The role did not exist until the work did.
I announced that Pablo was becoming Reonomy's Director of Engineering. It was a new position and a well-earned promotion.
His technical contribution mattered, but it was not the whole reason. His willingness to collaborate and work across teams stood out. Reonomy needed more of that as the engineering organization grew.
The role came with a specific job: strengthen the way we built software and create a culture of continuously shipping value to customers.
That phrase was deliberate.
Shipping could not mean moving tickets or releasing code for the sake of activity. The work had to reach a customer and make something better. Doing that continuously required technical practices, useful planning, and people willing to cross the normal team boundaries.
It was not going to be easy. Our foundations needed work. The data pipeline still had serious challenges. A new title did not remove either problem.
The promotion did give the problems an owner with the trust to lead through them.
I had spent much of the year thinking about the management structure around engineering. In January, I wrote bluntly that I needed another manager. The answer was not only an outside search. Strong leadership was already appearing inside the team.
The company replies came back immediately: congratulations, excitement, a little shouting in all caps.
That part was good too. Promotions are organizational decisions, but they are also moments when a team gets to tell somebody that the work has been seen.
Pablo had already been doing the important part. Now the role matched it.