Director, Software Engineering | Actionable content for leaders in tech. Software engineering, engineering leadership, online business.

15+ years building production systems. Former Director of Engineering at Oracle, leading public cloud services and working with engineers from Microsoft, AWS, Google, Netflix.

My mission: help businesses and engineers build AI systems that create real leverage.

We're entering a world where AI agents do the work and humans direct. The question is which side of the gap you're on.

Tool user: Prompts ChatGPT, starts from scratch every time.

System builder: Has agents that research, write, and code - creating output while they sleep.

Most AI content teaches you to copy paste. I teach the patterns underneath - so you can build any system, for any problem.

One person with the right systems can do the work of 10. I help people become that person.

What I do:
→ AI Engineer: Community for AI engineers. Courses, resources, downloadable AI projects
→ GradientWork: Custom AI development for businesses
→ Newsletter: Free value every week

📩 newsletter.owainlewis.com
👥 skool.com/aiengineer
💼 gradientwork.com

Owain Lewis

Over 650 Google and OpenAI employees signed an open letter backing Anthropic's stand against the Pentagon.

Here is what they are asking. 

That their companies refuse the Department of War's demands for permission to use AI models for mass domestic surveillance and autonomously killing people without human oversight.

The backstory. Anthropic agreed to 98% of the Pentagon's use cases for Claude. Cyber operations, combat support, intelligence - all approved. They drew the line on two things: mass surveillance of Americans and fully autonomous weapons.

The Pentagon's response was a 3-day ultimatum. Agree or get labeled a "supply chain risk" - a designation historically reserved for foreign adversaries. Never before applied to an American company.

Now the people actually building these models at Google and OpenAI are saying the same thing Anthropic said. 

Not these two things.

I agree with them. The technology is advancing fast but AI models are not reliable enough for life and death decisions. There is a fundamental unpredictability in these systems that we have not solved. 

Giving them the ability to make kill decisions without a human in the loop is not a technical limitation we can hand-wave away.

This is one of the most important conversations happening in tech right now.

What's your take?

I build AI systems that help businesses scale | Founder, GradientWork

Getting Senior Leaders to Optimal Performance and Sustainable Growth Without Burnout

You’re capable, experienced, and used to handling pressure. Yet certain moments quietly destabilise even strong leaders.
► When you step into a new role and realise the rules have changed
► When a restructuring, missed promotion, or sudden shift knocks confidence more than you admit
► When performance still looks “fine”, but decision-making feels heavier and slower than it should

These moments don’t look dramatic from the outside. 
They look like coping.

And this is where many leaders hesitate —
waiting for clarity to return on its own,
until the cost shows up as loss of judgment, credibility, or energy.

👉 This is where my work begins.
I partner with senior leaders and leadership teams during high-stakes transitions — where clarity, authority, and direction matter more than speed.

My clients typically come to this point when they need to:

✔️ Make clear, grounded decisions under pressure 
✔️ Re-establish authority and presence in a new or changing role 
✔️ Navigate career transitions or restructuring without loss of momentum 
✔️ Lead teams through complexity, transformation, or sustained change 
✔️ Perform at a high level without sacrificing health, focus, or integrity

I bring 17+ years of experience from Fortune 500 organisations (P&G, General Mills, GSK, Syngenta), combined with professional executive coaching and mentoring (ICF PCC, EMCC SP). 

I understand the realities of senior leadership — competing priorities, political complexity, and the expectation to “hold it together” while everything shifts.

My clients often describe the biggest shift not as improved performance alone — but as clearer thinking, steadier confidence, and the ability to lead without constantly operating in reactive mode.

If you’re navigating a meaningful transition — whether you’re still in role or between chapters — and sense that waiting is no longer the right strategy, you’re welcome to message me here on LinkedIn to explore whether working together makes sense.

— 
🌐 tatianarueff.com 
📩 tatiana@tatianarueff.com 

For organisations, I also design and deliver senior leadership workshops and keynotes on leading through high-stakes transitions — enabling sustainable performance, clarity, and resilience under pressure.

Tatiana Rueff

𝐎𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐢𝐠𝐠𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐟𝐭𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩 
𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐈 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐫𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦 𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐞.

Early in my corporate career, 
I believed strong leaders absorb pressure.
So I did.

I filled decision gaps.
Clarified ambiguity others left open.
Carried risk quietly.

It worked - for a while.

Until I stepped into a role with broader scope and higher expectations.

What had made me effective before
no longer worked in the same way.

I wasn’t leading.
I was compensating.

And it was exhausting.

Senior leadership isn’t demanding only because of workload.
It’s demanding when ownership is unclear - especially above you.

When no one clearly holds the decision:
- meetings multiply
- alignment rounds repeat
- pressure rises quietly

The turning point for me was learning to say:

“This is mine.”
 Or
 “This is not.”

Clean authority is lighter than quiet over-responsibility.

That shift changes not only performance -
but your own sustainability.

𝐈𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮’𝐫𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟,
𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠
𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐝?

Executive & Leadership Transition Coach (ICF PCC) | Strategic Clarity & Conscious Authority for Senior Leaders in Transition | Ex-Fortune 500

𝐀 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐲.
𝐈𝐭 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐭.

I remember a senior leader telling me, two weeks into his new role:

“𝘐 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘐’𝘥 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘣𝘪𝘨𝘨𝘦𝘳.
𝘐𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘥, 𝘐 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘵𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘥.”

Nothing had gone wrong.
But suddenly:

- his pauses felt longer
- his decisions felt heavier
- his agenda felt political
- and his usual confidence felt… slightly shaken

This is what most people don’t say out loud.

The title changes overnight.
The internal recalibration doesn’t.

In the first weeks of a bigger role, something subtle happens:

You become more careful.
You prepare more.
You replay conversations.
You try to get alignment before taking a stance.

Not because you’re incapable.

Because visibility amplifies self-doubt before it amplifies authority.

And people are already assessing:

- Can they hold pressure?
- Can they make clean decisions without over-consulting?
- Can they tolerate disagreement without softening too quickly?

A bigger title doesn’t stabilise you.
It magnifies whatever is already there.

And if that recalibration doesn’t happen early,
hesitation quietly becomes your leadership signature.

If you’ve recently stepped into a bigger role (or you’re about to) the real question isn’t:

“𝑯𝒐𝒘 𝒅𝒐 𝑰 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒎𝒚𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇?”

It is:

“𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒐𝒇 𝒎𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒘𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒖𝒑 𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒍𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒍 𝒐𝒇 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒆?”

If this phase feels familiar, message me “𝐋𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥.”
This is the window where stabilisation is easier (and far less costly) than correction later.

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The Battle

Owain Lewis

Tatiana Rueff

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Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Owain Lewis's LinkedIn Performance

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