Whether you're an engineer looking to have more impact, or an engineering manager who wants to build a stronger team and lead more effectively upward, I work with you based on real experience — not theory.
Most engineers who plateau aren't being held back by their technical skill. They're being held back by something harder to name: the shift from being a great individual contributor to having impact through the people around them.
It shows up differently at different levels. A senior engineer who does great work but struggles to bring others along with them. A staff engineer who has strong opinions but can't get traction with the broader team. A new engineering manager who is technically excellent but finds the people side of the role genuinely hard. A head of engineering who is running the team well but struggling to communicate upward to the exec or board in a way that lands.
In each case, the technical skill is there. What's missing is the leadership capability, and that's a learnable thing.
If you're working toward a senior, staff, or principal role, the jump isn't just about technical depth. It's about starting to multiply your impact beyond your own output: upskilling the people around you, shaping technical direction, and building the kind of credibility that comes from influence rather than just execution. I help you develop that.
The move from engineer to manager is one of the hardest transitions in a technical career. Almost everything that made you good as an engineer, shipping code, solving problems yourself, being the expert in the room, works against you as a manager. I help engineering managers make that shift deliberately, build strong relationships with their teams, and lead in a way that brings out the best in the people around them.
At this level, the challenge is often two-directional: building a strong culture and high-performing team below you, while earning trust and influence with the exec, board, or investors above you. I work with senior technical leaders on both: how to develop the people and culture in their engineering department, and how to communicate and lead upward in a way that is credible and effective.
This is mentoring and advisory work, grounded in experience. I've built engineering cultures from scratch multiple times, at companies growing from 5 to 50 engineers. I've navigated the transition from individual contributor to engineering leader myself, and I've coached and developed engineering leaders at every level throughout my career.
I'm direct. I'll tell you what I actually think, including things that are hard to hear. But I do that in a way that builds trust rather than damages it. The goal is always your growth, and I take that seriously.
I draw on a documented framework for building engineering culture that I've developed and refined over many years, covering how to define, embed, embody, and get feedback on the culture you're trying to build. That framework sits behind the mentoring, but every engagement is shaped by your specific situation, not a generic programme.
Monthly ongoing engagement. Typically includes a regular session plus ad hoc support between sessions when you need it. Good for people who want a consistent thinking partner over time.
A structured programme with a clear arc: understand where you are, identify the gaps and opportunities, and build the habits and capabilities that get you to the next level. Suited to people with a specific transition or challenge in front of them.
For engineering leadership groups or teams who want to work on something together: culture, ways of working, communication, feedback. Run as a one-off or a series.
Every engagement is different, but common themes include:
A lot of leadership development programmes focus on frameworks and models. They're useful to a point. But the engineers and leaders I work with are dealing with real situations, real teams, and real people, and they need to work through those specifics rather than apply a generic template.
I bring direct, lived experience of having done this work across multiple companies and contexts. I've made mistakes, learnt from them, and built a clear point of view on what actually works. I share that openly.
I'm also technical enough to understand the problems you're working through, which matters. Leadership advice from someone who has never written code or shipped a product has limits. I've done both, for over 20 years.
If you're an engineer or engineering leader who wants to grow and is willing to reflect honestly on what's working and what isn't, this is probably a good fit. The people who get the most out of this kind of engagement are the ones who come in with genuine openness to changing how they operate, not just looking for validation.
If you're not sure whether it's the right fit, the best starting point is a conversation.