CTO, VP Engineering, and Chief Architect—What’s the Difference, When Do I Hire Them, and How Much Should I Invest? | Bowdoin (2024)

FAQs

Who is higher VP of engineering or CTO? ›

Frequently asked questions on CTO and VP of Engineering

Yes. The VP of Engineering will work directly with and report to the CTO. Both roles are executive-level positions and will work closely together. The VPE will usually report directly to the CTO, while the CTO reports to the CEO.

Both deal with technology infrastructure, but while a CTO focuses on designing, researching, building, and testing systems, a VP of engineering focuses more on implementing those ideas and systems across company-wide networks. This is the most significant difference between the two professions.

While the CTO is responsible for overseeing the organization's technological advancements as a whole, the head of Engineering is instead responsible for the elements that lie within the engineering team.

A CTO is an individual responsible for the technical vision of a company, whereas a VPE focuses on the practical and operational side of the business from a technological point of view. Both roles require good leadership, vision and an understanding of the company's founding principles.

VP of Engineering Within a Company

This role will usually report to the chief executive officer (CEO) or chief technology officer (CTO).

Average starting Salary for CTO in India is around ₹6.6 Lakhs per year (₹55.0k per month). 3 years of minimum experience is required to be a CTO. What is the highest salary for a CTO in India? Highest salary that a CTO can earn is ₹101.0 Lakhs per year (₹8.4L per month).

New data from Kruze Consulting's salary data from more than 200 startups show that CTOs, on average, are on higher salaries than their CEO counterparts.

The CTO usually reports directly to a company's chief information officer (CIO) but may also report to the chief executive officer (CEO) of the firm.

As a rule, the CTO reports to the chief executive officer. CTOs play an important role in the C-suite, as they are often in positions that enable them to embrace newer and innovative technologies and help steer organizations toward better efficiency and performance by adopting new tools.

In a larger enterprise environment, the VP of engineering generally reports to the chief technology officer (CTO), whereas the CTO reports directly to the CEO his or herself. But in the case of a small business or startup organization, the VP may report to the CEO and take on the roles of CTO and VPE as one.

Who does the chief architect report to? ›

In summary, chief software architects are responsible for controlling and maintaining the product development process. They report any progress to the chief technology officer and deal with all stakeholders.

A Chief Engineer is the head of an engineering department.

A CTO is a Chief Technology Officer. A CTO sits between the CIO and the IT director and generally acts as a right-hand man to the CIO. A CTO will be involved in a lot of conversations about strategies and planning, but they are also going to be the direct link to the IT staff, help desk, and lead engineers.

The job of a Vice President of Engineering (VPE) is to make the engineering organization successful, and everything that comes with that goal. The responsibilities often ascribed to the VPE include leading the sometimes large teams of engineers and engineering managers to actually build and deliver quality software.

Some reasons for why a company should hire a VP of Engineering are: Your company is expanding and you need someone to manage the growth of your engineering team. You want to improve communication and collaboration between different departments in your company.

The average Vice President of Engineering salary in the United States is $277,423 as of March 28, 2023, but the range typically falls between $245,133 and $315,953.

Is a VP considered C-level? No. A Vice President, or VP, is considered to be part of V-level management and reports directly to the C-level.

Both a technical and strategic executive, a CTO must cope with stress related to leadership and coming from the development teams, the other CxOs, and customers. As the manager of the company's roadmap, a Chief Technical Officer's planning has to accommodate many different sources of constraint.

The CTO is a vital executive role focused on developing long-term technology goals, staying abreast of industry tech trends, and working with other executives on a company's direction.

Is CTO a senior role? ›

CTOs are individuals who hold senior executive roles in their organisation. Because of this, they usually report directly to the CEO. They may also be expected to make presentations to the board of directors. In some cases, a CTO may also be a board member.

How much equity do CTO's receive on average? It's difficult to say what the average amount of equity a CTO receives. Broadly speaking, they can expect anything from 0.5-50% equity in the startup they're working for. Usually this amount will be reflective of the risk that has to be taken.

According to PayScale, the average CTO salary is $164,349 annually. The salary varies for companies of different industries and locations. But mostly, CTO salary ranges from $90,000 to $248,000. The CTO is the highest tech executive position, thus the high salary rate.

Founder / CTO Equity Compensation / Stock Options

For example, Founders / CTOs at companies that have raised Over 30M typically get between 250K and 5M+ shares. However, smaller companies that have raised Under 1M are more generous with their stock compensation as it ranges between 2 and 40%+ for Founders / CTOs.

The CTO usually reports directly to a company's chief information officer (CIO), but may also report to the chief executive officer (CEO) of the firm.

Tip 1: Be exposed to more and more challenges to grow over time. “CTO is a job for engineers who know the technical ins and outs but also contribute business ideas and show leadership skills.

The CTO is. A typical and proper span of control for a C-level executive is eight to 12 direct reports (presuming a capable leadership team at the next level).

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).

In information technology (IT), a chief architect is a c-level executive whose job is to look closely at how IT functions can be centralized so that departments across the company can work together seamlessly. The chief architect may also be called the enterprise architect (EA).

Chief Architect software is the professional tool of choice for architects, home builders, remodelers, and interior designers.

What is the difference between head of engineering and VP? ›

short-term goals. Directors and VPs have different takes on goals and how long to plan ahead on them. Directors of engineering have shorter-term goals, often focusing on how to make the next quarter better than the previous one. VPs are more likely to plan long-term—usually at least for the next year.

Chief engineer is a prestigious senior position and usually held by the highest-ranking engineer in a company's engineering department. Job duties include overseeing engineers and technicians, developing designs, estimating costs, and executing plans following regulatory standards.

A good CTO is well-versed in technology. The qualities of a CTO include having accumulated vast technical experience by having worked on different levels of development and have dealt with many challenges. They would know the different programming languages, their major uses with pros and cons.

CIO could be Chief Information Officer or Chief Innovation Officer. CTO could be Chief Technology Officer or Chief Transformation Officer.

A VP of engineering is an executive who manages development teams. VPs of engineering are responsible for ensuring that design requirements are met, overseeing the consistency of user experiences, and managing a team of engineers and developers.

The VP of Product is interfacing more with sales, marketing, and executives who care about business things. The VP of Engineering is interfacing more with engineers who care about technical things. Product is more strategy. Engineering is more execution.

The CTO usually reports directly to a company's chief information officer (CIO) but may also report to the chief executive officer (CEO) of the firm.

The CTO usually reports directly to a company's chief information officer (CIO), but may also report to the chief executive officer (CEO) of the firm.

What is below VP of Engineering? ›

Now, we're going to discuss what makes a VP of Engineering successful and take a deeper dive into what separates this position from the levels below it, specifically a Director of Engineering (DOE).

The COO usually has more work scope than an Executive Vice President. But the Executive Vice President generally has more power and responsibility than a COO. That is why an Executive Vice President is higher than a COO.

Is a VP considered C-level? No. A Vice President, or VP, is considered to be part of V-level management and reports directly to the C-level.

A software developer career jump to CTO and beyond

Beware of job titles, but consider job descriptions carefully. The next step could be becoming lead developer or a tech architect.

Typically, a professional must work in the IT field for at least 15 years before seeking employment as a CTO. This experience is crucial for developing the skills to lead an entire organization's technology strategy.

CEO – Chief Executive Officer

This is the highest-ranking role in a company. CEOs oversee all business operations and decisions and are responsible for the success of the organization. All other C-suite executives report to the CEO. In some cases, the founder or co-founder of the company serves as the CEO.

The COO reports to the CEO, but everyone else – mid-level managers like sales managers, marketing managers, and product managers, as well as other C-level executives like the CFO and the CTO – report to the COO.

The VP of operations often works closely with executive leaders and the heads of several departments, such as finance, IT, sales and HR. They may have an operations manager or operations associate report directly to them, depending on the structure of the company.