[jrockway]

Also, VP is not an engineering title at Google. And, each engineering title has a list of responsibilities that is expected from someone with that title. So it's easy to find out where acquired engineers belong.

Really, all the problems that the OP lists are nonexistent at Google. The only big problem I can think of is integrating the acquired codebase into Google's.

[mmahemoff]

VP is an engineering title at Google, albeit not one handed out like candy as it is in companies who charge for expertise (management consultants for example).

Max Levchin acquired the title after Slide's acquisition.

[jrockway]

"VP of Engineering" (his title at Google, according to Wikipedia) is a management title.

[Aloisius]

So engineering has no managers or engineers can't be managers?

In most companies, VP of Engineering is inside the Engineering department. The idea that management is its own department is rather odd.