Chief Data / AI Officer
Leads the company's data and AI strategy: governance, platform, use cases and scaling to production.
Why this hire matters.
As AI becomes a matter of competitive survival, this executive decides where and how data and AI create value — and prevents them from becoming a cost center or a regulatory risk. They arbitrate investments (build vs off-the-shelf models), industrialize production (where 80% of projects fail), secure governance (GDPR, AI Act) and attract scarce talent. Get it wrong and you pile up POCs with no impact and runaway GPU spend. Get it right and AI becomes a growth engine and a valuation argument. It's an exec-committee role, paid accordingly, where equity weighs heavily. Calibrate to the company's real AI maturity: an org that industrializes pays significantly more than one that explores.
Key missions.
- Define a business-aligned data and AI strategy
- Drive governance, quality and compliance (GDPR, AI Act)
- Industrialize model production (MLOps/LLMOps)
- Prioritize high-ROI use cases
- Structure and hire data/AI teams
- Secure infrastructure and cost
- Represent data/AI to the board
Skills.
Technical skills
- Data/AI strategy
- Governance and compliance
- ML architecture at scale
- AI economics (cost, ROI)
Expected qualities
- Executive leadership
- Product vision
- Board communication
- Hiring scarce talent
Common stack
Salaries 2025-2026
| Level | Experience | Annual gross base | Annual gross package |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chief AI Officer (market avg) | 10+ yrs | 100–130 k€ | 116–160 k€ |
| Chief Data Officer | 10+ yrs | 130–200 k€ | — |
Paris market ranges, 2025-2026.
Sources : Silkhom Baromètre IA 2026 (Chief AI Officer 115 800€ moy., jusqu'à 160k senior Paris) · TPC Leaders 2026 (CDO) · Data Recrutement 2026
Grilles parisiennes en full-remote
Hiring this profile.
Typical background
Data science/ML engineering or data architecture background broadened into leadership; sometimes from consulting or research. Often PhD or top school.
When to hire
When data/AI becomes a strategic pillar and multiple teams must align — Series B+ or an AI-native company structuring its scale-up.
Career path
→ CTO/CPTO, board member, or founder of an AI company.