CTPO

Also known as: Chief Technology and Product Officer, Chief Product and Technology Officer, CPTO, VP Product & Engineering, Head of Product & Engineering.

What does a CTPO do?

A CTPO is an executive responsible both for what the company builds and for how it builds it: the product strategy and the engineering team. The role works well where product and technical decisions are tightly linked and there is no room for two C-level positions.

• runs a single product and engineering roadmap;
• leads product managers and engineering leaders as one team;
• makes the trade-offs in between: what to build, what to sacrifice for speed, when to pay down technical debt;
• owns architecture and technology choices alongside product priorities;
• represents product and technology to the CEO, the board and investors.

When does a company need a CTPO?

A company needs a CTPO when product and engineering keep fighting over priorities and the CEO is tired of being the referee. Most often these are mid-sized product companies with a technically complex product: devtools, platforms, B2B SaaS, fintech. The role also appears when a CTO or a CPO leaves and the company decides to merge the functions, or when a startup outgrows a founder who informally did both jobs. The role will not work if product and engineering are each large and complex on their own: one person will not have the time, and you need a separate CPO and CTO / VP Engineering.

CTPO vs CTO: what's the difference?

A CTPO differs from a CTO by also owning product decisions: not only how to build, but what to build and why. A CTO who also writes specs is not yet a CTPO, and neither is a CPO who also manages engineers. Both halves of the role have to be real: a CTPO has both the product team and engineering reporting to them.

CTPO vs related roles: comparison

Why is it hard to hire a CTPO?

Hiring a CTPO is hard because almost every candidate has one half of the role clearly stronger than the other.

• Most candidates grew up either in engineering or in product, and their other half is at the level of "I understand it", not "I lead it".
• The title is used rarely and inconsistently, so suitable people have to be found among CTOs, CPOs and founders.
• Companies often do not agree on which half matters more and compare candidates with different strengths without a shared criterion.
• People who have already combined both roles usually did it as founders or early leaders and do not always want an employed role.

What to decide before hiring a CTPO?

• Why one role instead of a CTO and a CPO? If the answer is "it is cheaper", the role will probably fall apart within a year.
• Which half is weaker in the current team? Look for a candidate whose strong side covers it, and close the other half with strong deputies.
• Who will run day-to-day engineering under the CTPO? Without a strong engineering manager or head of engineering, the CTPO drowns in operations.
• Who decides when product and technology disagree? If the CEO keeps the final word, the point of a combined role is lost.

Where to find a CTPO?

CTPOs usually come from mid-sized product companies: product-minded CTOs, technical CPOs, and founders or early leaders who have already combined both roles. A strong profile signal is having owned product metrics and an engineering team at the same time, not just taking part in product discussions. Another signal is a product where technical decisions directly drove growth. NEWHR searches for these candidates by the results of their work, not by applications to a job post.

How to assess a CTPO in an interview?

A CTPO is assessed in two separate sessions: a product case on your market and a technical architecture review. The point of two sessions is to check that both halves hold up, not only the stronger one. The CEO and the senior engineering or product leaders who will report to the CTPO take part on the company side.

Strong signals:

• raises technical constraints and their cost in the product case without being asked;
• explains the architecture through product goals in the technical review;
• can name a case where they sacrificed one side for the other and explain why.

Red flags:

• clearly struggles in one of the sessions and falls back on generalities;
• describes the other half of the role as something they "delegate";
• cannot say who will manage engineering day to day.

How long does it take to hire a CTPO?

We present the first candidates for the CTPO role within 5–7 days of the brief. The whole search usually takes one to six months.

Related roles

• CTO / VP Engineering — owns only technology and the engineering team.
• CPO — owns only product, without leading engineering.
• Chief Architect — goes deeper into how the system is built than a CTPO, but does not decide what to build or manage people.
• Founding Engineer — at an early stage often combines product and code, but without managing a team.