How to grow as an Engineering Manager

Growth for engineering managers isn't about waiting for a promotion; it's about building a flywheel that turns opportunity into skill and skill back into opportunity. The article frames the career stall as a skills-opportunity paradox: you need the right opportunities to learn senior-level skills, but you need those skills to earn the opportunities. The solution is to create the opportunities yourself, then use the resulting experience to generate more scope.

The author distills six archetypes-Inspirational Leader, Tough Coach, Business Strategist, Technology Innovator, Orchestrator, and Savvy Politician-each offering a concrete pattern for expanding influence. An Inspirational Leader leverages high-performers to broaden team scope, while a Tough Coach earns credibility by turning low-performing teams into A+ units. The Business Strategist focuses on high-ROI projects to get noticed by senior leadership, and the Technology Innovator builds technical thought leadership across teams.

Orchestrators improve process efficiency at the team, cross-functional, and senior-management levels, earning formal ownership of more work. Savvy Politicians map power structures, align with key stakeholders, and use those relationships to surface new initiatives. The article shows when each archetype thrives, tying cultural context to practical tactics.

By mapping personal strengths to one or more of these archetypes, managers can deliberately craft projects, relationships, and processes that showcase impact and generate the next step in their career ladder. The framework gives a clear action plan for anyone who feels stuck, turning a perceived dead-end into a series of self-generated growth loops.