If you have both, what is the role of the CTO vs the VP of Engineering at your organization?
Chief Information Officer in Manufacturing, 10,001+ employees
Typically the CTO more strategic and the VP of Engineering is more focused on a specific area where as the CTO is focused on every aspect of technology for the business. Chief Technical Officer in Software, 11 - 50 employees
A VP Engineering is typically focused tactically/internally on running Engineering. They deal with process, implementation, coaching, mentoring, software development lifecycle. They ensure a consistent cadence of delivery, uptime, SLAs, etc.A CTO is typically focused strategically/externally on technical product/market fit. They drive the architecture, ideating with Product and Clients on key strategic features, new product lines, etc. They drive how/when/why a company should adopt new technologies (e.g. AI/Machine Learning, etc) and they relate these back to why the product/technology will benefit the business. This person should be out visible in the industry, sometimes at conferences, sometimes at strategic client meetings.
[FWIW, sometimes companies move a person into a CTO role because they "aren't good at leading people" and that person turns that role into one where the individual is locking themselves in a room and writing code/or designing something. This isn't a CTO. One could make the case that it might be a Chief Architect, but it's not CTO.]
Program Manager in Software, 10,001+ employees
The role of a CTO is more strategic and he is the one who will lead the strategic initiatives from a Product or service offering perspective. He/She will help defining the future Technology roadmap which will be inline with the business objectives of the company. He/She could own Centers of excellence or practices contributing to research and development or delivering specialized skills. However a VP of Engineering could be a very focused role focusing on the Engineering practices and he/she will be entrusted with ensuring best practice adoption, and driving excellence in the defined processes. He/She will also own the process part of things and comes up with ways to measure things like developer productivity/quality etc.,CIO in Consumer Goods, 11 - 50 employees
CTO role is a strategic one versus vp of engineering is more in to operations & delivery. Senior VP, Global CTO Hybrid IT in Software, 10,001+ employees
Not on a cop-out this is deeply individualized question based on the individual and what the organization requires. Traditionally there are 4 types of CTO's: a) pure technologists who are looking at where the technology or market is headed. Often, as previously mentioned, they are former VP Engineering who have a orientation for technology and not people mangement b) R&D CTO's who can lead small teams developing the next version of software/hardware/prototypes for where the tech should be headed c) marketing type CTO's who work with large customers, industry pundits and are good advocates for your company and technology and d) the rare individuals who can do all the above. I have seen all of these individuals work alongside VPE's in the past and successfully. if this is a personal question or an organizational dilemma DM me and I'll be happy to chat about it further., Content you might like
Sales/Marketing22%
Competitive Analysis41%
Product Innovation20%
Training9%
Business Forecasting3%
Other (please note in the comments)2%
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Follow up to my previous travel question… What is your favorite place to travel to for work and why?
Director of Systems Operations in Healthcare and Biotech, 10,001+ employees
By far the best place for me to travel was Shanghai. Loved the city and the vibe. Singapore is also an amazing place to have to be stationed for work.