Engineering department org chart example
A software engineering department of about thirty inside a product company, drawn around the four kinds of work it does: building the product, keeping the platform up, making the data usable, and keeping all of it secure. Two ladders run through it, one for managers and one for engineers who never want to manage, and the chart shows both.
How an engineering department is usually structured
Engineering reports to the chief executive through a CTO, or in larger companies through a CTO who owns technology and a VP of engineering who owns delivery. Draw both when both exist, and be honest about the split: the VP of engineering runs the product teams and is measured on what ships; the CTO keeps the platform, the data and security, sets the technical direction, and is measured on whether the thing stays up. A CTO with one report, the VP of engineering, is a title, not a job, and the chart should say which of the two actually runs the department.
The product teams are the department's shape. Each engineering manager holds five to eight engineers, drawn stacked because the team is the unit and the row of names is not, and the teams are named for what they own, core, growth, mobile, rather than for a technology. Quality lives inside the team as an engineer with the title, not in a department at the end of the process. Platform is the line measured differently: a site reliability lead, DevOps and the database engineer, judged on uptime and on how fast the product teams can ship, which is why it sits beside them under the CTO rather than inside one of them.
Two things on this chart are not managers. The principal engineer sits beside the CTO as a staff position: the top of the individual contributor ladder, with no reports and more influence than most directors, drawn where the influence is rather than in a box that implies a team. And the contract mobile studio sits inside the mobile team as a contractor, because it does the work the team is accountable for, and a chart that hides it makes a team of three look like it ships an app alone.
Typical titles by level
The vocabulary these charts use, from the top down. Titles vary by country and by company; the levels don't.
| Level | Titles you'll see |
|---|---|
| Leadership | Chief Technology Officer, VP of Engineering, Head of Engineering; Director of Engineering, Head of Platform, Head of Data, Head of Security |
| Managers | Engineering Manager, Site Reliability Lead, Data Engineering Manager, Security Engineering Lead, Technical Program Manager, Release or Engineering Operations Manager |
| Individual contributor ladder | Principal Engineer, Staff Engineer, Senior Software Engineer, Software Engineer, Associate Engineer; Architect (where the title survives) |
| Specialists and extended team | Site Reliability Engineer, DevOps Engineer, Database Engineer, Data Engineer, Machine Learning Engineer, Security Engineer, Quality Engineer, Mobile Engineer; contract studios and consultancies (as contractors) |
Where these charts go wrong
Engineering charts fail by giving an engineering manager twelve reports because the team was never split; by burying platform inside a product team, where the roadmap always wins; by putting security under the person whose release schedule its findings threaten, with no route around them; by drawing the principal engineer as a manager of nobody; by inventing a QA department that does not exist; and by leaving the outsourced team off, so three engineers appear to ship an app.
Questions people ask
- What is the difference between a CTO and a VP of engineering on the org chart?
- The VP of engineering runs the product teams and is measured on delivery; the CTO owns the technical direction, the platform, the data and security, and is measured on whether the system holds up. In a small company one person does both. When there are two, draw the VP under the CTO or beside them under the CEO, but say which, and never draw a CTO whose only report is the VP: that is a title with a chart underneath it.
- How many engineers should an engineering manager have?
- Five to eight. Below four the manager is a tech lead with a title; above eight the one-to-ones stop and the manager becomes a scheduler. A team past eight splits, which is why the chart has three product teams and an open manager role rather than two teams of twelve.
- Where should platform and infrastructure sit?
- Beside the product teams, under the CTO, as a line of their own with a site reliability lead. Platform is measured on uptime and on how fast the product teams can ship, and inside a product team it loses every priority argument to the roadmap. In a department under fifteen people it is one engineer with the title; draw the line anyway.
- How do you show staff and principal engineers on an org chart?
- As staff positions beside the executive they advise, with no reports. The individual contributor ladder is a real ladder and its top rungs carry more influence than most directors; drawn in the tree as managers of nobody, they look like a mistake. Drawn beside the CTO, they look like what they are.
Other industries
- ManufacturingTwo shifts, and quality kept out of production's line.
- LogisticsDispatch runs the day; supervisors run the people.
- ConstructionOffice and field, meeting on every project.
- Software startupSquads under a CTO; product managers on a dotted line.
- NonprofitThe board on top, programs beside the money.
- Medical practiceA clinical line and a business line, crossing at nursing.
- SchoolDepartments led by teachers who also manage.
- HotelSix divisions around one general manager.
- Marketing agencyDisciplines own people; pods own the work.
- Security & facilities servicesSites stacked under supervisors; a 24-hour control room.
- Sales teamRegions for closers, a team for openers, RevOps beside them.
- Accounting firmA partner pyramid, three service lines.
- Law firmPractice groups, and the business side that runs the firm.
- ChurchA board that governs, a pastor who leads, ministries below.
- RestaurantFront of house and back of house, meeting at the pass.
- IT departmentRun, build and secure, under one director.
- HR departmentPartners, specialists and operations: the three legs.
- Local governmentElected above appointed, and two officers who answer to the council.
- Utility companyField crews, a 24-hour control center, and a regulator in the room.
- BankThree lines of defense, drawn as lines.
- Staffing agencySales desks, recruiting desks, and a back office that pays two thousand people.
- HospitalTwo hierarchies that meet at the bedside.
- Retail chainHead office, the field, and a store drawn once.
- Small businessOne owner, two managers, and the jobs the owner still does.
- Finance departmentAccounting closes the books; FP&A says what they mean.
- Marketing departmentDemand, product, brand, and the operations under all three.
- Customer service departmentTeams on the floor; quality, training and scheduling beside them.
- Operations departmentSupply chain, fulfillment and the functions that keep both honest.
- Product departmentProduct, design, research and the operations that measure them.
- Consulting firmThree practices, one firm behind them, and no engagement on the chart.
- Real estate brokerageAgents who are not employees, on the chart anyway.
- Insurance agencySales on one side, service on the other, and the lines where they meet.
- Dental practiceA clinical line the law draws, and a business line the office manager runs.
- UniversityAn academic line and an administrative line, and governance kept off the chart.
- E-commerce companyThe site is the store, the warehouse is a contractor, and the lines between them are drawn.
- Veterinary clinicThe doctors own the medicine, the manager owns the day, and the technicians answer to both.
- Auto dealershipThe front end sells the cars; the back end pays the bills; the chart shows where they meet.
- School districtSchools on one line, the money on another, and a board that governs from a second chart.
- Police departmentPatrol takes the calls, investigations takes the cases, and professional standards answers to the chief alone.
- Nursing homeThe administrator holds the license, the director of nursing holds the building, and the survey reads both lines.
- Property management companyThe owners and the boards are clients, the site staff are employees, and the chart is where the two facts meet.
Or start from a structure — functional, divisional, matrix or flat — or from your own spreadsheet. The guides cover a reorg, a merger, an assistant's chart and a consultant's deliverable.
Make it yours
Download the spreadsheet, replace the names, import it — the chart redraws itself. Or start empty and drag people until it's true. Building is free at any size.