Why Scale-Ups Are Stopping Their Search for a CTO and Hiring a VP of Engineering Instead

One of my clients called me a few months ago.

He'd just raised €15M. His founding CTO was brilliant — a real builder who had coded everything from scratch.

The problem: he now needed to go from 8 to 40 engineers in 12 months.

"I think I need a new CTO."

That wasn't what he needed.

What he needed was a VP of Engineering.

The confusion between the two profiles is costly. And it's very common in FR/BE scale-ups.

The CTO — what is it?

• Long-term technology vision
• Structural architecture decisions
• External presence (enterprise clients, investors, talent recruitment)
• Interface between tech and the board

The VP of Engineering — what is it?

• Delivery. Cadence. Quality.
• Team recruitment and upskilling
• Processes, rituals, engineering culture
• Taking a team from 8 to 40 without breaking everything

In the early years, the CTO does both. That's normal. It's even a strength.

But beyond a certain stage, forcing a founding CTO to become a VP of Engineering often makes both of them miserable — him and his teams.

What we observe in the FR/BE market:

• Scale-ups in hypergrowth (Series A/B) have massively hired VP Engs over the past 18 months
• Many keep their founding CTO on vision and external matters, and hire a VP Eng for internal execution
• Companies that confuse the two profiles lose 6 to 12 months of delivery — and often their CTO along with it

This isn't about ego or hierarchy.

It's about what your team needs right now, not in 3 years.

If you're scaling your tech team, ask yourself one simple question:

Is your problem "where are we going?" or "how do we get there?"

The answer determines which profile to hire.