“If AI can write code, what happens to the next generation of engineering leaders?”
That question sparked one of the liveliest discussions at our first Software Engineering Leadership @ WRK London event.
In July we hosted our first Software Engineering Leadership @ WRK London event in the heart of Soho in De Hems Dutch Café bar (recommend booking the gallery bar, big projector screen and a private bar!), it was a lovely summers day bringing together engineering leaders and technologists from companies from the likes of Monday.com, Marks and Spencer’s and Credit Karma to discuss one of the biggest topics facing our industry today: how leadership evolves in the age of AI.
The evening featured two fantastic talks from Ugo Anomelechi (VP Engineering @ Chattermill) A tech leader with 20+ years of experience driving AI adoption, data platform architecture, and engineering transformation at scale. Currently leading AI strategy, MLOps infrastructure, and platform engineering for an enterprise B2B SaaS product.
Moe Moshrif (ex Google, Microsoft, Amazon!!) With 23+ years of experience across Enterpise and startups he has built and scaled distributed systems, payments platforms, SRE organisations and AI/ML infrastructure. Known for his thought leadership and widely followed technical content (have a look at his YouTube! Mohamed Moshrif – YouTube)
Ugo’s talk ‘Managing agents is just managing people…’ challenged one of the most common narratives around AI.
Rather than focusing on prompt engineering as the key skill of the future, Ugo argued that many of the skills needed to work effectively with AI agents are actually the same skills great leaders use every day.
As AI becomes more embedded within engineering teams, these leadership fundamentals become even more important. The session was a great reminder that whilst technology changes, many of the principles behind achieving great outcomes remain the same. The most valuable skill isn’t prompt engineering, it’s people management!
Moe’s session “Leadership in the Age of AI”… explored how technology leaders can turn generative AI into a durable capability rather than simply using it as a short term cost cutting exercise.
One of the key themes of the talk was that AI changes the cost of execution, but it does not remove the need for leadership. Leaders still need to provide judgement, prioritisation, verification and direction.
The slide that generated the most discussion and something as a recruiter concerns me for the future talent was:
“Junior engineers are not surplus capacity. They are part of the system that creates future judgment.”
It was a powerful reminder that whilst AI can help accelerate delivery, organisations still need to invest in developing future engineers, leaders and technical decision-makers. AI may increase productivity today, but long-term success still depends on people. If we don’t value and train Junior Engineer’s – who are we going to have as our future Lead Engineer’s or CTO.
Why did we do this?
Whilst the content was excellent, what stood out most was the quality of the conversations happening around the room. We’ve been running these events up in Leeds for the past 3 years and built an incredible community up North, so it felt the right time to bring this down South!
The goal of launching Software Engineering Leadership @ WRK London was to create a genuine community where engineering leaders can share experiences, learn from one another and build meaningful connections. Seeing so many people stay after the talks to continue those discussions showed exactly why these events matter.
We also spoke about our Mutual Mentoring @ WRK! Understanding the demands of busy Engineering Leaders, we’ve designed a low-commitment but high-impact initiative. With just 30 minutes a week for four weeks, you can engage in valuable conversations, gain insights, and expand your network. And of course, if the connection feels right, there’s always an opportunity to continue beyond the structured period.
Mutual Mentoring @ WRK offers:
- A safe space for Tech Leaders to connect and discuss meaningful topics.
- Support to explore and tackle challenges relevant to their roles.
- Opportunities to build relationships across different locations, projects, and organisations.
- The chance to meet each other at bi-monthly meetups and social events to further strengthen connections and community.
You can find out more about this initiative here Mutual Mentoring @ WRK: Building Meaningful Connections for Tech Leaders – WRK digital
A huge thank you to everyone who attended, as well as to Ugo and Moe for sharing their insights.
We’re already looking ahead to our next event in October, and we’re excited to continue growing the Software Engineering Leadership community in London.
We will make sure to order more burgers for the next one 😉
Ellie Sheehan
Recruitment Consultant – Software Engineering
0113 460 1707 | 07982 828 177
ellies@wrkdigital.co.uk