What Should a CEO Earn in 2026? A Salary Guide for High-Growth SMEs
In 2026, what should a CEO earn?
Ok Elon does earn billions and Tim Cook 100M+, but how about CEOs for smaller high growth companies?
The short answer? It depends.
Quick disclaimer this is SME data for companies with around 20 to 200 headcount. Not unicorns or banks or Big Tech… that’s a whole different ballgame. This salary guide is from interviewing over 100+ candidates for our 2025 CEO Executive search projects.
Start up Founder (Typically own a large equity stake): Between £100k-£150k 💰
Series A, B & SME challenger brands (20 to 50 headcount): Between £175k-£250k 💰
Late-stage VC-backed or PE-backed (50 to 250 headcount): Between £200k-£350k 💰
Sectors and funding matter most:
The salary will be at the higher end within B2B Financial Services, followed by SaaS and AI.
And as always, US firms consistently pay higher than their European counterparts.
Meanwhile, equity is preferred over bonuses in VC-backed firms. But with companies that are not VC-backed, performance-based bonuses were much more important.
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