Position Overview
Job Description
Title: Chief Technology Officer
Location: Richmond, VA
Harris Williams is a leading investment bank specializing in M&A and Private Capital advisory. We seek an exceptional
Chief Technology Officer (CTO) to design and accelerate our technology transformation. This leader will report to the CEO to drive innovation, embed artificial intelligence throughout the firm, and create a world-class experience for Harris Williams’ professionals—most notably, our bankers. This is a unique opportunity to become a pivotal force in shaping how technology directly enables growth, client service, and long-term value.
Why Harris Williams?
This is a mandate to architect a technology platform—and a technology culture—that will differentiate Harris Williams for years to come. We are looking for a CTO who sees the role as not merely responsible for “keeping the trains running,” but as the principal engineer of the firm’s technology future: someone who will
reinvent how the firm both achieves efficiency and drives revenue. This is an opportunity to make Harris Williams the
destination for bankers, technologists, and clients alike.
Key Responsibilities
Technology Vision & Strategic Leadership
- Serve as a core member of the executive team influencing overall firm strategy and direction, reporting to the CEO.
- Set and execute a bold, future-facing technology strategy—innovation-forward and proactive change.
- Lead Technology and Engineering teams with an emphasis on:
- Artificial intelligence: Drive the AI enablement of Harris Williams; champion automation, analytics, and data-driven insights.
- Cloud transformation: Orchestrate the adoption and enablement of cloud-first infrastructure (with a strategic orientation towards Microsoft Azure and related technologies).
- Product management: Evolve technology delivery to a product-driven mindset—connecting business needs with solutions that anticipate where the industry and our bankers are headed.
- Developer experience & engineering excellence: Foster agile, high-velocity teams focusing on DevOps, modern systems integration, SaaS adoption, and destination architecture.
- Business strategy orientation: Set and align strategic technology objectives that put the business, bankers, and clients at the center—becoming a true thought partner to leadership and an enabler of business development.
Service Excellence & Internal Customer Focus
- Redefine technology as a premium, “white glove” function—prioritizing the banker and client experience in every interaction.
- Instill a culture of service excellence, resilience, and anticipatory support for all internal customers.
Cybersecurity & Governance
- Uphold robust information security, regulatory, and privacy standards, anticipating emerging cyber risks and fortifying the firm’s digital and physical assets.
Differentiators for the Role
- Be the architect and catalyst for technology-based differentiation at Harris Williams—a place to AI-enable a leading investment bank from the inside out and outpacing an entire industry in the process.
- Drive the cloud transformation journey, unlocking the power of Microsoft Azure and related platforms as a strategic backbone.
- Lead and inspire the function to be a magnet and incubator for exceptional engineering and technology talent
- Champion a world-class developer and engineering culture that attracts the very best, operationalizes agile, and accelerates our ability to deliver for our internal (and external) customers.
- Blend product management, agile delivery, and systems design to deliver solutions that are as elegant as they are effective.
Unique Opportunity: The PNC Relationship
- Harris Williams operates independently under the PNC parent company structure
- A successful leader will:
- Foster a productive relationship with partners at PNC
- Understand and ensure compliance with PNC’s technology oversight requirements
- Engage PNC proactively when needed in support of the firm’s technology initiatives
Executive Team Expectations
As a core member of the firm’s executive leadership, you are expected to:
- Operate as a highly collaborative C-suite leader, shaping and influencing strategy across all functions.
- Demonstrate exceptional judgment and conviction—focus energy on the priorities that move Harris Williams forward.
- Be a builder—of teams, strategy, and culture.
- Instill both excellence and humanity in every interaction, maintaining a hands-on, high-integrity presence throughout the firm.
- Represent the technology strategy internally and externally as an enabler of long-term business value.
Experience & Qualifications
Required Experience
- CTO/CIO or Divisional CTO/CIO experience within a Fortune 500 company, or large company divisional responsibility equivalent—demonstrated ability to operate at executive committee level in complex, high-performance environments.
- Track record of architecting, executing, and communicating transformative technology roadmaps.
- Leadership of digital, AI, and cloud transformation for a growth-oriented business.
- Proven ability to attract, develop, and retain elite engineering, software, and technology talent—building teams that innovate and deliver.
- Experience steering agile, product-centric, and DevOps frameworks in complex organizations.
- Demonstrated excellence in cyber security, operational resilience, and technology risk management.
- Extensive SaaS solution implementation and system integration expertise.
- Proven ability to design and execute technology roadmaps in alignment with larger business strategy.
Education
- Bachelor’s degree required (preferably in Computer Science, Engineering, Business, or related field).
MBA Or Other Relevant Advanced Degree Preferred.
Core Competencies
- Highly collaborative leader—builds trust, brings “one firm” culture to life, and exerts positive influence across a partnership model.
- Selective conviction—knows what really matters, advocates passionately, and guides the firm through complexity with clarity and compassion.
- Relentless focus on internal customers—deep, white-glove service mindset.
- Mastery of business strategy and ability to translate business needs into technology investment with measurable impact.
- Excellent communicator; trusted advisor to executive leadership.
Additional Information
- Work Authorization: Must be able to work in the U.S. without sponsorship.
- Harris Williams will not accept unsolicited resumes from contingency recruiters. Any such resumes received will not be considered as legitimate submissions, and Harris Williams will not pay for the placement of a candidate resulting from the receipt of an unsolicited resume. Furthermore, Harris Williams strictly forbids any contingency recruiter from representing the firm in the market without prior consent.
Disclaimer: Harris Williams will not accept unsolicited resumes from contingency recruiters. Any such resumes received will not be considered as legitimate submissions, and Harris Williams will not pay for the placement of a candidate resulting from the receipt of an unsolicited resume. Furthermore, Harris Williams strictly forbids any contingency recruiter from representing the firm in the market without prior consent.
Qualifications
Successful candidates must demonstrate appropriate knowledge, skills, and abilities for a role. Listed below are skills, competencies, work experience, education, and required certifications/licensures needed to be successful in this position.
Preferred Skills
Application Development, Business Management, Customer Solutions, Design, Group Problem Solving, Process Improvements, Release Management, Software Solutions, User Experience (UX) Design
Competencies
Application Development (Client/Server), Application Development (Object-Oriented), Application Localization and Internationalization, Application Maintenance, Application Testing, Budgeting, IT Industry: Trends & Directions, Software Process Improvement (SPI), System Testing
Work Experience
Roles at this level typically require a university / college degree and higher level education such as a Masters degree, PhD, or certifications. Industry -relevant experience is typically 8+ years. At least 5 years of prior management experience is typically required. Proven leadership experience with a large scope of responsibility is required. In lieu of a degree, a comparable combination of education, job specific certification(s), and experience (including military service) may be considered.
Education
Bachelors
Certifications
No Required Certification(s)
Licenses
No Required License(s)
Benefits
PNC offers a comprehensive range of benefits to help meet your needs now and in the future. Depending on your eligibility, options for full-time employees include: medical/prescription drug coverage (with a Health Savings Account feature), dental and vision options; employee and spouse/child life insurance; short and long-term disability protection; 401(k) with PNC match, pension and stock purchase plans; dependent care reimbursement account; back-up child/elder care; adoption, surrogacy, and doula reimbursement; educational assistance, including select programs fully paid; a robust wellness program with financial incentives.
In addition, PNC generally provides the following paid time off, depending on your eligibility: maternity and/or parental leave; up to 11 paid holidays each year; 8 occasional absence days each year, unless otherwise required by law; between 15 to 25 vacation days each year, depending on career level; and years of service.
To learn more about these and other programs, including benefits for full time and part-time employees, visit Your PNC Total Rewards.
Disability Accommodations Statement
If an accommodation is required to participate in the application process, please contact us via email at AccommodationRequest@pnc.com. Please include “accommodation request” in the subject line title and be sure to include your name, the job ID, and your preferred method of contact in the body of the email. Emails not related to accommodation requests will not receive responses. Applicants may also call 877-968-7762 and say "Workday" for accommodation assistance. All information provided will be kept confidential and will be used only to the extent required to provide needed reasonable accommodations.
At PNC we foster an inclusive and accessible workplace. We provide reasonable accommodations to employment applicants and qualified individuals with a disability who need an accommodation to perform the essential functions of their positions.
Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO)
PNC provides equal employment opportunity to qualified persons regardless of race, color, sex, religion, national origin, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, veteran status, or other categories protected by law.
This position is subject to the requirements of Section 19 of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act (FDIA) and, for any registered role, the Secure and Fair Enforcement for Mortgage Licensing Act of 2008 (SAFE Act) and/or the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), which prohibit the hiring of individuals with certain criminal history.
California Residents
Refer to the California Consumer Privacy Act Privacy Notice to gain understanding of how PNC may use or disclose your personal information in our hiring practices.
