped by leaner, faster and more innovative competitors.

However some larger organisations have been surprisingly quick to compete. They have adopted a bimodal approach to development, allowing for agile teams, rapidly developed new products and swift introduction to market, says Madison.

“We’ve seen this primarily in organisations where the shift has been made away from the CIO/CTO model,” the report states.

“With a chief digital officer (CDO) leading technology, IT has come to forefront of the business rather than acting as a service division.”

With a chief digital officer leading technology, IT has come to forefront of the business rather than acting as a service divisionSteve Jackson, Madison

This shift in focus has also led to a growth in architecture positions, required to ensure new development is both integrated into existing systems and supportable throughout its lifecycle.

Madison finds concurrent growth in the DevOps space. Building, testing and releasing new software rapidly and reliably has become hugely important, it says.

CDOs are also often advocates for the use of data analytics which is growing in sophistication with emphasis on visual presentation.

Air New Zealand was one of the first New Zealand companies to recognise the importance of digital by appointing one of the first CDOs in the country, Avi Golan, and elevating this role toreport directly to the CEO, according to the 2017 CIO100.

CDO appointments in New Zealand include:

Owen Werner of Unitec Institute of Technology

Claire Barber of Spark NZ

McCarthyFinch

Chris Buxton of Stats NZ

Stephen Whiteside of the University of Auckland

Timothy Kasbe, chief information and digital officer at The Warehouse.

Hiring trends and salary ranges

Ashley Sadler, team leader – IT at Madison Recruitment, says over the past year, much of the hiring activity has tended to be at the opposite ends of the spectrum.

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At the higher end in the Auckland region, the roles with the most consistent movement were consultants in the business intelligence, human capital management, finance and agile coaching space. These roles all commanded salaries of $130,000 or more.

Sadler notes a lot of activity for roles such as data and software solution architects where salaries range from $130,000 to $180,000.

Project managers were in demand, commanding up to $150,000. Middle management, development or infrastructure team leads averaged around $140,000, with UI and UX roles at similar levels.

Another area with significant movement at the senior end has been roles for software sales. As a great indicator of market confidence, salaries were robust and we’ve seen roles with on target earnings of up to $170,000, reports Madison.

Salaries, however, remain low for those in starting positions as these roles tended to be filled by those looking for their first full-time role after completing studies in New Zealand.

DevOps has been making a significant impact in the market. In the past, this role was undertaken by generalist engineers who developed and honed their skills on the job to be successful.

“Now this space has matured and become a specialised area,” reports Sadler.

Experienced candidates possessing expert knowledge in automation were highly sought after, as the ability to streamline software delivery in both the enterprise environment and software product team was highly in demand.

“Here we’ve seen the biggest year on year increase in any sector, with starting salaries jumping to around the $110,000 mark and high points at around $140,000.”

Meanwhile, it is a different story for those in starting ICT positions.

Sadler says there is continuous requirement for first and second level systems support engineers. Organisations were also looking for Microsoft skills and Linux requirements.

Salaries, however, remained low as these roles tended to be filled by those looking for their first full-time role after completing studies in New Zealand.

This keeps salary expectations in the $50,000 to $60,000 range.

Graduate level remains around the $45,000 position, which has remained unchanged for a number of years, reports Sadler.

With a chief digital officer leading technology, IT has come to forefront of the business rather than acting as a service division, reports Madison.

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