Not true. Titles and roles change all the time. You can absolutely be the VP of Engineering and if and when they need/want a "real" VP of Engineering you can

Not true. Titles and roles change all the time. You can absolutely be the VP of Engineering and if and when they need/want a "real" VP of Engineering you can become for example, the VP of Infrastructure Engineering reporting to the VP of Engineering. I doubt that they have any formal structured options framework so don't let them use that trick, if they do mention it, have them show it to you right at that moment, because if they can't it means they don't have it yet. Anything worth having is worth fighting to have. To quote Bill Gates in the Simpson's episode, "I didn't get rich by writing a lot of checks." That's how the founders think. Getting what you want will be like taking a gazelle away from a hungry crocodile.