Chief Customer Officer Executive Search

The leading recruitment consultant and executive search firm for Chief Customer Officer, Chief Experience Officer and Customer Centric, Chief Operating Officers

Recruiting a Chief Customer Officer

When talking to many Customer Service Directors and Customer Experience Directors, many will cite aspirations of a Chief Customer Officer role, however, the role of a Chief Customer Officer (CCO) is still a rare occurrence in UK business. Whilst the role of CCO has been relatively well developed in the US, with over 25% of Fortune 100 companies having a CCO, in the UK, the amount of existing CCO positions is still relatively low, although this number is rising quickly. In 2020 we tracked less than 200 registered on LinkedIn and across our own database, yet this year (2023) this number has risen to over 1,000 to include Chief Client Officers.

Broadly, we find that a Chief Customer Officer role will more likely be a board level position reporting into a CEO, which can differ from that of a CSD or CXD appointment. The Chief Customer Officer role has responsibility and accountability for driving the strategy and delivery of the Customer agenda across all business units and functions within an organisation. The digitally native, data and technology led brands are leading the way with the appointments of both CCOs and CXOs. This role is by and large a role of significant influence managing a variety of stakeholder relationships cross functionally. The role is most commonly very data driven, and is responsible for creating actionable insight for use to improve Customer Experience, Customer Success, sales and commercial profitability.

The role of the Chief Experience Officer is also on the rise. At the moment the majority of these roles also sit within the Technology sectors (20%) and the Marketing/Research community (15%), Financial Services comes in fourth but with a heavy focus on fintech organisations. The majority of Experience Officer roles are in a B2B environment, with a few more focussed on employee experience over client or customer. 56% of the CXO are Male, interestingly the same gender split percentage as the CCO community.  

If you are still not sure about the Chief Customer role, then the Customer Experience Director, is also still a valuable hire and consideration.

"One person cannot pivot an entire ship without power, influence and resources. It is very hard if that CXO doesn’t have the full support of the CEO and the board. When the CEO is involved in customer experience, results are much better. The CEO must tie performance metrics to customer experience — across the entire business. And the CEO’s performance should be tied to customer experience as well"

Taken from "The case against a Chief Customer Officer" by Blake Morgan for Forbes

The Importance of a Chief Customer Officer

Looking for a Chief Customer Officer Job Description

If you are looking for some top tips on hiring a Chief Customer Officer and what to look out for as well as some example Job Descriptions for the CXO role as well as the Chief Customer Success Officer then more here.
Sample Job Description for a Chief Customer Officer
 

How to Hire a Chief Customer Officer

For many companies they might be looking to hire a Chief Customer Officer for the first time. Or perhaps you have hired a CCO that didn't work out the way you wanted? Data collected from our annual Customer Director reports show us more about the backgrounds of a Chief Customer Officer.
Talk to us to learn more about Hiring a Chief Customer Officer
 

.Chief Customer Officer backgrounds

 

Douglas Jackson have been tracking the rist of the Chief Customer Officer since we published our first Customer Director report on data from 2020 to today, in the earlier versions of the role the data on the role of the Chief Customer Officer showed that 58% of individuals came from either a Sales (18%) or Marketing (40%) background, vs 15% from Customer Service or Contact Centre.

As the role progressed the data started to change with 31% came from a marketing background, with 22% from operations and 20% from Customer Service, Customer Success 12% and Sales 15%. Until recently we saw Customer Service Operations drawing level with Sales and Marketing backgrounds for the first time. 

The majority of Chief Customer Officers live in the South East (56%)

The Technology sector has appointed the highest number of Chief Customer Officers at 46.5%, followed by Financial Services 18.5% and Retail at 8.9%. Utilities and Housing Associations are starting to hire more of these roles.

44% of CCOs are female, as are 47% of Customer Experience Directors

All data is taken from the Douglas Jackson's annual Customer Director Report 

The background that is right for your next Chief Customer Officer really is unique to your organisation and set of objectives.  This is where we believe many appointments might go wrong.  

It is important to consider the mandate of your CCO, how they will work with the rest of your ExCo, Board and Directors.  The responsibilities they will have and the future goals and outcomes you want them to achieve before going to market.  If you are considering appointing a Chief Customer Officer, or perhaps you have made an appointment that did not quite deliver on your expectations, we would be happy to offer a no obligation sense check of the market and share what we have seen work over the years in your market

 

Learn more about what a Chief Customer Officer does and how it can serve you and your company?

What is a Chief Customer Officer?

The Chief Customer Officer role has responsibility and accountability for driving the strategy and delivery of the Customer agenda across all business units and functions within an organisation.

This role is by and large a role of significant influence managing a variety of stakeholder relationships cross functionally.

The role is most commonly very data driven, and is responsible for creating actionable insight for use to improve Customer Experience and commercial profitability.

Learn more in this brief overview of the role of a Chief Customer Officer and or Chief Experience Officer; Duties and responsibilities Stakeholders Salary Gender diversity across the role

 
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Chief Customer Officer Salaries - What does a Chief Customer Officer Get Paid?

Chief Customer Officer salaries can vary from £120,000 to £350,000 dependant on the size, scale and complexity of the organisation. 

The average salary for a CCO was £169,400. The average salary for the female CCO was £173,900 vs £155,190 for a male CCO, but with both commanding a maximum salary of up to £350k which was the highest base salary registered (taken from the Customer Director Report 2025).

 

Chief Customer Officers in the Financial Services industry seem to have the highest salaries, followed by the Technology sector.

 

Chief Customer Officers who come from a Marketing background tend to be paid 20-25% more than those who come from a Customer Service background, although again this data is shifting to a more equal footing as companies realign their values and redefine the role of the Chief Customer Officer for their business.

 

Why chief customer officers are next in line for the CEO job: A cohort of tech-savvy executives trained to hit revenue targets and keep customers happy are emerging as the top candidates to fill CEO vacancies. The chief customer officer role is proving to be a critical training ground for executives who have their eye on the top job, recruitment experts say.

The Average Salary For A Chief Customer Officer is £169,400 (Data compiled from the Customer Director Report from Douglas Jackson)

 

What does good look like when hiring a Chief Customer Officer?

A strong Chief Customer Officer doesn’t just improve customer metrics, they align customer strategy insight to actions, leading to commercial performance and operational delivery.

The most effective CCOs bring a balance of:

  • strategic vision and execution capability
  • experience influencing at Board and Executive level
  • and a track record of delivering measurable improvements across customer experience, efficiency and growth

In our experience, the difference comes down to outcomes, not titles. The strongest hires are those who have led change in environments similar in scale, complexity and regulatory context, and can embed customer thinking across the organisation, not just within a function.

When should we hire a Chief Customer Officer?

Organisations typically introduce a CCO when customer experience becomes critical to growth, customer retention, or regulatory performance.

This often happens during:

  • transformation programmes
  • periods of declining customer satisfaction
  • or when customer ownership is fragmented across functions

A CCO provides clarity, accountability and alignment across the end-to-end customer journey.

Should we promote internally or hire externally for a CCO role?

Internal candidates can bring strong organisational knowledge and credibility, but may lack exposure to different operating models or transformation approaches.

External hires often bring fresh thinking, broader experience and the ability to challenge existing ways of working.

The right choice depends on whether the organisation needs continuity or step-change.

Why do Chief Customer Officer hires fail?
CCO hires typically fail when there is a lack of clarity around the role, insufficient Executive support, or misalignment between customer ambition and operational reality. In some cases, organisations hire for vision but underestimate the need for delivery capability, or expect change without enabling it across technology, operations and culture. Clear outcomes, stakeholder alignment and realistic expectations are critical to success.
Where do the best Chief Customer Officers come from?
The strongest CCOs often come from a mix of backgrounds, including: Customer experience leadership operations, marketing, or service leadership transformation or consulting environments What matters most is not sector alone, but experience delivering customer and commercial outcomes in comparable environments.
Why is it difficult to hire an experienced Chief Customer Officer?
The talent pool for experienced CCOs is relatively small, particularly those who have delivered transformation at scale. Unlike more established roles, such as a Chief Finance Officer, or Chief Marketing Officer, where the results are sometimes easier to clearly define, the CCO role is more nuanced and care must be taken to appoint the right individual, not just their previous title and experience. Many of the strongest candidates are not actively looking and are already operating in senior roles, making them difficult to access through traditional recruitment methods. This is where a proactive, targeted search approach becomes critical with a partner who truly understand your and the indivuduals needs to find the best match.
 

Hear from a former Chief Customer Officer

Hear directly from a previous Chief Customer Officer. Our Managing Partner Michelle Ansell joined Karen Hogg in The Impact Room. Karen has experience working at a C-suite executive level with brands such as Axa, Sainsburys Bank and more latterly Atlanta Group as Chief Operating Officer, before taking on the newly created role of a Chief Customer Officer.  Karen is now COO with Stella Insurance. 

  • How business can get the best for both their people and their customers and advice for those who have aspirations of achieving a Chief Customer Officer role.

 

Chief Customer and Brand Officer - Axa

John Montgomery, our Insurance and Financial Services Practice Lead sits down with Vicki Joshi, Chief Customer and Brand Officer formerly of Axa UK.

  • As well as a staggering £274 billion opportunity, Vicki brings deep insight into what today’s customer really expects and where the insurance industry is falling short.

 

Recruit A Chief Customer Officer