Do You Really Need a VP of Engineering?
Or just a senior engineer to solve today's problem?
This question comes up often in growing companies and startups, especially when technical complexity outpaces the current team. The decision isn't always clear, and the wrong choice can set you back months.
Most growing companies already have someone making engineering decisions, such as a founding CTO, senior developer, or informal tech lead. But as teams grow beyond 10-15 people, these leaders often hit their limits or need to spend their valuable time elsewhere. They're overwhelmed, technical decisions get bottlenecked, and processes start breaking down. The natural instinct is to hire "up,” and bring in a VP of Engineering to solve everything at once.
The wish list for this hire often includes:
Technical expertise in the company’s market
Architecture skills
Hands-on engineering ability
A hiring network
Experience shipping at scale
Operational leadership
But this wish list reveals a fundamental misunderstanding. A VP of Engineering isn't a super-engineer who codes their way out of technical problems. Sure, AI can help with productivity but expecting one person to tackle every technical challenge while also building long-term systems rarely works. And it often leads to burnout and turnover.
A VP of Engineering's value comes from building systems, structure, and translating business needs into technical roadmaps and output. They create hiring processes, set delivery standards, oversee quality, and manage communication between engineering and other teams. They work to ensure the team isn't just producing features but also maintaining a healthy codebase and engineering culture. This foundational work takes time to produce long term results.
The tension is that when technical problems are urgent, foundational work can feel too slow. Immediate technical fires can be mistaken for a need for strategic leadership, when what's actually needed is someone who can solve specific problems quickly.
Focus Before You Hire
Before committing to a VP of Engineering hire, clarify:
Is this a single technical problem that a senior or principal engineer could address?
Have you mapped the technical organization, clarified responsibilities, and documented workflows?
Are the main issues about scaling processes, team dynamics, or technical debt that's slowing development?
Does your budget and timeline align with the role's expectations?
Will this hire have the authority and resources to succeed?
Could interim or fractional leadership cover the gap while you assess long-term needs?
If your problems are primarily about solving specific technical challenges (i.e. performance issues, architecture decisions, code quality) you probably need better technical execution, not strategic leadership. Senior engineers can often resolve these issues in weeks or months, while a VP of Engineering focuses on building systems that take 6-12 months to show results.
Making the Right Match
Strong VPs build for scale, but they need a solid foundation to succeed. If the challenge is a targeted technical problem, hire a specialist first. If it's about building teams, improving reliability, or sustaining delivery, strategic leadership is the right investment.
Hiring the wrong fit wastes capital and slows progress. Define the role clearly, tie it to business needs, and be honest about your company's stage and readiness. When the role matches reality, both the leader and the company are set up for success.
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