IT leaders are growing increasingly dissatisfied with their jobs. That's a conclusion from US executive search firm Harvey Nash's latest survey of 258 CIOs, CTOs and senior- and mid-level IT managers.

They're not unhappy because they're not well-compensated. The survey shows that senior IT leaders' base salaries are growing. They're dissatisfied with their jobs because they see their influence waning.

According to the survey, the number of IT leaders who view their role as becoming "more strategic" within their companies had declined from 80 per cent in 2007 to 69 per cent this year. What's more, the number of IT leaders reporting to CEOs is dropping, too. Only 29 per cent of respondents call the CEO their boss. Finally, the number of respondents who are members of their companies' executive management teams is also heading south, from 47 per cent in 2007 to 37 per cent.

Consequently, more CIOs are looking for a new job-28 per cent to be precise-and they're more interested in joining smaller companies, says Anna Frazzetto, Harvey Nash's vice president of technology solutions. "One thing I've noticed is that CIOs who are switching jobs are moving to smaller organizations where they have more authority, more control and more power," she says.

CIO has also noticed a variety of IT leaders moving from big companies to smaller ones. Among them:

• David Gutierrez was named senior VP and CIO of Protective Life. He most recently worked for ING Insurance Americas as regional CIO.
• Michele Goins joined Juniper Networks as its CIO after serving as VP and CIO of HP's imaging and printing group.
• Tim Britt left his "uber-architect" position at Harrah's to become CIO and CTO at Las Vegas Gaming.
• Mike d'Almada-Remedios gave up the CIO post at eBay and shopping.com to join online realty company Move as its CTO.