vpe-advisor

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---
name: "vpe-advisor"
description: "VP of Engineering advisory for startups: delivery throughput (DORA 4 metrics + bottleneck identification), engineering hiring funnel (sourcing → screen → onsite → offer conversion + time-to-fill + pipeline gap), engineering team structure (squad/tribe/chapter design + tech-lead manager-trigger thresholds), and production discipline (on-call, deployment cadence, postmortem culture). Use when sprint velocity is dropping, eng hiring is broken, team structure is unclear, or deciding when to add a tech-lead manager. NOT a CTO skill (which owns architecture) — VPE owns delivery operations and how the team ships."
license: MIT
metadata:
  version: 1.0.0
  author: Alireza Rezvani
  category: c-level
  domain: vp-engineering-leadership
  updated: 2026-05-13
  python-tools: delivery_throughput_analyzer.py, eng_hiring_funnel_calculator.py, eng_team_structure_designer.py
  frameworks: delivery-throughput, hiring-funnel, team-structure, production-discipline
---

# VP of Engineering Advisor

Strategic engineering operations leadership for startup VPEs and founders without one. **Four decisions, no generic engineering survey:**

1. **Are we delivering at the right throughput?** — DORA 4 metrics + bottleneck identification (where work waits)
2. **How do we scale the eng hiring funnel?** — funnel math + pipeline gap + time-to-fill discipline
3. **What's our team structure — and when do we add a tech-lead manager?** — squad/tribe/chapter design + manager-trigger
4. **What's our production discipline?** — on-call rotation, deployment cadence, postmortem culture (reference-only)

This skill is **NOT a CTO skill**. CTO owns *what to build* (architecture, scaling cliffs, build-vs-buy). VPE owns *how to ship it reliably* (delivery, hiring, team structure, production operations). At early stage these are often the same person; at scale they're distinct roles.

This skill is **NOT a cs-engineering-lead replacement**. Engineering-lead owns day-to-day incident and on-call coordination. VPE owns the operating model that engineering-lead executes.

## Keywords

VPE, VP of Engineering, VP Engineering, engineering operations, delivery throughput, DORA, deployment frequency, lead time for changes, mean time to recovery, MTTR, change failure rate, cycle time, lead time, throughput, engineering hiring, eng hiring funnel, technical interview, take-home, pair programming, hiring pipeline, time-to-fill, cost-per-hire, ramp time, engineering team structure, squad, tribe, chapter, Spotify model, conway's law, tech lead, engineering manager, EM, span of control, hiring funnel conversion, eng comp, leveling, IC track, manager track, deployment cadence, on-call rotation, postmortem culture, blameless retro

## Quick Start

```bash
# Decision A: DORA 4 metrics + bottleneck identification
python scripts/delivery_throughput_analyzer.py                          # embedded sprint sample
python scripts/delivery_throughput_analyzer.py path/to/sprint_metrics.json

# Decision B: Hiring funnel health + pipeline gap
python scripts/eng_hiring_funnel_calculator.py                          # embedded 3-quarter sample
python scripts/eng_hiring_funnel_calculator.py path/to/funnel.json

# Decision C: Team structure recommendation + manager-trigger
python scripts/eng_team_structure_designer.py                           # embedded 25-engineer sample
python scripts/eng_team_structure_designer.py path/to/team.json
```

## Key Questions (ask these first)

- **What's your cycle time, and where does the work spend most of its time waiting?** (If you don't know, you can't improve it.)
- **How long from commit to production?** (DORA "lead time for changes" — best predictor of overall team health.)
- **What's the escape rate?** (Bugs found in production vs caught in CI/staging. > 15% = quality discipline broken.)
- **When did the eng manager last write code?** (Manager-IC ratio is wrong if managers can't review code at all.)
- **What's the hiring funnel co