What does the CSO role look like at smaller companies, such as an engineering firm? It’s hard to put a number to the dedicated role of a CSO when it needs to be created, but perhaps we can start at a range of 25 to 75 employees for the consideration of creating the role. Perhaps around that range, the CSO role is added to an existing role (such as a department head or COO), but someone needs to be thinking about strategy development in addition to the CEO.
But why is this so critical for engineering firms? The answer is simple: Focused expertise. Let’s look at what others are noticing about engineering and construction (emphasis mine):