UK IT Salary Benchmarks: What They Signal for U.S. Midmarket Tech Leaders in 2026
Using exclusive UK and Germany benchmarks, we examine how IT compensation is shifting—and which roles are gaining the most leverage in the U.S. midmarket.
The embrace of technology has consistently pushed IT salaries above inflation – but which job roles enjoy the highest compensation in 2026?
IT has done well out of the continued evolution of technology from back-office cost center to growth engine – and, more controversially, from the explosion of AI, even as that technology disrupts jobs worldwide.
With C-level tech roles increasingly represented in the boardroom, and cybersecurity acknowledged as a critical investment, salaries at all levels continue to outpace inflation.
After a slow start, tech wages rebounded sharply in the latter half of 2025, according to whole-sector data shared with Computing by job site Indeed, reflecting both a hiring recovery and a positive comparison to 2024.
We can’t say exactly what salaries are doing this year yet. What we can do is examine recent salary information Computing has obtained exclusively from IT recruitment agency Harvey Nash, backed up by open data from Indeed, to discuss the areas of IT that have performed especially well in the last year.
The major gains are unsurprisingly in artificial intelligence and cybersecurity, both key to success in 2026. Those with responsibility for these areas are among the most well-paid at the C-level.
The Classic C‑Suite
Before we get to AI and security, how are established IT leader roles performing?
We’ll start with the chief information officer (CIO). In most cases this is an internally focused role; it is the CIO's job to make sure tech systems and processes run smoothly and cost-effectively.
For many years, “CIO” was shorthand for “IT executive,” though that is changing with the rise of the CDO, CISO and so on.
Harvey Nash data pegs the average UK CIO’s salary, across all sectors and regions, at £198,610 (about $250,000 USD), though it can be much higher. By comparison, U.S. CIO compensation typically runs higher overall: PayScale puts the average U.S. CIO salary at roughly $182,000 in base pay, while broader executive compensation benchmarks from firms like Robert Half and Salary.com regularly place total CIO pay in the $220,000–$300,000+ range at large enterprises.
Indeed’s data is a little different; instead of taking an average of both live and historic adverts, its salary checker tool reflects information only from currently advertised jobs sharing the same title across the UK. That makes it more likely to be affected by outliers, especially in C-level positions or new job types, where fewer roles may be advertised.
There were 104 advertised CIO roles in the UK at the time of analysis, with an average listed salary of £95,930 (about $121,000 USD). By comparison, Indeed data for the United States shows a higher advertised average: roughly $168,000 per year across several hundred CIO job postings nationwide—highlighting both stronger headline pay and deeper demand in the U.S. market.
Unlike the CIO, the chief technology officer (CTO) focuses less on the smooth running of technology and more on how tech can aid the smooth running of the business. If the CIO’s focus is internal, the CTO’s is external.
“The core task is to translate the company's goals into a viable technological roadmap,” as Computing Deutschland’s editor Kerstin Stief wrote in her article on the role of the CTO in 2026.
Harvey Nash’s data reflects the breadth and strategic weight of the CTO role, showing an average UK salary of £175,800 (about $221,000 USD). By comparison, U.S. CTO compensation typically trends higher: Pay benchmarks from firms such as Robert Half and Built In place average U.S. CTO pay is in the $220,000–$290,000 range, with total compensation climbing well beyond that at large, technology‑led enterprises.
There are more than twice as many advertised CTO roles as CIO positions in the UK—270 at the time of analysis—though this remains a relatively small sample. Indeed reports an average advertised CTO salary of £76,250 (about $96,000 USD). By comparison, U.S. job postings show both higher volume and higher listed pay, with advertised CTO salaries typically averaging in the mid‑$100,000s to just over $225,517, depending on company size and market.
Next up is the chief operating officer, who is in charge of the organization's daily operations. Although not strictly a technical role, CIOs and CTOs often report to the COO; and we have seen an increasing number of technical leaders being promoted to COO or melding it into their role (COTO, for example) in recent years.
In a similar pattern to the UK, U.S. data also shows COO compensation lagging CIO pay despite the role’s on‑paper seniority. Harvey Nash puts the average UK COO salary at £187,030 (about $236,000 USD), compared with £81,120 ($102,000 USD) in advertised roles on Indeed. In the U.S., advertised COO salaries also tend to trail CIO listings, even though total compensation at large enterprises often reverses that gap once bonuses and long‑term incentives are included.
Security and AI: The New Power Roles
A solid approach to cybersecurity – and a team to support that – has long been an important part of business continuity, but it’s only recently that it has also been acknowledged as key to business success. Long gone are the days when cyber professionals were undervalued because they were constantly being asked to prove a negative (attacks negated).
In fact, despite its relative maturity, cybersecurity is now the UK’s fastest-growing IT occupation, with a 194 percent increase in professionals since 2021 according to ONS data in a recent Socura report.
That is reflected in compensation: the chief information security officer (CISO) commands the highest average salary in this analysis, at £201,190 (about $254,000 USD) according to Harvey Nash. U.S. benchmarks are broadly comparable or higher—PayScale puts the average US CISO base salary at roughly $182,000, while Indeed’s advertised roles average about $166,000, underscoring both strong demand and the gap between listed pay and total executive compensation.
Looking at CISOs salaries across Glassdoor, Indeed, and PayScale, the average U.S. base salary is $211,517.
Another area seeing rapid growth is artificial intelligence, which has even ushered in a new C-level role in the form of the chief AI officer (CAIO).
The CAIO not only develops and leads a holistic approach to AI across the business but determines where to implement the technology for the best ROI.
Despite undoubtedly working in the tech sector the CAIO may not even be a technologist; they are responsible for change management and easing friction in the workforce, making soft skills just as if not more important in their role.
According to Harvey Nash, the average salary for a chief AI officer (CAIO) in 2026 is £199,500 (about $251,000 USD). U.S. benchmarks suggest a wider—and generally higher—range: Glassdoor places average total CAIO compensation in the low‑to‑mid $300,000s, while advertised salary data remains sparse, reflecting how new and inconsistently titled the role still is across organizations.
The Engine Room: Salaries Outside The C‑Suite
IT isn’t simply led from the top down; it integrates all levels of the business and needs technical guidance to get results. With that in mind, we also examined average salaries for operational positions outside the C-level, starting with the engineering roles that make up the bulk of the tech sector.
Despite sitting outside the C‑suite, the head of engineering remains a senior leadership role, responsible for aligning engineering execution with business objectives. Harvey Nash puts the average UK salary at £137,000 (about $173,000 USD). By comparison, U.S. compensation is markedly higher: Glassdoor estimates average head of engineering pay at roughly $359,000, while Salary.com places median compensation closer to $370,000—reflecting the role’s broader scope and closer proximity to the executive layer in many U.S. organizations.
On average, across Glassdoor, Indeed, and PayScale, U.S. heads of engineering command $256,000 annual base salary.
Indeed lists the software engineering manager role instead, with an average salary of £75,425 -about $95,000 USD - (379 postings).
The average salary for a U.S. software engineering manager is $205,114.
Outside of leadership, it should be no surprise that AI/ML engineers command the highest compensation, with an average salary of £115,900 (Harvey Nash) - about $146,000 USD. In the U.S. that role’s salary averages $142,312.
While that specific role doesn’t exist on Indeed, the site does list AI developer, with an average compensation of £70,679 (roughly $89,000 USD) based on 362 live postings. In the U.S., AI developers average $154,000 annually.
Next up are the more specialized roles of site reliability engineer (Harvey Nash: £112,600 [about $142,000 USD] / Indeed: £74,900 [roughly $94,000 USD]; 309 job postings) and platform engineer (Harvey Nash: £96,000 [about $121,000 USD] / Indeed: £64,370 [roughly $81,000 USD]; 785 postings).
It would also be remiss not to mention software developers, who enjoy an average pay packet of £79,060 (about $100,000 USD), or £54,200 (roughly $68,000 USD) on Indeed for the full stack developer role (3,300 postings); and data scientists, who interpret data to help organizations make decisions. This important position has an average salary of £91,000 (about $115,000 USD) according to Harvey Nash, or £55,270 (roughly $70,000 USD) on Indeed (1,500 postings).
Finally, is the data protection officer, a compliance role in the tech space, responsible for making sure an organization follows laws like the GDPR. Not every organization is required to have a DPO, but for those that are – mostly in the public sector – it is essential.
The average DPO earns a salary of £52,500 (about $66,000 USD), or £48,070 (roughly $61,000 USD) according to Indeed based on 249 job postings. Across Glassdoor, Indeed, and PayScale, DPOs earn an average of $101,989 annually.
Here is a chart comparing C-level and operational IT roles in the U.S., Germany, and UK:
Disclaimers And Caveats
Any salary information is subjective, and many factors come into play. These include location, industry, size of organization, size of budget, the main objective of the role, level of experience sought, and how overall packages are structured. The above data is a simple average of all salaries.
We accessed Indeed’s salary tracker tool from Feb. 6-13, 2026.
This article originally appeared on MES Computing’s sister site Computing and lightly edited to reflect U.S. salary comparisons.
MES Computing’s Samara Lynn and Computing Deutschland's Kerstin Mende Stief contributed to this report.