It does highly depend, but what I posed is the "standard" definition. I don't mean to imply this is any law that must be adhered to, just general guidance. Like the CEO, COO, CFO, and president roles have "formal definitions" but also often include overlapping responsibilities. Sometimes the CEO is also the CTO.
CTO literally means anything and nothing within companies. Here are a few common ones in my opinion:
- Head technology/engineering person responsible for hiring, managing budget and deciding technology.
- Head technology explainer to c-suite, board and customers. Think of them as a technical sales executive.
- Place to stash a technical founder who’s stepped down from a CEO role and is not engaged. SVP of Engineering handles all day-to-day work.
- Highly engaged technical founder working on passion or “emerging” projects.
- Highly engaged technical founder providing day-to-day strategy only.