Product Engineers: Thriving in the Right Environment

There's a growing wave of engineers who don't just write code — they solve problems that matter. We call them Product Engineers. These are the engineers who work backward from the customer, challenging the "status quo" and delivering meaningful, measurable value. They're problem solvers, product thinkers, and builders all rolled into one.

But here's the thing: their ability to thrive depends heavily on the environment they operate in.

What Makes a Product Engineer?

A Product Engineer is not just someone who codes. They engage directly with users, understand their needs, and map those needs to the features they build. They can look at a feature and say, "This is for Giuseppe from Marketing because his current process takes five extra steps. I'll fix that."

They move fast, make decisions based on impact, and are constantly learning. Their work starts at the source — the customer — and they prioritize based on the potential business value. For instance:

• Customer impact: Which users will benefit the most?
• MRR (Monthly Recurring Revenue): How does this move the needle for the business?
• Lighthouse customers: Who will champion this feature in its early stages?

From there, they turn insights into actionable solutions. They draft technical approaches, create UI mockups, and define the minimal version of a feature that can be released to start gathering feedback. The iterative loop of feedback, improvement, and release is second nature to them.

Startups: The Perfect Playground

Startups are perhaps the best incubators for Product Engineers. Why? Because they embrace agility and have fewer barriers. They provide the ideal environment for:

• Direct customer access: Engineers often talk to users directly, learning firsthand about their challenges.
• Minimal bureaucracy: No need to jump through layers of approvals. You have an idea? Build it. Test it. Iterate.
• Focus on outcomes, not processes: It's all about moving fast, breaking things (and fixing them), and delivering value.

In this environment, Product Engineers can fully unleash their potential. They don't need to ask for permission or wait for a product manager to clear their ideas. They're trusted to make decisions, experiment, and learn.

The Challenges of Growth

But... not every organisation is structured for Product Engineers to thrive. As companies grow, they naturally add processes and layers of management to scale effectively. While this is necessary, it can dilute the very traits that make Product Engineers so effective:

• Layers of separation: More managers and processes mean less direct contact with customers. Insights get filtered, and engineers lose the connection to the problem they're solving.
• Specialisation: Growth often pushes engineers into narrowly defined roles — frontend, backend, AI — forcing them to give up the holistic ownership they once had.
• Slower pace: Bigger organisations move cautiously, with longer decision cycles and more approval steps.

For a Product Engineer, this can be stifling. Instead of focusing on solving customer problems, they're boxed into delivering outputs for someone else's roadmap. Over time, they may find themselves frustrated or disengaged.

A Crossroads for Product Engineers

As organisations scale, Product Engineers often face a tough decision:

Adapt to specialisation — accept a narrower role and work within the new system.

Find a new environment — move to a smaller or more agile company where they can continue working as a true Product Engineer.

The second path is often where their full potential can be realised. In the right environment, they can take ownership of the entire product lifecycle, from ideation to delivery, and create outsized impact for both the user and the business.

How Companies Can Enable Product Engineers

For organisations that want to retain and nurture Product Engineers, the challenge is clear: how do you scale without losing agility? Some ideas for this:

• Flatten decision-making: Empower engineers to make decisions and interact directly with customers, even as the company grows.
• Preserve ownership: Allow engineers to take end-to-end responsibility for features, from problem definition to delivery.
• Foster experimentation: Create a culture where it's okay to test, fail, and iterate quickly.

The organisations that get this right will unlock immense value. They'll have teams that are not only technically proficient but also deeply connected to the customer and the business. In other words, teams that thrive.

Final Words

Product Engineers are a force to be reckoned with. They don't just build — they deliver. But their success depends as much on their environment as on their skills. For them to thrive, companies must provide the freedom, trust, and support they need to innovate.

Whether you're a Product Engineer or a leader building teams, ask yourself: Are we creating the conditions for engineers to do their best work?

If the answer is yes, your organization will reap the rewards in innovation, customer satisfaction, and business impact. On the other hand, organizations that fail to create the right conditions for Product Engineers risk losing top talent, as engineers who thrive on ownership and creativity will seek environments where they can flourish, leading to higher turnover and recruitment challenges.