Engineering managers are back in the codebase

Estimated reading time: 2 minutes

Key takeaways:

• AI lowered the barrier back into the code: EM hands-on work jumped from 20% to 35% in 12 months.
• The 2024 “player-coach” prediction is now reality across every leadership level.
• Coding again doesn’t mean becoming another engineer.

There’s a clear shift occurring: engineering managers are back in the codebase, getting more hands-on with the technical aspects of software development.

Mark Zuckerberg started coding again after a 20-year break. According to multiple reports, he moved his desk to Meta’s AI lab and spends up to 10 hours a week writing code alongside the Meta Superintelligence Labs team. The man who built Facebook in a dorm room and then spent two decades managing tens of thousands of people is shipping diffs again.

Sergey Brin, the Google cofounder who stepped back from day-to-day operations years ago, came out of retirement to code on Gemini. He’s now directly involved in hand-on development. 

LeadDev’s own research illustrates the shift with hard numbers: the Engineering Leadership Report 2026 found that 37% of engineering leaders are doing more hands-on technical work than in 2025.

Among engineering managers specifically, the share rose from 20% in 2025 to 35% in 2026.

AI has drastically lowered the barrier to entry for turning an idea into working software, Emma Bostian, engineering manager at Spotify, tells LeadDev. Engineering leaders can now use natural language to gather context, generate code, build proof of concepts, and validate or challenge assumptions in a fraction of the time it once took, she adds.

The engineering manager’s changing role 

Until recently, the engineering manager role was defined by leadership rather than technical contribution. Gergely Orosz’s widely referenced 2021 Pragmatic Engineer diagram captured this well, placing engineering managers at the intersection of people and stakeholder management, outside the code circle.

AI makes it easier for leaders to contribute code, the ‘player-coach’ model Gergely Orosz predicted in 2024 has become a reality. 

Leaders across every role spent more time on hands-on coding and code reviews than the in previous year, including tech leads (41%), managers of engineers (31%), managers of managers (30%), and CTOs or equivalent (44%), according to the Engineering Leadership Report 2026. Respondents also reported spending more time on architectural decisions and technical strategy than in 2025.

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Balance is key 

AI may make it easier for engineering managers to stay technically engaged, but leadership experts argue that the goal is not to become another engineer on the team. The value lies in remaining technically credible while preserving time for people leadership and organizational decision-making.

Bostian says that while staying close to the code helps managers remain technically informed, their greatest impact comes from empowering their teams rather than increasing output through their own coding.

Paul Williams, head of terminal experience at Bloomberg echoes similar sentiments. While he sees value in remaining technically involved, he believes an engineering manager’s core responsibilities remain unchanged. 

“I still think the primary role of the engineering manager is to set the vision, work with stakeholders to define the requirements, be responsible for gaining consensus around nuanced decisions, and provide an environment where the team can work as efficiently as possible and grow as developers.”

If the manager can unblock individual contributors and tech leads by taking on some of the non-critical path work, that can be helpful, he says.