Glossary
What is head of engineering versus cto?
A head of engineering runs the engineering organisation day to day, while a CTO owns technology strategy at board level; in small startups one person often does both until the company is large enough to split them.
The distinction matters at hiring time because the two roles attract different people and different packages. A head of engineering is an operator: hiring, delivery, process, the health of the teams. A CTO is a strategist who represents technology to the board, investors and customers.
Inflating a head of engineering role to CTO to win a candidate is the common and expensive mistake, because the candidate expects strategic scope the company cannot give and leaves within two years.
Does a Series A startup need a CTO or a head of engineering?
Usually a head of engineering, or a VP Engineering, if the founders still own the technical vision. A CTO hire makes sense when technology strategy has become a board-level question the founders can no longer own themselves.