Engineering leaders navigating career, salary, and life

Engineering Career Coach. For the calls that do not fit inside a role-specific engagement.

Salary negotiation you keep opening and closing. Job search you cannot start. Senior interview loop you have not done in years. Imposter loop that has not gone away. Burnout you cannot afford to quit for. Toxic manager HR will not solve.

You do not need another self-help book. You need one person who has coached 3,000+ engineering leaders through the exact same calls and will tell you the honest thing.

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Situations you are likely in, and how we tackle them

You are underpaid and you know it. The raise conversation is going badly.

Market rate for my role is 30 to 40% above what I make. HR said "budgets are tight." My manager said "next cycle." I want to job-hop but the current role has good work and good people, and I would take even a partial fix. And every time I open the negotiation doc I close it because I do not have the number in writing to defend.

You have probably tried

  • Sending your manager a levels.fyi link (they smiled)
  • Waiting for "the right moment" (there is not one)
  • Interviewing at one competitor to "see the market" (offer was OK, you did not use it)
  • Convincing yourself it will balance next year

How we tackle it

We build the negotiation packet: comp data from real offers, the impact log from the last 12 months, the specific number you will ask for. We rehearse the conversation with your manager. We plan the "if I do not get X by Y, then Z" fallback in writing.

Target: Within 4 weeks: the specific conversation delivered, a number in writing, a documented fallback plan.

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You want to leave. You cannot lose the runway.

I have a mortgage, a family, and a reputation. Current job is 6/10 and stable. Interviewing is a full-time job on top of the day job I already cannot keep up with. Every recruiter DM feels like a coin flip. My CV has not been updated in 3 years and I do not know where to start.

You have probably tried

  • Updating your LinkedIn once, hoping recruiters find you
  • Reading Cracking the PM Interview / Coding Interview at 11pm
  • Applying to random VP roles without a story
  • Waiting for a specific trigger that would "force" the switch

How we tackle it

We build the targeted 60-day job search. Which 8 to 15 companies fit. Which relationships to warm up first. What your CV, LinkedIn, and story look like for those roles. We rehearse the interview loops. We run the negotiation once an offer lands.

Target: Within 60 days: 3 to 5 real conversations, 1 to 2 loops, one live offer to negotiate against.

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You are prepping for a senior interview and you have not done one in years.

Head of Engineering role at a Series B. VPE at a scale-up. Fractional CTO gig with a portco. Interview loops for these seats are nothing like the coding interviews I did last time I switched jobs. And the "walk me through a hard decision" question is going to eat me alive because I have not framed my own decisions in years.

You have probably tried

  • Reading executive-interview prep books
  • Rehearsing in your head on the commute
  • Doing one mock interview with a friend (too polite)
  • Convincing yourself "I will figure it out on the day"

How we tackle it

Interview dry runs. I play the CEO, the board member, the CTO peer. Common seats: strategy story, org-design case, "walk me through a hard decision," references from your team. We build the written narrative and rehearse it out loud until it does not sound rehearsed.

Target: Before the interview: 3 rehearsed dry runs, written narratives for 5 stories, and one hard-decision walk-through you own.

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You have imposter syndrome in a role you actually earned.

I got the promotion, the title, the seat. Every Monday I am convinced someone will realize I should not be here. It has not gone away in 6 months and pretending it will is not working. I cannot say this to anyone at the company. My partner is tired of hearing it. My therapist does not understand what a monorepo is.

You have probably tried

  • Reading imposter-syndrome articles that told you it is normal
  • Working harder to "prove" you belong
  • Waiting for a specific accomplishment to make the feeling go
  • Trying to fake confidence in the exec meeting

How we tackle it

We separate the actual gaps (learnable) from the imposter voice (a background process, not the reality). Weekly session as an outlet with someone who has coached 3,000+ people through the same loop. One skill gap tackled per month.

Target: By month 3: one measurable skill closed, a written "here is what I actually know" artifact, and Sunday-evening dread noticeably lower.

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You are recovering from burnout. You cannot afford to quit.

I am at 60% capacity and my calendar is still 100%. I cannot take 3 months off without losing the mortgage. The job is not the enemy, the way I am doing it is. I know all this and I still cannot make the changes stick past Wednesday.

You have probably tried

  • Taking a 5-day vacation and coming back to 400 unread emails
  • Reading burnout-recovery books at midnight (ironic)
  • Delegating one thing and then re-taking it back the next week
  • Convincing yourself "just get through this quarter"

How we tackle it

We build the recovery plan that fits inside your existing job. One recovery ritual, one calendar cut, one delegated conversation per week. We install one "I take the L on this" so you learn to drop things. We agree the specific KPIs that mean "I am back."

Target: By week 8: at least one visible calendar cut, one delegated thing that stayed delegated, Sundays back to being Sundays.

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You have a toxic manager. HR will not save you.

They micromanage. Or they ghost. Or they take credit. Or they publicly disagree with me in the wrong meeting. Every 1:1 makes it worse. Skip-level is complicated. HR is not going to save me. And I have been half-looking externally for 4 months without committing.

You have probably tried

  • Being extra communicative to preempt the criticism
  • Waiting for a re-org to move you
  • Talking to HR (they suggested "have a direct conversation")
  • Reading articles about "difficult managers"

How we tackle it

We diagnose the pattern (control, avoidance, credit-taking, undermining). We test a "fix from inside" plan for 60 days: specific behavior, specific ask, specific escalation criteria. If no change, we design the exit that keeps the relationship civil and your reputation intact.

Target: By day 60: measurable behavior change OR a signed offer in your inbox.

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The questions I hear most from Engineering leaders navigating career, salary, and life

These are the exact asks from mentees in the last 12 months. Bring one to the intro call and we start there.

How mentoring with me works

  1. Step 1

    Intro session (free, 30 min)

    We understand your situation, background, and the two KPIs we would target. If we are not a fit, we stop here. If we are, we agree the cadence and the first homework.

  2. Step 2

    Session 1 and beyond

    We pick 2 specific KPIs to move over 3-6 months. Small written homework after every session. Everything we discuss stays between us.

  3. Step 3

    Reviews and cadence

    Regular progress reviews with you (optionally with your manager). Weekly or bi-weekly. Onsite in Prague or remote, both work.

Frequently asked

Is this therapy?+

No. I am not a therapist and this is not therapy. I coach engineering-leadership humans through engineering-leadership situations. If you need therapy, get therapy. Coaching runs alongside it well.

What if my real block is that I am not sure what I want?+

Good. That is one of the most common starting points. We work "what do you actually want" as the first artifact. Not what sounds good on LinkedIn.

Will you tell me straight if I should just quit?+

Yes. If the answer is "get out," I will say so, and I will help you design the exit. Sometimes the fix is not inside the current company.

Can we talk about salary numbers directly?+

Yes. I have compensation data across CEE, EU, UK, and US markets for eng-leadership roles. We look at real numbers, not vibes.

Are you the right coach if I want to leave engineering entirely?+

If you are leaving eng-leadership for something completely outside the field, probably not. If you are moving from Big Tech to a scale-up, or FinTech to HealthTech, yes. I know the eng-leadership market across CEE and North America.

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Why me

Marian Kamenistak

Marian Kamenistak. Ex-VPE at Mews (Series C, R&D scaled 10 to 80+ eng teams). Ex-Manta (acquired by IBM). Ex-Databricks Bay Area. Founder of Engineering Leaders Community (2,000+ members).

3,000+ mentoring sessions since 2019. Prague-based, serving EU + North America.

Ready to start?

Free 30-min intro. No pricing conversation on the first call. We figure out if we can move your specific problem forward. That is it.

Book the intro →Or emailmarian@marian.coach

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