VP of Engineering at Every Stage: How a Delivery-Focused Leader Evolves from Process Hacker to Culture Carrier

"From writing JIRA tickets in the trenches to architecting org-wide engineering excellence, the VPE journey is all about scaling humans, systems, and delivery without losing your soul (or your roadmap)."

Introduction

The Vice President of Engineering (VPE) is one of the most quietly powerful roles in a growing engineering org. Less flashy than the CTO, and more operationally brutal than a PM, the VPE's job is to make sure the trains run on time and nobody gets run over.

But here’s the thing: at different stages of growth, this role means wildly different things. In a 3-person company, it might not even make sense to have a VPE. At 100+ engineers? You can't live without one.

This post walks through how the VPE role evolves across 4 key phases:

• When your engineering department has 3, 10, 25, and 100 people

We'll break down:

• The vibe
• Responsibilities
• Hats to wear (and when to ditch them)
• Hats to avoid (and who should wear them instead)
• Pitfalls
• What success actually looks like

With a healthy dose of memes and a little tough love.

❌ Phase 1: Team of 3 Engineers ("The Role That Shouldn’t Exist Yet")

Does this role make sense?

No.

Hiring a VP of Engineering when you have three engineers is like hiring a wedding planner before you’ve been on a first date. It’s premature optimization.

The Vibe

If you somehow hired one, they’re probably bored, underutilized, and constantly floating process suggestions that everyone ignores.

Responsibilities

• There shouldn’t be any. It’s too early.

Hats to Avoid ❌

• Process Architect: Just talk to each other. You don’t need OKRs yet.
• Performance Manager: You haven’t even launched. Don’t run 360 reviews.

What to Do Instead

• The CTO or tech lead should lead and manage the team directly.
• Founders should handle product/engineering coordination.

Pitfalls

• Too much structure too early
• Bureaucracy before velocity

⚙️ Phase 2: Team of 10 Engineers ("The Emerging Enabler")

Does this role make sense?

Yes, if you’re growing fast.

At this size, it can start to make sense to bring in a VPE or someone growing into the role. You have pods forming. You need someone obsessed with team health and delivery.

The Vibe

You’re coaching, building systems, unblocking engineers, and pulling together delivery processes that don’t feel like homework.

Responsibilities

• Define a sane process for planning and delivery
• Coach team leads and mid-level ICs
• Help with hiring and retention
• Build early career ladders

Hats to Wear ✅

• Process Whisperer: Make agile work for real humans
• Culture Builder: Codify how engineers work and grow
• Delivery Tracker: Watch trends, not every ticket

Hats to Avoid ❌

• Scrum Lord: Don’t run every standup yourself
  • Instead: Teach leads how to run their own meetings
• CTO Clone: Don’t own architectural decisions
  • Instead: Partner with the CTO; don't duplicate them

What Success Looks Like

• Engineers feel supported and unblocked
• You’ve added predictability without rigidity
• Attrition is low, and recruiting is heating up

Pitfalls

• Micromanaging the backlog
• Over-formalizing everything

🏗️ Phase 3: Team of 25 Engineers ("Manager of Managers")

Does this role make sense?

Absolutely. This is your time.

The CTO can no longer manage all the leads. People are asking, "What’s our process for promotions?" You are the bridge between execution and leadership.

The Vibe

You’re building systems of systems. You’re coaching managers, running calibration meetings, and coordinating delivery across multiple product teams.

Responsibilities

• Build and mentor the manager layer
• Oversee org-wide delivery
• Run engineering all-hands and rituals
• Drive career development and leveling

Hats to Wear ✅

• Team Architect: Design and evolve the org chart
• Delivery Coach: Ensure cross-team execution stays aligned
• Career Framework Builder: Set fair, motivating structures

Hats to Avoid ❌

• Savior of Every Project
  • Why it's harmful: You burn out and disempower others
  • Better option: Let teams own their roadmap and results
• VP of Product
  • Why it's harmful: You’ll cause trust issues
  • Better option: Partner closely, don’t cross wires

What Success Looks Like

• Eng org runs predictably
• New leads are growing into their roles
• Your best people are sticking around and getting better

Pitfalls

• Becoming a bottleneck
• Skipping 1:1s to do "strategy work"

🧠 Phase 4: Team of 100 Engineers ("Culture Carrier and Strategic Glue")

Does this role make sense?

Yes, and it’s critical.

The org is complex. Teams are siloing. Strategy must translate to execution. This is where VPEs go from tacticians to executives.

The Vibe

You’re in cross-departmental strategy sessions, helping the CTO and CEO steer the company through growth and scale. You’re defining what “great engineering” means.

Responsibilities

• Own org-wide engineering performance
• Represent engineering to the C-suite and board
• Own org structure, promotions, leadership dev
• Build systems for scale: onboarding, leveling, tech ops

Hats to Wear ✅

• Culture Carrier: Maintain excellence at scale
• Exec Collaborator: Shape and translate strategy
• Org Optimizer: Reduce friction, increase flow

Hats to Avoid ❌

• Firefighter-in-Chief
  • Why it's harmful: You can't scale chaos-fighting
  • Do this instead: Build processes and empower directors
• Hands-on Sprint Cop
  • Why it's harmful: It’s not your job to worry about sprint points
  • Do this instead: Let EMs manage local delivery

What Success Looks Like

• Engineering is seen as strategic
• Teams are high-performing and healthy
• Senior leaders are developed internally

Pitfalls

• Losing touch with ICs and ground truth
• Becoming overly abstract or political

🧾 Summary Table

🔑 Advice for Aspiring VPEs

• Don’t chase processes — chase clarity and consistency.
• Your job is people + predictability.
• Stay close to the work without becoming a bottleneck.
• The org is your system to design.
• At scale, culture is your code.

VPEs scale engineering not through code, but through clarity, structure, and care.

Next in the Series: “Engineering Managers at Every Stage: From Team Cheerleader to Org Guardian”