Cloud executive demand soars due to Covid-19, data shows

The Covid-19 pandemic has found an accelerated demand for cloud services – and it has also resulted in an increased need for premium executive talent.

According to findings from executive search company Leadership Capital Group, queries for senior cloud executives in the digital realm are up 224% since March.

The company said there was an ‘acute need for organisations to execute an effective cloud strategy.’ Findings were based on search requests for cloud executives globally between March and July 2020. Job titles in particular demand included chief technology officer (CTO), chief digital revenue officer, SVP cloud, as well as EVPs and managing directors in infrastructure services, cloud services, and artificial intelligence (AI).

Marc Lewis, CEO of Leadership Capital Group, said ‘steady growth’ in cloud-based search requests had been replaced by ‘skyrocketed’ demand during the pandemic.

Finding the right person is like the difference between a developer and an architect,

he added.

What you really want is someone who is like a general manager of cloud services who actually understands the whole ecosystem. They need to evaluate what things are optimised locally, what things should go to a specialised cloud service, and what can go to the mega providers.

The problem is that those who truly understand all the issues and can connect it to business strategies are one in a thousand,

added Lewis.

Naturally, those rare finds require the appropriate remuneration to go with it. According to CIO Dive in October, certified Google Cloud architects can earn almost $140,000 per year on average, just ahead of Amazon Web Services (AWS) architects ($130k-$132k) and Microsoft certified solutions experts ($121k).

As this publication reported at the end of 2018, $146,350 was the median salary for cloud computing professionals in 2018. The figures, which came from Gartner’s market intelligence tool TalentNeuron, showed the average hiring scale score – how difficult a job is to fill – was 78 out of 100, placing cloud vacancies at the higher end of the scale.