LeadDev Engineering Leadership Report 2026: the player-coach is back

What I took from it

• More hands-on: 37% of leaders, up from 25%, mostly because AI makes contributing easier, not because teams lack capacity.
• More scope: 63% say their scope grew; 45% work longer hours.
• Back to IC: about a third of managers are considering it.
• Not a vacuum: fewer management seats, each carrying more.
• What holds up: technical depth plus people leadership in one role.
• My takeaway: value comes from taking more scope without becoming the bottleneck, not from being scarce.