VP of Engineering Decision Authority at 100+ Employees: Role Clarity for Scalable Execution

Decision Authority of the VP of Engineering at Scale

At 100+ employees, the VP of Engineering owns delivery, quality, and team structure. The CTO sets long-term technical vision; the Director of Engineering handles daily execution. Decision authority is split: strategic planning (VP), architectural direction (CTO), tactical execution (Director).

Strategic Versus Operational Decision-Making

Strategic decisions (VP owns, CTO approves):

• Multi-quarter engineering roadmaps tied to business goals
• Hiring plans and headcount allocation
• Engineering budget and vendor contracts
• Platform investments and technical debt prioritization
• Org design and reporting structure changes

Operational decisions (Director owns, VP approves):

• Sprint planning and release scheduling
• Performance reviews for ICs
• Team-level process or tooling tweaks
• Bug triage and incident response
• Daily resource allocation within teams

Rule → Example
VP sets what to build and team size → "We're building feature X with two new squads."
Director decides when and how → "Sprint 14 will deliver feature X using Kanban."
Engineering manager assigns who does what → "Alice owns the API, Bob owns the UI."

Defining Boundaries with CTO and Director Roles

VP vs CTO boundary:

• VP: delivery velocity, team health | CTO: technical direction, innovation
• VP: reports engineering metrics | CTO: presents tech strategy to board
• VP: build-vs-buy calls | CTO: defines tech stack options
• VP: culture and retention | CTO: standards and principles

VP vs Director boundary:

• VP: sets team capacity | Director: assigns work to hit targets
• VP: approves new managers | Director: coaches them
• VP: deployment frequency goals | Director: builds the CI/CD
• VP: allocates headcount | Director: staffs projects

Core Responsibilities and Scope of Autonomy

Full Autonomy (VP):

• Engineering team hiring (within budget)
• Internal engineering processes and tools
• Manager performance and compensation
• Team rituals and communication
• Engineering metrics/reporting cadence

Shared Authority (needs sign-off):

• Budget increases (CFO)
• Major tech platform changes (CTO)
• Cross-functional process changes (peers)
• Org restructures affecting other departments (CEO)
• Senior engineer comp bands (CHRO)

No Authority (owned elsewhere):

• Product roadmap priorities (Product VP)
• Company-wide comp philosophy (CHRO)
• Tech vision and multi-year architecture (CTO)
• Individual engineer task assignment (Manager)

At this size, the VP translates business strategy into a technical roadmap, makes hiring and tooling calls, runs delivery metrics, builds teams, and represents engineering at the exec table - without needing approval for daily management.

Execution, Accountability, and Cross-Functional Leverage

Once you’re at 100+ people, the VP moves from hands-on oversight to running through systems, delegation, and cross-functional collaboration. Success means putting technical strategy into action with clear frameworks and performance tracking.

Aligning Engineering with Business Goals

Alignment Methods by Planning Horizon

Critical Alignment Activities

• Convert product requirements into technical milestones with clear success criteria
• Map team capacity to business initiatives using prioritization
• Link engineering projects to revenue or customer outcomes
• Use go/no-go frameworks for tech investments based on ROI

Rule → Example
Translate business goals into engineering work → "Product wants feature Y live by Q3, so we staff two teams and set a milestone."

Collaboration and Cross-Functional Stakeholder Management

Stakeholder Collaboration Framework

Cross-Functional Influence Tactics

• Set shared success metrics (e.g., time-to-market, defect rate)
• Build cross-functional teams with RACI matrices
• Set up escalation paths with SLAs for conflicts
• Use data to drive decisions, not opinions

Companies using influence networks beat those relying on hierarchy - 47% higher cross-functional project success. The VP builds these networks through regular engagement and open communication.

Operationalizing Technical Strategy Across Teams

Strategy Operationalization Checklist

• Set architecture standards (software, data, infrastructure)
• Build tech evaluation criteria (security, scalability, skills)
• Enforce code quality gates (tests, security, performance)
• Standardize deployment (CI/CD, rollback, approvals)
• Require docs for major features, APIs, and ops

Team Delegation Model

Rule → Example
VP sets 70/20/10 allocation for features, infra, and experiments → "70% of work on features, 20% on infra, 10% on R&D."

Performance Metrics and Change Management

Engineering Performance Metrics Hierarchy

Change Management Framework

• Signal: Watch for metric thresholds breaking
• Root cause: Use structured incident reviews
• Intervention: Build measurable improvement plans
• Communicate: Share rationale, timeline, and goals
• Validate: Check metrics 30–60 days after

Rule → Example
Don’t track individual developer productivity → "No leaderboards for commits - track team delivery instead."

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the typical decision-making responsibilities of a VP of Engineering in a company with over 100 employees?

Direct Decision Authority (No Approval Required)

• Hire or terminate engineering managers and individual contributors within approved headcount
• Promote engineers up to senior engineer level
• Allocate engineers across product teams
• Approve engineering tool purchases under $25,000 per year
• Set sprint cycles, release schedules, and dev methodologies
• Establish code review standards and quality gates
• Decide on-call rotations and incident response protocols

Collaborative Decision Authority (Joint Approval with Other Executives)

• Define annual engineering budget and headcount (with CFO/CEO)
• Select major infrastructure platforms or approve architecture changes (with CTO)
• Prioritize product roadmap items when resources are tight (with VP Product)
• Approve VP-level promotions or create new director roles (with CEO/HR)
• Make build vs. buy decisions over $100,000 (with CTO/CFO)

Advisory Role (Input Provided, Final Decision Elsewhere)

• Company-wide strategy shifts or new market entry
• Acquisition targets or partnership deals
• Executive compensation structure
• Office location or remote work policy decisions

Engineering Team Structure (100+ Employees)

Common Decision Boundaries by Company Stage

How does the role of VP of Engineering differ from the CTO in a mid-sized tech company?

Role Boundary Comparison

Decision Authority Split

Reporting Structure (100–500 Employees)

What is the scope of influence for a VP of Engineering regarding company strategy and product development?

Direct Influence Areas

• Engineering capacity planning that impacts product roadmap velocity
• Technical feasibility assessments that can reshape or remove features
• Quality standards that set release timing
• Team morale and retention affecting delivery
• Technical debt prioritization impacting future development speed

Indirect Influence Mechanisms

Typical Influence by Decision Type

VP Executive Leadership Participation

• Sits on executive team
• Participates in strategic planning
• Influence increases when:
  • Technical capabilities are a key differentiator
  • Engineering is 30%+ of company headcount