The Engineering Leadership Podcast - podcast cover

The Engineering Leadership Podcast

The Engineering Leadership Community (ELC)sfelc.com
We share the most critical perspectives, habits & examples of great software engineering leaders to help evolve leadership in the tech industry. Join our community of software engineering leaders @ www.sfelc.com!

Episodes

Recalibrating leadership priorities, leveraging your time & empowering senior leaders w/ Vinod Marur #216

ABOUT VINOD MARUR Vinod Marur is the SVP of Engineering at Databricks. He was previously at Rubrik where he served as SVP Engineering and established a mature engineering organization geared for rapid product development and innovation with a deep focus on product quality and organizational development. Prior to that Vinod spent nearly 15 years in leadership roles across some of Google’s most critical business units, including Search, Ads, and Payments as well as tapping into his passion for dev...

Apr 15, 202540 min

From early days to IPO: Scaling leadership, enterprise growth, product ownership, & outgrowing your failure modes w/ Jon Hyman #215

ABOUT JON HYMAN Jon Hyman is the co-founder and chief technology officer of Braze, the customer engagement platform that delivers messaging experiences across push, email, in-app, and more. He leads the charge for building the platform’s technical systems and infrastructure as well as overseeing the company’s technical operations and engineering team. Prior to Braze, Jon served as lead engineer for the Core Technology group at Bridgewater Associates, the world’s largest hedge fund. There, he man...

Apr 08, 202557 min

Essential questions & leadership principles to navigate change, fear & uncertainty w/ Rukmini Reddy #214

ABOUT RUKMINI REDDY Rukmini Reddy is the Senior Vice President of Engineering, responsible for managing product and platform delivery, infrastructure, and data science. Reddy joins PagerDuty from Slack where she guided the vision, strategy, and execution of a comprehensive re-architecture, transforming the messaging software into an automation platform that empowered users to streamline their work. Additionally, Rukmini spent over a decade in senior executive roles at various enterprise companie...

Apr 01, 202546 min

Building platforms, ecosystems & open-source communities: Lessons from Viam & MongoDB w/ Eliot Horowitz @ Viam #213

ABOUT ELIOT HOROWITZ Eliot Horowitz is the Founder and CEO of Viam, an engineering platform unlocking AI, automation, and data for devices in the physical world. With a deep commitment to advancing technology, Eliot leads Viam in helping companies build solutions across robotics, food and beverage, climate, marine, industrial manufacturing, and more. A career software developer and technology leader, Eliot co-founded MongoDB in 2007, writing the core code base for the pioneering database and lea...

Mar 25, 202543 min

Leading transformation, inspiring vision & empowering teams to operate autonomously w/ Kevin Stewart #212

Kevin Stewart discusses leading organizational transformation by focusing on clear communication, empowerment, and a customer-centric vision. He shares strategies for identifying root issues, building team ownership, and shifting from tactical to strategic leadership. The conversation highlights the importance of aligning teams with a compelling vision and delegating effectively.

Mar 18, 202548 min

Accelerating & upskilling your AI learning journey w/ Maher Hanafi #211

ABOUT MAHER HANAFI Maher Hanafi is a seasoned technology engineering leader, driving digital transformation and delivering impactful SaaS solutions. As Senior Vice President of Engineering at Betterworks, he leads the AI vision and applications for their AI-powered performance management software, overseeing the integration of AI tools that enhance HR functions like performance reviews, goal setting and employee development. Maher's passion for technology centers on the transformative potential ...

Mar 11, 202547 min

Data governance, adversarial testing & more - Essential strategies to scale AI responsibly in a shifting regulatory environment w/ Jim Palmer #210

ABOUT JIM PALMER Jim Palmer is the Chief AI Officer at Dialpad. Previously he was CTO and Co-Founder of TalkIQ, a conversational intelligence start-up with expertise in real-time speech recognition and natural language processing, acquired by Dialpad in May of 2018. Prior to TalkIQ, he was the founding engineer on the eBay Now local delivery service. SHOW NOTES: Tips and cheat codes for navigating AI governance (3:30) Breaking down red teaming & adversarial testing in AI governance (8:02) Launch...

Mar 04, 202549 min

Capturing & synthesizing unbiased insights from users, your open source community & yourself w/ James Campbell #209

ABOUT JAMES CAMPBELL James Campbell is the co-founder and CTO at Great Expectations, the leading open-source data quality product. Prior to his life at a startup, James spent nearly 15 years working across a variety of quantitative and qualitative analytic roles in the US intelligence community, ultimately serving as Chief Data Scientist at CIA. He studied Math and Philosophy at Yale, and international security at Georgetown. He is passionate about creating tools that help communicate uncertaint...

Feb 25, 202544 min

Upskilling: practices to improve hiring, storytelling & structuring personal/leadership problems with engineering principles #208

ABOUT COLLEEN TARTOW Colleen Tartow, Ph.D. is Field CTO and Head of Strategy at VAST Data and has 20+ years of experience in data, analytics, engineering, and consulting. Adept at assisting organizations in deriving value from a data-driven culture, she has successfully led diverse data, engineering, and analytics teams through the development of complex global data management solutions and architecting enterprise data systems. Her demonstrated excellence in data, engineering, analytics, and div...

Feb 18, 202544 min

GTM Insights from Top DevTool companies w/ David Mytton #207

ABOUT DAVID MYTTON A dynamic approach to tech innovation, security, sustainability, and developer empowerment can be seen in everything David Mytton touches. As co-founder of Console and host of the Console DevTools Podcast , he delights in keeping developers ahead of the curve with the tools they need the most. As the founder of Server Density (acquired by StackPath ), he created a product that helped organizations manage mission-critical IT environments. As a sustainable computing researcher a...

Feb 11, 202551 min

Navigating Rapid Change: Skills to Cultivate Resilience, Adaptability & Creativity in Engineering Teams w/ Melody Meckfessel #206

ABOUT MELODY MECKFESSEL Melody Meckfessel is the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at Jasper.ai , the world’s leading AI marketing platform. In her role, Melody shapes the technical vision of the company, oversees product delivery, and spearheads AI research to develop new capabilities that accelerate business outcomes for enterprise marketers. Before joining Jasper.ai , Melody co-founded and served as CEO of Observable, a data visualization platform that empowers teams to understand their business...

Feb 04, 202541 min

Building Trust: Strategic humor, bridging communication gaps & enabling your team to do more #205

ABOUT ANDY KORTZ Andy Kortz is currently the Chief Technology Officer at Integra Testing, where he leads technology transformation and drives operational efficiency in aggressive growth organizations. Andy also is a co-lead for the ELC Local Chapter initiative in Chicago. With over 20 years of experience in enterprise architecture and software development, Andy has consistently delivered innovative solutions while reducing IT expenses and improving application value. Drawing on his expertise in ...

Jan 28, 202537 min

Faster iteration & execution: Insights from Google Workspace’s AI product experience journey w/ Anurag Agarwal #204

ABOUT ANURAG AGARWAL Anurag Agarwal leads the Google Workspace engineering organization, overseeing products such as Gmail, Calendar, Chat, Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Meet that help billions of users and customers across the world to connect, create, and build together. With over 18 years of experience at Google, Anurag’s expertise spans a wide range of consumer and enterprise products and technologies. His career began in the Display Ads team, where he played a pivotal role in developing ...

Jan 23, 202545 min

Winning Hearts & Minds: Effective Strategies for Leading Through Change from IC to EM, post M&A and more w/ Kathryn Vandiver #203

Kathryn Vandiver (Former VP of Engineering @ Quanata) shares insights on providing new leadership during significant organizational change. First, we dissect what transitioning from an individual contributor to engineering manager is like. Then, we discuss what it’s like stepping into an EM role informally vs. formally; how to host conversations that foster trust; tips for transforming teams from competition to collaboration; helping people get unstuck; and tools for changing hearts and minds. K...

Jan 14, 202543 min

The four modes of coaching & navigating career growth in expanding or contracting companies w/ James Birchler #202

We discuss the four modes of coaching and navigate career growth in expanding / contracting companies with James Birchler. James shares highlights from the recent coaching / mentoring workshop he facilitated, and breaks down how each mode of coaching differs tactically. We also cover the dilemma of linear career/leadership growth vs. exponential company growth, different common communication challenges eng leaders face, why people / organizational challenges are harder than technical issues, and...

Jan 07, 202549 min

Unleashing potential in your employees & strategies to grow leadership skills in your org w/ Natalie Glance #201

Natalie Glance, Chief Engineering Officer @ Duolingo joins us for a conversation on unleashing potential in your employees! We discuss practices that have helped Duolingo create a meaningful path for hiring & developing engineers through their onboarding & internship programs. We also cover topics including scaling your eng org, upskilling recent grads / new hires, balancing meaningful work with measurable impact, communicating alignment within your org, formal & informal steps for building eng ...

Dec 17, 202442 min

Building an AI-first company & interactive AI avatar leadership use-cases w/ Rong Yan #200

In this episode, we explore building an AI-first company and engineering org with Rong Yan (CTO @ HeyGen)! We dive into the potential of HeyGen’s interactive avatars, imagining how they can help engineering leaders scale their impact, foster team alignment, coach effectively, and accelerate decision-making. Rong shares insights on the structure of an AI-first company and optimizing for AI teams with engineering capabilities. Plus what it means to “lead with speed” and balance product quality and...

Dec 10, 202448 min

Re-defining & elevating engineering’s strategic role with the business w/ Rajashree Pimpalkhare #199

In this episode, Rajashree Pimpalkhare (VP / Engineering leader for Unified Builder platform and experiences @ Twilio) reflects on her experiences re-defining engineering’s relationship with the business throughout her career. We cover how the role of engineering varies across industries, why it’s paramount for engineering leaders to find their seat at the business table & rethink how engineering can drive the org’s strategic goals. Rajashree shares insights on how to unlock the creative side of...

Dec 05, 202442 min

How engineering leaders can better drive business outcomes & increase alignment between product and engineering w/ Gokul Rajaram #198

In this episode, Gokul Rajaram illuminates how eng leaders can better impact business outcomes & become key players in business strategy! We also address strategies for better goal setting & decision making, shifting to a customer-centric structure, recommendations for building alignment between cross-functional groups, positive collaboration between product & engineering, and how to achieve greater productivity. ABOUT GOKUL RAJARAM Gokul Rajaram is an investor and company helper. He serves on t...

Nov 26, 202444 min

From VPE to CTO - mission-aligned teams, prioritizing company over department outcomes & the power of a “not do” list w/ Ryan Fox #197

Ryan Fox, CTO @ Super.com , joins us to dissect his leadership transition from Vice President of Engineering to CTO. He shares how he created his own job description and – perhaps most importantly – identified & found buy-in around his “not do” list. We also cover Ryan’s favorite strategies for coaching department heads, why it’s important to focus on strategic thinking as an eng leader, tips for instilling accountability & autonomy, and defining different levels of situational leadership. Patri...

Nov 19, 202441 min

Leading change, navigating career growth & finding inspiration beyond engineering -  Live from ELC Annual 2024! #196

In this episode, we’re bringing listeners into the final conversations from the pop-up podcast booth at ELC Annual 2024! Patrick sat down with a few eng leaders attending the event to discuss takeaways from ELC Annual 2024 & eng leadership insights they want to share with others in the community. He chatted with Nick Hurlburt (Executive Director of the Aselo program @ Tech Matters), Manju Abraham (Vice President of Engineering, Primary Storage @ HPE), and Bhupesh Bansal (Head of Engineering - Pr...

Nov 12, 202429 min

Career growth in today’s market + effective partnerships between engineering & hiring partners - Live from ELC Annual 2024 #195

We’re back with another episode live from ELC Annual 2024’s podcast booth! Patrick discusses the practices and rituals around effective hiring & recruiting with a few speakers and roundtable hosts from ELC Annual 2024, including Lawrence Bruhmuller (SVP of Engineering @ Great Expectations), Eric Fettner (Co-Founder @ Job Sauce), and Scott Swedberg (CEO & Co-Founder @ Job Sauce). Scott shares insights & takeaways from his roundtable conversation on assessing career growth & determining next steps...

Nov 05, 202430 min

Selling your ideas, leveraging curiosity in tough conversations, managing emotions & psychological safety - Live from ELC Annual 2024! #194

This episode came live from ELC Annual 2024! Local ELC chapter leaders from across the globe share some of their favorite leadership principles, covering topics like how to sell your ideas & gain buy-in from senior leaders, how to manage yourself and your regulate emotions, how to leverage curiosity in tough conversations, how to build psychological safety and more! Thank you Ali Littman (VP of Engineering @ Modern Health), Mehmet Sencer Kardayi (CTO @ Dexter Energy), Tarik Kilick (Engineering M...

Oct 30, 202424 min

Collaboration & Innovation in the Time of AI w/ Anurag Agarwal & Lizzie Matusov #193

We’re back with another session from ELC Annual 2024! This episode features an engaging session on collaboration & innovation in the time of AI with Anurag Agarwal, VPE, Google Workspace @ Google, and Lizzie Matusov, Co-Founder & CEO @ Quotient! In this conversation, they dissect how AI is transforming not only the products engineering teams are building but also how teams work together internally. They cover how Google / Google Workplace specifically use AI both internally & externally, strateg...

Oct 24, 202441 min

Collaborative Teams Are More Productive Teams w/ Marcel Weekes & Arquay Harris #192

One of the most important aspects of success is a team’s ability to collaborate – but it can also be one of the most challenging parts. In this episode, we’re highlighting a popular session ELC Annual 2024 on how to encourage collaboration, ultimately increasing productivity and creating more likely outcomes of success. This conversation features Marcel Weekes, VP of Product Engineering @ Figma, and Arquay Harris, former VP of Engineering @ Webflow. This conversation also features a robust Q&A s...

Oct 15, 202441 min

Scaling AI for an Immersive 3D Platform with 77 Million Daily Active Users w/ Anupam Singh & Maria Kazandjieva #191

We had a blast at ELC Annual 2024, so we wanted to bring our podcast listeners some of the best highlights from popular sessions! This episode features one of the ELC Annual sessions with Anupam Singh (VP of AI & Growth Engineering @ Roblox) & Maria Kazandjieva (Co-Founder @ Graft), as they discuss building AI/ML models at a massive scale. Anupam shares how Roblox – an immersive 3D platform with more than 77 million daily active users – scaled from zero to nearly 200 different AI models. They di...

Oct 09, 202438 min

Podcast Break for ELC Annual 2024!

We’re taking a quick break from releasing episodes for a few weeks while we wrap up everything for ELC Annual. We’ll be back in late September with new guests! We have some excellent sessions at the conference - check out the agenda here: https://sfelc.com/annual2024#agenda Join us at ELC Annual 2024! ELC Annual is our 2 day conference bringing together engineering leaders from around the world for a unique experience help you expand your network and empower your leadership & career growth. Don'...

Aug 15, 20243 min

Connecting bugs & quality to the business bottom line w/ Dave Rhodes #190

Dave Rhodes, CEO @ Sauce Labs, joins the pod to discuss the value of great digital experiences & how/why quality issues affect companies’ bottom lines, and how to connect bugs to the business! Dave dissects strategies for addressing quality issues, examples connecting quality with the bottom line, best practices for quality testing strategies, and incorporating the philosophy of embracing the impossible within your eng teams. We also cover highlights of Dave’s recent report, “Every Experience Co...

Aug 06, 202449 min

Live from Config 2024! Product-building, leadership & execution lessons behind the launch of Figma’s Dev Mode w/ Marcel Weekes #189

In our latest episode, we’re coming to you live from Config 2024, Figma’s annual design conference for people who build products! This is our first time ever doing a live interview from another conference, so we are excited to share it with you. We’re joined by Marcel Weekes, VP of Engineering @ Figma. In our conversation, we dive into topics including highlights from Config 2024 & reactions to Figma’s latest feature demos (like Dev Mode), how Figma’s eng teams are involved in product design ite...

Jul 30, 202440 min

Tackling All Top 10 Engineering Leadership Challenges w/ Farhan Thawar #188

Farhan Thawar, VP & Head of Engineering @ Shopify, was our first-ever ELC pod guest, so it’s fitting that he’s here to join us for this culmination of our series tackling the Top 10 challenges that engineering leaders face in a rapid-fire, high-energy format! Farhan shares insights into individual challenges, including motivating others after a reorg or period of uncertainty, why always being willing to learn & help is key for managing in any direction, strategies for creating buy-in, and best p...

Jul 23, 202441 min