About 36 in 100 chief operating officers who started in 2022 had left the role within two years, up from 28 in 100 of those who started in 2019. Live Data Technologies followed about 21,500 chief operating officer roles at companies with 50 or more staff.
Insights › Executive tenure benchmarks › COO
Live Data Technologies tracks job changes for about 124 million professionals, compiled from public information on the open web. These figures follow about 21,500 chief operating officer roles that started between 2019 and 2022, worldwide.
Titles counted: any title that includes "chief operating officer". Interim, acting, fractional, deputy, assistant, associate and advisory titles are left out.
In Live Data Technologies data, about 36 in 100 chief operating officers who started in 2022 left the role within two years, up from 28 in 100 of those who started in 2019.
Same question for your accounts: see how many of the chief operating officers you sell to have changed jobs.
Check your listThe share rose from 2019 to 2022: 2019 28, 2020 31, 2021 33, 2022 36 in 100. Leaving the role includes a move to another title at the same company.
Started in 2022, share who left the role within two years (in 100). Select a role to open its page.
By start year, share who left the role within two years (in 100):
| Role | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chief revenue officerCRO | 36 | 37 | 47 | 52 |
| Chief of staffCoS | 45 | 50 | 53 | 50 |
| VP of MarketingVP Mktg | 38 | 42 | 47 | 46 |
| Chief product officerCPO | 30 | 37 | 41 | 43 |
| VP of SalesVP Sales | 35 | 37 | 43 | 43 |
| COOCOO | 28 | 31 | 33 | 36 |
| CTOCTO | 26 | 28 | 31 | 32 |
| Chief people officerCHRO | 22 | 25 | 29 | 30 |
| CEOCEO | 18 | 19 | 23 | 26 |
| General counselGC | 22 | 24 | 27 | 26 |
Source: Live Data Technologies data. Share of roles that ended within two years of starting, by start year, companies with 50 or more staff today.
Live Data Technologies measures the share who leave rather than an average. About 64 in 100 chief operating officers who started in 2022 were still in the role two years later, and about 36 in 100 had left.
In Live Data Technologies data, about 36 in 100 chief operating officers who started in 2022 left the role within two years. By start year, in 100: 2019 28, 2020 31, 2021 33, 2022 36.
Both happen. In a sample of 96 ended chief operating officer roles that began between 2019 and 2022, 31 were followed by another job at the same company. The rest went to a different employer or have no later job recorded.
About 36 in 100 new chief operating officers leave the role within two years. See which of your contacts have moved.
Executives move every few years. Know when the ones you sell to do.
Track when these executives moveA chief operating officer role here is a job record whose title includes "chief operating officer". Interim, acting, fractional, deputy, assistant, associate and advisory titles are left out.
Each role is followed for two years from its start date. Left means the role has a recorded end date in that time. That includes a move to another title at the same company, and a title recorded again at the same company. In samples for three roles, between 1 in 100 (chief revenue officers) and about 1 in 10 (chiefs of staff) ended roles were the same title recorded again at the same company. Some roles never get an end date recorded. The two effects pull in opposite directions, so the shares are approximate.
Company size is measured on today's headcount, so firms that have since closed or shrunk below 50 staff are missing, more so for older start years. Read the rise from 2019 to 2022 as a comparison of start-year groups, not a measured trend. Months are counted from the recorded start date; a start recorded only as a year counts from January.
The company figures come from samples of about 100 ended roles, not drawn at random, so treat them as rough: give or take about 10 in 100.
Roles are worldwide, at companies with 50 or more staff today, including public-sector employers. We checked the country split for three roles: more than half of CEOs, about 7 in 10 chiefs of staff and about 3 in 4 chief revenue officers with a known location were in the US. Coverage is thinner outside the US.
The data covers people with a findable professional presence online. It is not a census of all workers.
Started in 2022, left the role within two years (in 100):
Live Data Technologies data on senior leaders has been cited by The CMO Club ("CMOs Keep Leaving at Higher Rates Than CFOs and CTOs"), The Wall Street Journal ("Corporate America Is Axing the 'Micro-Team' Boss") and Business Insider ("Why the C-suite is getting so big").
You can quote these figures and reuse the chart. Credit "Source: Live Data Technologies data" and link to this page.
The finding: In Live Data Technologies data, about 36 in 100 chief operating officers who started in 2022 left the role within two years, up from 28 in 100 of those who started in 2019. https://www.livedatatech.com/insights/chief-operating-officer-tenure
Data as of October 2026. Next update planned for January 2027. Need these figures for your own roles or companies? Ask for a custom cut.