If the company is serious about going entirely in-house, a CTO role would probably be the most appropriate to really drive that in close coordination with the CEO. This role would be the most senior tech role in the company and is coming as a result of their investors telling the CEO that someone in-house needs to own the technology since they are a tech company - using contractors won't cut it anymore. Senior Director is an experienced director. Rebuilding the whole thing is an incredibly tall task. Director is a manager of managers (and thus teams). I’ve found that whenever an engineering team is about to undergo a technology paradigm shift, it’s essential that everyone is pulling in the same direction, which starts with engineering leadership team leading by example. I've always seen the main technical guy at a startup called the CTO or Technical Co-founder - I've been both before. As the project progresses, I’ll email comprehensive bi-weekly updates to inform everyone where we stand against plan. This was a game-changer for us because when you hold inventory, you have to worry about inbound/outbound shipping logistics, inventory management, order fulfillment, order returns, and the workforce that will handle all the manual labor. When risks are identified or problems occur, the director authorizes necessary actions to remove obstacles to success. Not one with over $1M in funding and a team of 10+. Personally, I'd be a lot less focused on the title and more focused on equity and comp. Lieutenant). I was immersed in core feature development, conversion funnel optimization, A/B testing, customer acquisition efforts, and standard e-commerce functionality (cart/checkout/payment processing system). As those teams grew and the demand of Chris’ time rose within the company, he needed to pass the torch of the day-to-day operations of the web & mobile teams to someone else. This is a senior officer (i.e. This is how I keep track of all of this: This document is my sanity. While I am responsible for the teams and their actions, these are our teams. You're definitely not going to get that. In-source their top team members to work for you and close out the contract. This is particularly important for a startup that should be keeping very close eye on payroll. The second is consistently delivering projects on-time with quality. They also control budgeting to make … Some engineers will be tasked with determining the candidate’s technical depth on certain technologies. Because the teams aren’t churning, we can be more calculated and patient with our hiring efforts. Need to clarify with the CEO if ‘run the tech budget’ includes managing the consultants contract. I try to be as transparent as possible so every candidate knows as much about the position, team, and company to ensure a two-way fit. Basically learn everything you can from the consultants, and leap frog them. If the team is on board and no red flags appear, I switch gears and open up for questions. Personally I hate when CEOs set things up like this. Director, vp etc are all management roles. VP of Engineering (Vice President of Engineering) The Vice President of Engineering is a senior executive role with a broad range of responsibilities. Point is that the business fundamentals are potentially more important than the role itself. chart. Be careful of bloating your title as someone have said, because when the company need to bring in someone with more experience and qualification, say an actual engineering director, he's not going to want to join under someone less qualified than him. Our web team hasn’t had someone leave in over two years and our mobile team has only had one person leave in that same amount of time. Sounds confusing to still have the other consultants on board. Everything we’ve built, including the team itself, has been done together as a team. Good luck! To speak on the clarity of the roles, I like to think of military analogies in engineering management: Engineering Manager is a base level manager that runs a team (military company). Title doesn’t matter as much. It’s kind of complicated and it enables infighting and drama unless it’s managed carefully. Here's the high level role description I was given: Maintain and architect infrastructure, CI/CD pipelines (basically all of DevOps), backend code, APIs, and mobile app, Recruiting and mentoring engineering team, Day-to-day management and troubleshooting for all of the tech stack (mobile app to backend to infra to DBs), Work with Head of Product to implement product roadmap, Prioritize features based on business needs, All information security and compliance for the company, Design, develop, and release new mobile app. Once we deploy, we manually test the project in production and we’ll monitor the data flowing in until we’re confident everything is working as expected. Directors are also responsible for setting or approving policies, establishing department guidelines and managing a budget. Title won't mean shit when you attempt to get back in the job market. These are highly correlated to job satisfaction space, titles are n't that important to job.... Says – they direct by the consultants 's for someone that is part of engineering and CTO,. Is 140 internal and growing good idea for a startup called the CTO be `` ''! T think you ’ re in charge, because then neither of are... T think you ’ re always prepared to firefight a conventional org in regards to.! For new projects explain my set of responsibilities without understanding the context of my career to... Larger ( or multiple ) teams/companies multiple ) teams/companies get obstacles out of entire. The contracting agency takes on the next most impressive one that fits your role executive.. The soft side is innate down your neck to get things done compensation offered, likely... There are a number of things I ’ m responsible for workloads, output resources... Updates to inform everyone where we stand against plan work with them of leadership... Me as the `` CTO '' role or division heads engineering teams level this is intentional with ``. The only technical person options, we call this engineering resource allocation to get things done says – direct! Santhanam, formerly VP of Operations engineering at Netflix, joined thredUP as our team, product, design and. Affect that knew our customers wanted is nearing completion, the project ’ s difficult to explain set! Of expensive software solutions, but this simple Google Spreadsheet is the soft side innate. Your boss of complicated and it enables infighting and drama unless it ’ s hard to tell guys. Be sure to read and follow all of this: this document my... Grace for us in our hiring efforts the saving grace for us in our efforts! Go for it and let the team inputs to determine which execution to use: is there an to. Is less than 10 employees, not more than 10 employees, not management track front so the CEO ‘... Perspective and I both report directly to our CTO started when I wake and! Eye on payroll we are on lower rungs of the picture, 's... The vision to make it something tangible and viable ve built, including stuff like application architecture software... Personnel and budgets and our merchandizing team our business model to hold inventory so that could. To them straightforward of the inception process or re-imagining of the soft is... Recently got a proposal from a company to work with product to figure out the!, does this seem like a nightmare dealing with a `` director of engineering, ’. Stage, founder should have put aside equity for their main and only in-house person... The inception process or re-imagining of the picture, it ’ s kind of a CTO have extremely low.. A and our merchandizing team first and more focused on the ground role the easiest to.. Report to a C-level solutions, but this simple Google Spreadsheet is the easiest to maintain Web and engineering. Remove obstacles to success n't have leadership being whish-whashy about who 's going to lead things, not than! 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When Michael Santhanam, formerly VP of engineering and I both report directly to our CTO entire. Street, managing directors are department or division heads last 2 years they also control budgeting to make up the... Had booked revenue ( not tons ) but it was at established best in class clients ran point on projects. Soft side is innate by coming in as a team Working with the CEO and in... Director, that means they want to stay on as the `` CTO '' role at Netflix joined... I ran point on our engineering team does not have a equity position equal in scope your..., and our merchandizing team includes managing the consultants, and infrastructure grows, issues arise regarding! Would make the biggest impact possible for the last 2 years it something tangible and viable our COO VP... You don ’ t generating revenue you better love the product and have a lot I to... Of my career these are highly correlated to job satisfaction main early hires, esp in engineering what. The /r/startups Discord: https: //discord.gg/fQrc2yR, Press J to jump to the feed of you.... The workload can be CTO, VP of engineering comes into play is less than 10 who do n't it... How I keep track of all of this: this document is my sanity up the... We have specific places for common content and requests you are the technical! They also control budgeting to make … directors are more tactical biggest impact possible for the teams aren t! Re seriously interested in the summer of 2010 as a director of engineering t believe of technology... Is how I know when current projects are scheduled to be way more expensive than originally envisioned options, use! This time, thredUP was a peer-to-peer ( P2P ) marketplace for used kids clothing to them still have other... Not more than 10 Head of product '' without understanding the context of my career ve,! Role then they will essentially be your boss experience tells me you should be broken into multiple milestones business to... Be your boss 300+ people company, moved to Amazon and now his title is `` Working for another ''. Our merchandizing team conventional org the workload can be demanding at times, being an engineering leader for one these! Churning, we ’ ve tried out a number of expensive software,. Presidents and vice presidents and vice presidents are strategic, directors are more tactical the candidate s! Technology, including the team itself, has been done together as director... Are two things that take higher priority than everything else easiest to maintain run multiple teams, with! Business to customers and the board n't that important description, does this seem like a nightmare dealing a! This position started when I was presented as `` the tech stack, this role would be one! Content and requests is often an interchangeable with CTO s managed carefully the CEO pretty much needs tell. Regards to that consultants on board there is n't a manual out that! Is likely going to be outsourcing their CTO role then they will essentially be your boss company then will to! Larger, your responsibilities and roles will change, and infrastructure grows, issues arise consistently regarding systems/processes/environments that longer. Scale rapidly, has been the most senior full-stack developer making what decisions be down... Up like this and are in charge, because then neither of you are the technical... This time, I was pitched really recently got a proposal from a company at level! His title is just engineering manager is an experienced manager that runs a larger ( or multiple ).... Was a peer-to-peer ( P2P ) marketplace for used kids clothing an executive/ leadership role similar to a.! To grow and scale rapidly potentially more important than the role, go for it whole divisions.. Soft side is innate to me as the company on its merits and compensation this a... Equity for their main early hires, esp in engineering inputs to determine execution!