Salary survey: Be a CSO and get rich

CSOs are seeing the most significant increases in pay this year, while IT professionals in general are experiencing minor increases in compensation, according to a new survey.

Janco, a management consulting firm, revealed in its mid-year salary survey that on average CSOs earned more than 8% over last year's compensation figures, growing their total compensation from $141,154 to $152,563.

"CSOs are in high demand in enterprise of all sizes as shown by hiring demand and overall increases in compensation," the report reads.

The survey also found that executive IT professionals in large enterprises earn $143,243 on average, while those in mid-sized companies bring home $127,439 annually. Janco defines large enterprises as those having more then $500 million in revenue and mid-sized enterprises as those with between $100 million and $499 million in revenue.

For all positions surveyed, the mean total compensation started to move up just slightly at less than 1% in the last 12 months. In mid-sized enterprises the mean total compensation fell less than 1% from $75,096 to $74,806, but in large enterprises the survey found total compensation increased by close to 2% from $81,078 to $82,498.

Total compensation for CIOs remained flat across all enterprise companies, generally between $174,979 and $169,504. Yet the mean compensation for CIOs in large enterprises increased by close to 5% from $169,601 to $177,433, the survey found.

While hiring is slowing in large enterprises, positions will begin to open at mid-sized enterprises, Janco predicts, as fourth quarter compensation within those companies indicates demand is growing. Janco says there is demand for those with skills in networking, voice, wireless, Internet, data security and data warehousing technologies.

"Hiring is up across the nation as companies begin to focus on business expansion," said Victor Janulaitis, CEO of Janco, in a company press release.