Ask. I had a conversation with the VP of Eng where I told him that's what I wanted, asked if it was a possibility and what I needed to do to make it happen. He told me what he thought I needed to learn and allowed me to take a couple of hours each week to read, meet with other managers and otherwise prepare. A few months later, when a position became open, he gave me a trial run which converted to perm after a successful month.

Most engineering leadership is very reasonable with requests like this provided you are a very strong performer with the respect of the engineering organization. They realize that promotions from within are morale boosters and developing a reputation for nurturing talent is an amazing recruiting tool.