CTO or VP Engineering: which do you need?

What does a CTO own?

• Technical direction: what to build, buy or retire
• Architecture that can carry the next stage of growth
• Security and data protection
• The technical story for the board, buyers and big customers
• Senior technical hiring

What does a VP Engineering own?

• Delivery: what ships, when, and how well
• Team structure, managers and hiring
• Process, from planning to release
• People: growth paths, reviews and keeping good engineers
• Working with product and sales on dates

How can you tell which one you're missing?

If you see signs on both sides, you may need both. Start with the bigger pain.

What about the founding CTO?

Many software companies have a founding CTO who wrote the first version. That person often knows the product better than anyone.

As the team grows, the founding CTO may not want to manage 50 engineers. That's fine. Many move into a chief architect or product role and hire a VP Engineering to run delivery. The right answer depends on what they want and what the company needs next.

Do you need both a CTO and a VP Engineering?

Past about 50 engineers, many companies do. The CTO sets direction and works outward with the board and customers. The VP Engineering runs the team inside.

The two should be peers, or close to it. If one reports to the other, make sure the split of duties is clear and written down. Fuzzy lines between these two roles cause real damage.

What do these leaders earn?

The BLS reports a 2025 median pay of $175,140 for computer and information systems managers, with 16% job growth projected from 2025 to 2035. Senior leaders at a growth-stage software company earn well above that median, and equity often matters more than base pay.

What does each role look like in the first 90 days?

A new CTO spends the first 90 days listening and mapping. They learn the system, meet the biggest customers and write down the technical risks. By day 90, they should have a plain two-year plan the board can follow.

A new VP Engineering spends the first 90 days on the team. They meet every manager, watch how work flows and find the bottlenecks. By day 90, they should have shipped something on time and fixed at least one process that slowed the team down.

What goes wrong when you hire the wrong one?

Hire a CTO when you needed delivery, and you get great plans that still ship late. The CTO grows frustrated managing schedules. The team waits for direction that keeps changing.

Hire a VP Engineering when you needed direction, and you get a fast team building the wrong things. Dates get met, but the product falls behind. Both mistakes cost about a year. A clear job definition before the search avoids them.

Where do the best candidates come from?

Strong CTO candidates often come from companies one stage ahead of yours. They've seen what breaks at the next size. Strong VP Engineering candidates often come from companies with a similar team size and a better delivery record.

In both cases, ask for evidence. What shipped, how big was the team, and what changed because they were there? Then check those answers with the engineers who worked for them.

How should you run the search?

Write down the job before you search. List the three biggest technical problems the company faces in the next two years. Then decide which role owns each one.

That list becomes the success profile. It keeps the board aligned and gives candidates a real picture of the job. See our CTO search and VP Engineering search pages for how we run each one.