What matters most is the real role of the CEO and whoever you report to, not their titles, or yours. Dear Bob …I’m head of IT for a small company, reporting to the CEO. For the past year I’ve been thinking I’m ready for my next career step.I found an interesting position with a local company. Similar requirements to what I currently do, but the title is “Director, Information Services”. It is not a C-level position and it reports to the CFO, not CEO. The company has a good reputation. From the start, I’m not a huge fan of IT reporting to a CFO. I’m more concerned about going from a C-level position down.I’d appreciate your thoughts.– Restless Dear Restless …The loss of title wouldn’t concern me. The CFO reporting relationship is a more significant issue. Whether it’s a deal-breaker depends a lot on two factors: The CEO’s character and role. The CFO’s character and role. I’m not talking about their official roles. I’m talking about how each of the two approach and think about their responsibilities.There are companies where the CEO is an internally focused leader – a person who builds an organization that can succeed in the marketplace. If the company you’re talking to has this sort of CEO, I’d be wary of reporting anywhere else.There are other companies where the CEO is the company’s head sales rep — constantly in front of customers and prospects while doing little more than cheerleading internally. In some companies like this the CFO takes on CAO (Chief Administrative Officer) and sometimes even COO responsibilities as well, regardless of title.In this case, reporting to the CFO can be a better option, because the CEO just won’t care about anything IT does, other than the company website. Another dimension to evaluate (of course) is what it is about this position that makes it more interesting than your current one.I’m going to assume you’re talking with this company because it has a significantly bigger IT department. From a career perspective, while there’s no magic formula, there is a size that’s big enough to compensate for the loss of direct CEO reporting. My SWAG for this would be that you would be managing a department at least three times bigger.Hope that helps. – Bob Technology Industry