What is a VP of Engineering?

The VP of Engineering (vice president) guarantees the proper technical execution of the product vision. They appear in a company when the CTO wants to focus on the project's future vision. They will then delegate to the VP the steering of the teams who execute the roadmap day to day. The VP of Engineering reports directly to the CEO, freeing the CTO from operational day-to-day management.

When recruited early, they will mainly manage developers directly and will progressively take on building the team to eventually only manage technical managers. Sometimes they are recruited fairly late and inherit an entire, already-structured team.

The role of the VP of Engineering

Other titles: Head of Engineering, Director of Engineering. The term comes from American management culture, and these roles can sometimes be interchanged or differentiated depending on team organization.

Why do companies need a VP of Engineering?

The VPoE is generally not among a company's first hires. They come in when the CTO wants to delegate roadmap follow-up and management of operational teams to focus on the project's strategic and technical vision. They can arrive earlier or later depending on the CTO's role (a founder CTO will quickly look for a VPoE) and the maturity of the technical team.

Their business impact is indirect because they don't bring a new skill or know-how (depending on the profile) — they take over the CTO's tasks and responsibilities. Their arrival, however, lets the CTO step back and devote themselves to more strategic tasks, allowing the company to take a new step forward.

Their role by company size

Generally on the management side, their role can differ depending on company size and how responsibilities are distributed.

If they arrive early, they will directly manage developers and be in charge of organizing and building the future team. Their experience in team building and team vision will therefore be necessary.

In a more mature, larger company, they will directly manage Engineering Managers, who handle operational management of the teams.

In a very large company, as seen with the various titles, their role will differ based on needs, challenges, and team organization. The VPoE role could be split into technical responsibilities, team organization, recruitment, management, etc., each of these expanding based on company size.

What are the missions of a VP Engineering?

– Steer and synchronize the various development teams to move efficiently through roadmap delivery, respecting the time and framing constraints set by leadership.

– Organize a company's or project's tech function by structuring the various teams based on their operational scope and skills.

– Support tech managers day to day, helping them grow on management and operational steering of their respective teams.

– Build the human growth strategy of the tech organization, in collaboration with HR, by involving tech managers in defining the recruitment processes for their teams.

– Have a very clear view of the present context of the team, the project, and the company in order to make the strategic decisions that allow the entire tech function to work effectively in the right direction.

– Co-build with the CTO the company's technical strategy by combining all the business and technology context known by the CTO with all the operational context known by the VP.

Team collaboration

The VP of Engineering will work with more or fewer different stakeholders depending on company size:

In small companies, they will exchange directly with developers and company executives, in particular with the CEO who will be their direct manager in most organizations.

In a growing, structuring company, the VP mostly collaborates with Engineering Managers or Directors of Engineering in very large teams. They no longer have operational collaboration with developers.

They will also work alongside the product leader, namely the VP of Product or the Head of Product, since the entire tech work pipeline is largely fed by their team.

The close collaborators of the VP of Engineering

What are the skills of a VP of Engineering?

Not being in direct management of operational team members, mastery of tools and technologies is no longer necessary. However, they will be expected to have a rich technical, operational, and managerial experience, through projects with challenges similar to those of their company.

Exact knowledge of their organization's tech stack is still necessary in order to make the right choices to address the company's technological challenges.

Continuous technical culture is therefore necessary to remain legitimate with the teams, as is their level of management and team steering, since their role is also to train and support managers day to day.

Soft skills

Communication and the ability to make things accessible allow the VP of Engineering to engage with and be understood by their various stakeholders, internal and external. They sometimes interact with company investors or partners.

The VP of Engineering must also show synthetic thinking because they often handle complex problems made up of many sub-problems. They must therefore be able to identify the essence of issues so as not to scatter their focus while the entire team relies on them to move forward effectively.

Technologies & platforms used

The VP of Engineering must know their organization's stack without necessarily having to be operational on the project's code, although today many VPs still occasionally contribute.

The VP can therefore have different types of stacks:

• Webstack
• Mobilestack
• Software

What training is needed to become a VP of Engineering?

The VP of Engineering role is one of the highest in a technical organization, so they have necessarily moved through various roles, first operational and then managerial. It's all of their experience that trains them and lets them reach this VP position.

That said, today the majority of VPs in French companies have a traditional academic path, so an engineering degree or a Master's from a recognized computer science school.

What is the salary of a Vice President of Engineering?

The VP being a profile with already strong experience, their salary starts at 90K€ gross annual and can reach 180K€ at the peak of their career.

How can a VPoE's career evolve?

The seniority level a VP has reached lets them consider just about any role in a technical organization. If they have entrepreneurial ambitions, they can absolutely take on the role of CTO or even CEO. If they want to return to a more technical role, they can go back to a more operational scope with an Engineering Manager or Tech Lead position.