Hangar DX Podcast The Future of Engineering Leadership in the Age of AI
Aug 21, 2025
Meri Williams, CTO at Pleo and a former leader at Monzo and Moo, dives into the evolving role of engineering leadership in an AI-driven world. She discusses the need for strong management structures to support teams as AI takes a larger coding role. Meri emphasizes the importance of developer experience and managing technical debt while adapting to AI’s capabilities. Additionally, she highlights the essential skills engineers must cultivate to lead effectively in this fast-changing landscape, blending technical expertise with managerial insight.
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Short-Term Gains, Long-Term Cracks
- The AI era and tighter capital have pushed companies toward smaller, flatter engineering teams.
- Removing middle managers often works short-term but causes cracks within months.
AI Is Fast To Start, Hard To Maintain
- LLMs excel at pattern matching but struggle with maintainability and scalability challenges.
- It's unclear whether AI-first startups can sustain long-term maintenance as systems grow complex.
Vintage Legacy Systems Shaped Perspective
- Meri recounts starting her career at Procter & Gamble working on systems older than she was, including mainframes.
- That brownfield experience shaped her caution about maintainability and long-term debt.