When you grow and hire a bigger team and need a formal technical manager, you will probably hire a VP Engg to manage that team while the CTO will take more of a Chief Architect role. A strong VP of Engineering understands how to build systems and processes that are appropriate for the size of their team and are always considering how to evolve them as the team scales. Share; answered Oct 25 '11 at 23:53. On occasion, the CTO is more operational than innovative. Putting together a working backwards plan to become a CTO and executing to that plan helps. They are highly knowledgeable about the market, are experts in modern development technologies, and understand the current players in the space. He or she will be an excellent recruiter, a great communicator, and a great issue resolver. How much should you plan to invest in a VPE? If a VP of Engineering is involved before the B round, they may be rolling up their sleeves and possibly even doing some code reviews. This person makes sure that technical roadmap is executed, that the people that needs to be hired are hired and that the technical team has everything it needs to build and maintain the product. VP Engineering? The answer to this is generally tied to product complexity and the skills you have within your current engineering organization. If you’re a startup with a strong technical component, one of your founders is generally a CTO. Where might I find data on … After 20 years of hiring these types of roles, I often get the same questions: I’ll cover the answers here and include “back of the napkin” compensation information for the average small to mid-sized company (obviously, it can vary extensively from an emerging Series A round company to a large company). This person will usually have the engineers (if less than 10) or the engineering managers reporting to her. The VP of Engineering is often an executive leadership position, and generally reports either to the CEO (70% of the time) or CTO (30% of the time). Contrary to conventional thinking, this is pretty easy to figure out, but you won’t know the answer until you reach breakeven or Series A investment. The third bracket are … Having been a serial startup CTO let me offer you a slightly different perspective. I have collected data from 11 sources – PayScale, Glassdoor, LinkedIn, Salary.COM, Comparably and VC databases such as Pitchbook – sources below. Early on, this role is typically played by either a senior developer or the CTO. What's the right compensation for a VP of engineering at a seed stage company (~$750k invested)? Running without an in house technical expert is a business risk and it can be a big one. He or she leads engineering operations through the series A round. Ronan McGovern Translational Fellows Program at MIT and Co-chair of the International Desalination Association Young Leaders Program March 23rd, 2015 We're shortly planning to raise a seed round of about $750k and are hiring a VP of engineering and a technical advisor. Published on September 17, … Years of experience or CTO background: The rule of thumb is that more experience equals higher pay and equity. They establish focus for the engineering team as its leader and make sure that deadlines are met. A CTO is a visionary—plain and simple. Anu Shukla had found the perfect VP of Engineering to help her build her latest startup, a company called RewardsPay.By that point, she had founded or … Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. A VP Engineering is ideally a great manager and a great team builder. In two words: they ensure execution. CTOs are always thinking about innovation and new product directions. Around the B round or when the engineering team reaches ~15—whichever comes first. The next question is how can I get on the more or show that I deserve more than the guideline range? The VP of Engineering is a manager with technical background. Technical leadership – the VP Engineering is responsible for co-developing the technical strategy with the CTO, and for developing and maintaining a technical roadmap that will continue to innovate from a technical standpoint. What roles do I need? VPE vs CTO. Are there any nuances within your organization? Jarie Bolander 11,421 points 0. One thing I’ve learned working with many tech companies is that regardless of their technical prowess, a great CTO doesn’t necessarily equate to scalable business growth. There are 5 variables to consider for the compensation, which might make it complicated, so I will try to simplify for 2 of the variables in this post – size of company and job location. *There are many factors that play a role in compensation. They thrive on solving complex problems and are at the table when important technical decisions are discussed. The numbers below assume you are hiring a CTO, as opposed to having a co-founder as a CTO. One challenge of writing about these roles is that different companies define VP Engineering (VPE) and CTO roles very differently.