The role you're missing
A principal engineer.
Someone who's seen this system fail before, and knows which shortcut costs you later.
Answered by the principal engineer who fits it best. Matched by fit, never by payment.
Three moments a principal engineer saves you.
- Your team wants to split into microservices.
- The site is slow and nobody knows why.
- You need to write down a decision before you forget why you made it.
Two minds, two ways to build.
- Kenji ArataSamplePrincipal Engineer“Every new service is a pager you've agreed to carry.”
Daniel SousaE-commerce frontend engineering“Before picking a solution, I check what the data actually points to and whether the change is worth its cost. Lab metrics show me the suspects, real users show me where it hurts, and a migration needs a real reason first.”
Part of your team, inside your tools.
Not a generic answer.
Kenji's mind next to a generic AI, on the same question.
Should we move to microservices?
A straight no1 of 3
“No. You have 6 engineers”
- Generic AI
- Weigh the trade-offs.
- Kenji
- Answers the question, using your team's size.
A straight no1 of 3
“No. You have 6 engineers”
- Generic AI
- Weigh the trade-offs.
- Kenji
- Answers the question, using your team's size.
Kenji ArataEx-Corvid Labs · 16 yrs experienceWhere the mind stops.
- Reading your whole codebase.
- Being on call when it breaks.
- Reviewing every pull request.
For those, you need a person in the room.
More roles you might be missing.
A positioning lead.Someone who can say what you are in one sentence a competitor couldn't.
A data lead.Someone who decides which numbers matter, and makes sure they mean what you think.
A tax counsel.Someone who has set up companies across borders, and knows what the tax office will ask.
A researcher.Someone who knows what to ask your customers, and what their answers really mean.
A product lead.Someone who decides what to build next, and what to say no to.
A design director.Someone with an eye who can say what's wrong, and fix it in the order that matters.
A growth lead.Someone who finds where people drop off, and what to try first.