Middle management hiring in technical teams is a serious concern. I’ve seen data engineering professionals hired into data science manager roles who rebrand themselves as “AI Architects” without the relevant experience. This creates a toxic dynamic where project decisions are driven by their 5AM Medium feeds rather than hands-on technical expertise, leading to poor execution and unnecessary friction within the team.
The US operations have a structural problem “Product engineers” with limited understanding of both the technology stack and the client’s products are given authority to drive the workforce. Engineering teams have no say in project allocation or resource planning. This results in simple UI tasks getting held up while the actual technical contributions of data scientists like building production-grade models with measurable business impact go unrecognised.
High performers are left demoralized. When non-technical stakeholders fail to understand or appreciate the complexity of the work being delivered, credit gets misattributed and visibility is controlled by people who “lack the competence to evaluate it” This is slowly becoming a place where merit isn’t rewarded it’s a place where proximity to management matters more than actual output.
I left despite being rated a high performer, and had no trouble securing multiple offers immediately after. That should tell you everything about the talent this company is losing and why.
