If you’re planning on scaling up, getting your leadership hires right will determine the success of your startup. We often speak to founders who know they need to bring in a senior-level role, but are unsure what role is right for their company. It can be instinctive to advertise for a CTO (Chief Technology Officer) because it’s so important. But what your company really needs might be an Engineering Manager or even in some startups, a Tech Lead. So, what are the differences? And how do you figure out what role is right for your business?

Chief Technology Officer (CTO)

A CTO is your technical visionary. They’re highly knowledgeable about the current market and the latest developments in tech. They drive innovation and implement strategy to boost business growth. Your CTO is responsible for thought leadership and works alongside your wider team to understand the needs of the business and sets and meets key objectives. In a larger company, a CTO will often work in conjunction with a VP of Engineering and take a back seat in hands-on team management. For a startup or scaleup, a base salary can range from £90K- 130K+ with additional perks/ equity options. But sometimes a startup will offer little to no base salary with larger equity options. In the startup stage, the CTO role often falls to you as the founder, but as you scale you need you need to evaluate your skill set. You may be a technical leader in the field and have the ideal skillset for an early startup CTO, but do you have experience scaling a business? As you reach funding series, having this level of experience will be more attractive to investors. This is when you should consider hiring for a CTO role if you don’t already have one. Read our blog for more about what a CTO does and the qualities they should possess.

Engineering Manager 

An Engineering Manager is both a technical and a people leadership role. They are responsible for growing and managing your engineering team. In the early days of a startup when you only have a smaller tech team, an Engineering Manager is not necessarily needed. But as your team scales and takes on a more complex structure with several teams, an Engineering Manager is needed to oversee the process and ensure separate teams are still working together. And as you progress through the different funding rounds, an Engineering Manager will ensure the smooth roll out of tech across all teams and will report to the CTO/CEO for direction. This means your Engineering Manager needs to be a strong team leader and have management experience, not just technical knowledge, or ability. The Engineering Manager will often take on the responsibility around hiring and building out the tech team, as they know what roles/ skills are needed to drive growth. The range base salary for this role in a startup is £85K-110K.

Technical Lead

This is a technical leadership role. If you are an early-stage founder taking on a CTO role with a small team to manage, have you considered bringing onboard a Tech Lead? Whilst you cast your attention ahead to long-term strategy, the Tech Lead will ensure that quality work is being produced and delivered in line with project deadlines. The Tech Lead is usually an experienced engineer who has great team skills who will actively write and produce code whilst leading the team from within. If your team has less than 10 members and doesn’t require complex management or organisation, hiring for this role is a much cheaper option with base salaries ranging from £75K - £100K depending on experience. Once you start scaling up and generate more revenue, you can bring in more leadership roles that the Tech Lead can report to.

What’s the next step?

To understand what role your company needs you need to answer the following questions:

What stage is your company at currently?

What size is your team? How is your team currently deployed? What problem is your company trying to solve with this hire? What is your budget?

What are your short- and long-term goals?

Are you thinking of scaling up soon? Do you already have a firm vision for the future of the company? Are you looking to take a finished product to market? Are you still finalising the product? Are you looking to secure funding in the near future? Once you have your answers to these questions, you’ll have a clearer idea of what role your business really needs. As you scale, your answers to these questions will change, and your business structure should adapt accordingly. A startup stage CTO may be extremely skilled at getting your ideas off the ground but may not have a clue when it comes to scaling and securing investment. Likewise, you may currently only have a small team of engineers, but an Engineering Manager is more beneficial to you than a Tech Lead to solve what you’re after. When you’re hiring at any level, it’s important to bring in the right talent. But when you’re hiring for early-stage leadership roles, getting it right will be crucial to your success. This starts with knowing what role your company needs, and that starts with you.

What next?

If you're struggling to decide whether to hire a CTO, Engineering Manager, or Tech lead, take our scorecard and answer a series of questions to help you decide. You'll get personalised results, insights and advice. Take it HERE.