What Heads of Engineering Actually Do
Heads of Engineering balance technical leadership with team building, adapting their focus as the company grows.
A Day in the Life
Team Building & Management
Building the engineering organization:
- Hiring — Defining roles, sourcing, interviewing, closing candidates
- Onboarding — Setting up new engineers for success
- Performance management — 1:1s, feedback, growth conversations
- Team structure — Organizing teams as they grow
- Compensation — Leveling, bands, equity considerations
Technical Leadership
Maintaining technical excellence:
- Architecture decisions — Major technical direction and trade-offs
- Code review — Especially security-critical or architectural changes
- Technical standards — Coding practices, testing requirements, documentation
- Technical debt — Balancing delivery speed with maintainability
- Hands-on contribution — Varies by stage, often 20-50% of time early on
Process & Culture
Building how the team works:
- Development process — Sprint structure, deployment practices, incident response
- Engineering culture — Values, norms, decision-making
- Cross-functional collaboration — Working with product, design, and business
- Communication — Team meetings, documentation, transparency
Strategic Partnership
Working with leadership:
- Roadmap planning — Translating business goals to technical plans
- Resource planning — Headcount, budget, timeline negotiations
- Executive updates — Progress, risks, technical strategy
- Founder partnership — Often working directly with technical founders
Head of Engineering vs. VP Engineering vs. CTO
Head of Engineering
- Stage: Seed to Series B typically
- Team size: 5-30 engineers usually
- Hands-on: Often 20-50% coding
- Focus: Building team while contributing technically
- Reports to: CEO or CTO
VP of Engineering
- Stage: Series B+ typically
- Team size: 30-200+ engineers
- Hands-on: Little to no coding
- Focus: Scaling organization, building management
- Reports to: CTO or CEO
CTO
- Stage: All stages
- Team size: Any
- Hands-on: Varies widely
- Focus: Technical vision, external representation
- Reports to: CEO
Note: Titles vary significantly by company. Some early-stage companies hire "VP Engineering" for what others call "Head of Engineering." Focus on the actual responsibilities, not the title.
What to Look For by Stage
Seed / Series A (5-15 engineers)
Priorities:
- Strong hands-on technical skills
- Experience hiring and growing small teams
- Can build culture and processes from scratch
- Comfortable with ambiguity
- Has scaled through similar stage before
Red flags:
- Only managed large teams (may struggle without support)
- Wants to be purely strategic immediately
- No hands-on coding in last 2+ years
Series B (15-40 engineers)
Priorities:
- Experience scaling engineering teams
- Has built management layers (hired managers)
- Process development without over-engineering
- Cross-functional collaboration experience
- Balance of hands-on and leadership
Red flags:
- Never scaled past 10-15 engineers
- Too hands-on to delegate effectively
- No experience building management layer
Series C+ (40+ engineers)
Priorities:
- Scaled large engineering organizations
- Executive-level communication and presence
- Built multiple management layers
- Organizational design experience
- Strategic thinking and planning
Red flags:
- Only experience at large companies (may over-process)
- Can't delegate technical decisions
- No experience at current company size
Interview Framework
Assessment Dimensions
- Technical depth — Architecture decisions, technical trade-offs, still can code?
- Leadership experience — Team building, hiring, performance management
- Scaling experience — How they've handled growth stages
- Cultural fit — Values, communication style, founder compatibility
- Strategic thinking — Roadmap planning, prioritization, resource allocation
Interview Process (Recommended)
- Recruiter screen — Fit and interest
- Hiring manager (CEO/CTO) — Culture and strategic fit
- Technical deep dive — Architecture, technical decisions
- Leadership scenarios — Team situations, conflict, hiring
- Team meet — Engineers meet candidate
- References — Especially former direct reports
Critical Questions
- "Tell me about a time you had to scale your team quickly. What worked and what didn't?"
- "How do you balance hands-on contribution with leadership responsibilities?"
- "Describe a major technical decision you made. How did you approach it?"
- "How do you think about building culture as a team grows?"
- "What's your approach to handling an underperforming engineer?"
Market Compensation (2026)
| Stage | Base Salary | Equity (4yr) | Total Comp |
|---|---|---|---|
| Seed | $180K-$240K | 1-2% | Highly variable |
| Series A | $200K-$280K | 0.5-1.5% | $350K-$600K |
| Series B | $240K-$320K | 0.25-0.75% | $400K-$700K |
| Series C+ | $280K-$380K | 0.1-0.4% | $500K-$900K |
Note: Equity value is highly speculative at earlier stages. Later-stage companies offer more liquid equity but smaller percentages.
Common Hiring Mistakes
1. Hiring Too Senior Too Early
Executives from large companies may struggle with startup ambiguity and lack of support. They're used to managing managers, not writing code.
2. Hiring Too Junior Too Late
Great senior engineers aren't automatically great leaders. As you scale, you need someone who's been through it before.
3. Not Testing Hands-On Skills
At early stages, the Head of Engineering needs to contribute technically. Test for current coding ability, not just past experience.
4. Ignoring Cultural Fit
Engineering leaders shape culture significantly. A mismatch with founder values creates ongoing friction.
5. Focusing Only on Technical Credentials
Leadership, hiring, and people management skills matter as much as technical ability.