Tech Director at Amazon Payment Services | Follow for posts about Leadership Development and Career Growth | Leadership & Career Mentor | Author Of Leadership in 60 Seconds

I ​am a global technology executive with over 20 years of experience. I am currently Director of Software Engineering at Amazon, leading the Access Management Systems space within Amazon Security.

Over my career, I'm honored to have delivered award-winning transformational initiatives that have created competitive advantage, enabled business growth, and exceeded customer expectations.

Known as a forward-thinking problem-solver ― skilled in both business and technology strategy ― I adapt and plan for evolving market needs, delivering initiatives with speed and agility. I am also deeply passionate about building, developing, managing, and leading high-performance teams. A strong communicator and relationship builder, I partner effectively with cross-functional stakeholders and am a trusted advisor within the company.

Ever since I stepped into my first managerial role, more than a decade ago, I quickly realized the profound impact strong leadership has on individuals, teams, and organizations. From that moment, I made it my mission to empower others in their leadership journeys, guiding them to reach new heights in their careers.

In support of this mission, I have developed a community on LinkedIn of over 89K+ like-minded professionals with whom I actively support, engage, and share daily content on leadership, management, and career. I have been recognized as a LinkedIn Top Voice (Blue Badge) and ranked #1 LinkedIn Arab World Creator in Management and Leadership. 

Outside of work, I am passionate about everything automotive, especially F1 racing (Forza Ferrari!). I enjoy sports in general, both playing and watching. I also have a keen interest in collecting fragrances, working out with a focus on strength training, and all things food—from learning about it and exploring new cuisines to preparing dishes and hosting gatherings. 

Languages: English 🇺🇸 Arabic 🇱🇧 French 🇫🇷

Omar Halabieh

Engineering with People Intelligence | Microsoft, Yahoo, SAP, Carnegie Mellon | The Engineering Career Coach

I transformed from a curious software engineer to a strategic leader, guiding massive teams at Microsoft, Yahoo, Walmart Labs, and startups. Along this journey, I generated over $2.3 billion in revenue. But it wasn't always smooth sailing.

My quest began with questions about management, innovation, and leadership, leading me to an unexpected discovery - emotional intelligence. It sparked a new realization; traditional corporate management training teaches frameworks, not leadership. That's why I created Taha's Method, a unique approach focused on leading yourself before others and applying management frameworks rooted in human principles.

And boy, did it work!

In 6 years, I led from 0 to 250+ team members. To date, I have coached over 600+ professionals, including those at Google, Netflix, Oracle, Microsoft, Meta, Intuit, Yahoo, and startups, helping them to secure management as well as IC roles (Principal+).

But why stop there?

In January 2022, I walked away from a 7-figure career to dedicate myself to enabling ambitious software engineers to reach their full potential. I developed a personalized 6-month 1:1 coaching program - and the impact has been phenomenal. (Check out the reviews from my clients below.)

Every day, I share insights on LinkedIn about effective leadership, emotional intelligence challenges, and career advancements. In doing so, I've created a vibrant community of learners and leaders.

For me, great leadership can make the world a better place. And I believe that everyone has the capacity to become a great leader.

So, are you ready to unlock your potential? 

Join me, and let's change the world one leader at a time.

Taha Hussain

Some engineers I worked with at Microsoft never got promoted. 

They weren’t political. 
They weren’t toxic. 
But they made one fatal mistake:

They assumed great code = great career.

But code doesn’t advocate for you in calibration meetings.

People do.

Your promo packet isn’t just about impact.

It’s about perceived impact, narrated clearly, backed by people who matter.

If you can’t speak business,
If you can’t explain your work without using acronyms,
If no one outside your team knows your name...

You’re invisible.

And invisible engineers don’t get promoted.

Want to grow beyond titles and start influencing?

This is where it begins ↓
https://lnkd.in/gMGfmVas

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Subconcious

𝙎𝙪𝙗𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙨𝙘𝙞𝙤𝙪𝙨: The part of the mind that is not currently in focal awareness but influences thoughts, feelings, and actions. It operates below the level of conscious perception, often storing beliefs and past experiences that shape behavior and emotional responses without the individual's conscious knowledge.

Goalsetting

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Start now: https://www.topengineermethod.com/

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📌📌📌 The Resume Ghostbuster

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Engineering Career Coach | Microsoft, Yahoo, SAP, Carnegie Mellon | Engineering with People Intelligence

The paradox of leadership:

The better you lead, the faster you disappear.

At first, you’re in everything:

Approving decisions.
Resolving conflicts.
Motivating the team.

But great leadership is stepping back so others can step up.

Over time, your team grows:

Decisions happen without you.
Problems get solved without you.
The spotlight shifts to those you empowered.

It’s tempting to hold on.
Visibility feels like proof of your value.

But leadership isn’t measured by how much you do. 
It’s measured by how well your team performs without you.

Great leaders don’t crave control. They build capability.

I built something to help engineering leaders do exactly that. 

Learn more → https://lnkd.in/gHSYuJrv

Mid-level is a weird spot.

You're expected to know everything.
But you also realize how much you don’t.

You're mentoring juniors.
But still trying to decode the seniors.

You’re in meetings you used to want invites to.
Now you're wondering why you’re in them at all.

This is the stretch zone.
Uncomfortable.
Messy.
Transformational.

If you're here too?

You're not behind.
You're building depth.

It feels messy because it’s doing its job.

That’s why I built Top Engineer Method — to help you grow in the stretch zone. 

Learn more → https://lnkd.in/gMGfmVas

On my first day at Microsoft, I didn’t even finish my sentence before I was shut down.

"Whatever you want, the answer is no."

Fight back? Risk making an enemy? Walk away and lose respect?

Microsoft was under Satya Nadella’s leadership when I joined in 2016—but the cutthroat culture from the pre-Satya era still lingered. It was a gladiator pit where backstabbing wasn’t just common—it was the daily special.

Trust? Forget it.
Collaboration? A joke.
Survival? Non-negotiable.

Most new hires were either chewed up or joined the game. But I had a different plan.

I didn’t fight harder—I played smarter.

By flipping the system on its head, I not only survived—I thrived. And along the way, I learned how to turn office enemies into allies, earning the nickname: "People Whisperer."

If you’re stuck in a toxic workplace, you can thrive too—even when the knives are out.

I break it all down in my newsletter post: How to Survive (And Thrive) in a Toxic Workplace.

Read it here: https://lnkd.in/gXJptj-h

Microsoft

Junior engineers want to build.

Senior engineers want to solve.

That means saying “no” more often than “yes.”

No to features that don’t matter.
No to tech debt disguised as innovation.
No to a roadmap that reads like a resume.

You’re not paid to impress anymore.

You’re paid to prioritize.

If you’re still chasing velocity, you’re not senior.

You’re just fast.

You don’t earn seniority by writing more code.

You earn it by shaping what gets written.

Learn how → https://lnkd.in/gMGfmVas

LinkedIn is full of teenage energy.

Loud. Confident. Chest puffed out. 

They post like they’ve seen it all:

“Just fire the bad managers.”
“Refactor the whole system.”
“Here’s how to scale engineering teams.”

Scroll up.

9 months in tech. 
Two internships.
One side project and a lot of vibes.

It’s not their fault.

Teenagers don’t fake confidence. 
They just haven’t failed hard enough yet.

They have not been on the 3 a.m. incident call,
trying to undo the thing they once evangelized,
watching dashboards bleed red while the VP watches them.

They haven’t seen a “quick fix” take down four regions.
Have not stood in front of a team the next morning, owning it.

Not yet.

But they will still tell you how to lead.

That is what youth does.
It runs fast before it learns to walk with weight.

Real wisdom moves differently.

It asks more questions than it answers.
It listens more than it lectures.
It earns volume with scars instead of style.

So post your wins.
Share your learnings.
Be proud of where you are.

But don’t confuse a prototype for production.

Because real builders don’t flex maturity.

They carry it quietly, like a burn that still stings when the weather changes.

An engineer I coach has no "Staff" or "Lead" in her title.

But last week, two interns asked if they could shadow her PRs.

And a senior PM pinged her:
“Can you help us reframe this flow?”

She’s not managing anyone.
But she’s leading all the time.

Influence doesn’t come from hierarchy.
It comes from clarity.
From consistency.
From that moment when you gently explain something and someone says, “Ohhh. I get it now.”

Write clearly.
Think long-term.
Be the one who makes hard things feel simple.

People notice clarity long before they notice titles.

Become the engineer who makes hard things feel simple.

Learn how inside Top Engineer Method: https://lnkd.in/gMGfmVas

Influence starts when understanding clicks.

Some engineers still think they’re in school.

They work hard.
Get the answers right.
Turn in clean code.
And expect recognition to follow.

But engineering teams aren’t classrooms.
There are no grades.
No gold stars.
No teacher pulling you aside to whisper, “Great job.”

You can be right AND still be ignored.
You can have the best idea AND still lose the room.

Because the real world doesn’t reward correctness.
It rewards clarity.
Timing.
Trust.
The ability to move people without leaving a bruise.

You’re not here to impress the teacher.
You’re here to shift inertia.
To ship change in a system that doesn’t want to change.

If you’re still playing for grades, you’re going to be outpaced by the ones playing for gravity.

Need help shifting from correctness to real influence?

Enroll in the Top Engineer Method.

I built it from my experience growing engineers at Microsoft, SAP and startups into people whose ideas actually moved teams.

Start now → https://lnkd.in/gMGfmVas

The best idea only matters if it changes something.

Most engineering managers aren’t “too nice.”

They’re afraid.

Afraid to give clear feedback.
Afraid someone will cry, push back, or leave.
Afraid of looking like the bad guy.

So they say nothing.

And slowly become emotionally expensive to their team.

Because silence is not kindness.

It’s cowardice with a smile.

You don’t have to be harsh.
You don’t have to be cold.

But you do have to tell the truth.
Cleanly. Directly. Consistently.

If you can’t do that, you’re not leading.
You’re just running interference between adults.

If you’ve been holding back hard truths in the name of kindness, you’re not alone.

That’s why I built Top Tech Leader — to help managers speak clearly and lead with steady hands.

Learn more → https://lnkd.in/gHSYuJrv

AI won’t just replace engineers.

It’ll replace leaders too.

If your job is tracking tickets, summarizing updates, and running performance reviews?

That’s a chatbot away from irrelevance.

Because AI can already:

→ Read your standups
→ Summarize your 1:1s
→ Predict burnout from Slack threads

What it can’t do?

→ De-escalate tension in a room that’s smiling
→ Coach without crushing confidence
→ Earn trust across functions when pressure peaks

That’s not “soft skills.”

That’s People Intelligence. 

And now the most critical part of your job.

Here’s how you can learn it: https://lnkd.in/gHSYuJrv

Most engineers think becoming an EM is Senior++.

More scope. More meetings. Fewer pull requests.

Same job. Bigger title.

It’s not.

Senior engineers optimize systems.

Engineering Managers optimize people who build systems.

That’s a different muscle.

As a Senior, your instinct is to fix.
As an EM, your job is to not fix.

As a Senior, you prove value by solving hard problems.
As an EM, you prove value by making sure you’re not needed in every hard problem.

As a Senior, you own architecture.
As an EM, you own clarity.
Alignment.
Energy.
Morale when the roadmap gets ugly.

If you think EM is “technical leadership with more meetings,” you’ll burn out in six months.

Because the hardest part of the job isn’t strategy.

It’s watching someone struggle and not grabbing the keyboard.

EM isn’t Senior++.

It’s a career pivot.

And if you don’t change how you measure your impact, the title won’t save you.

I built something to help engineering leaders do exactly that. 

Learn more → https://lnkd.in/gHSYuJrv

The most dangerous person to work for is a first-time manager.

Not because they don’t know what they’re doing.

But because no one punishes them when they get it wrong.

For six months, every misstep gets wrapped in gift paper labeled “growth.”

And you?

You’re the ribbon they pull apart.

Every new EM goes through the same phase:

• Break the silence
• Practice discomfort
• Prove you're a leader: "give tough feedback"

So they go looking for something to fix.
Even when there's nothing to fix.

In September, three new clients came to me.

Each on a PIP, all under first-time managers.

The feedback reads like a template.

Facts. Expectations. No warmth. No context.

Even ChatGPT would say: “Maybe soften that a bit?”

Here’s the part no one wants to say out loud:

New managers are afraid.

Afraid of being wrong.
Of sounding junior.
Of being exposed as someone who never belonged in the chair.

So they overcompensate.
And you become the proof they’re looking for.

If you're working under a new manager: tread lightly.

Don't confuse their fear with your failure.
Don’t make their practice your identity.

Most don’t mean harm. 
But they are learning on live subjects. 

Treat them like a cop on the highway:

Hands at ten and two.
No sudden moves.
Let them pass.

Then get back to driving your career.

You can't choose every manager you work for.

But you can choose how you grow under them.

If you’re learning to lead humans, I built the Top Tech Leader for you. It’s the first program that teaches you strategy and execution with People Intelligence. 

Start here → https://lnkd.in/gHSYuJrv

Most layoffs don’t punish the weakest engineers.

They punish the most replaceable ones.

If your only edge is writing code, you’re fragile.

If you can rally people, align stakeholders, and guide chaos?

You’re harder to cut.

Skills get you hired.

Leverage keeps you employed.

If you’ve been relying only on technical skills to stay safe, it’s time to widen your edge.

That’s what the Top Engineer Method helps you do.

Start now → https://lnkd.in/gMGfmVas

I’ve been a Principal Engineer. I’ve led 250+ people as a Senior Director. I’ve had impressive titles that changed very little about how I work.

Here’s what mattered more:

• The quality of engineers who came to me for advice
• How often PMs asked me to poke holes in a roadmap
• Whether juniors wanted to follow me

Your title is a label.

Your actual impact is a pattern of influence.

The latter is what makes you unforgettable in an org.

If you’re ready to grow beyond titles and start leading through influence, I built the Top Tech Leader for you. 

Start now → https://lnkd.in/gHSYuJrv

Stop chasing titles. 
Start attracting roles.

If your team never argues, your architecture is probably trash.

Healthy teams fight over the work.

They circle a whiteboard, 
poke holes in half-baked ideas, 
and kill the bad ones before they hit production.

If everyone agrees all the time, it's not because they are perfectly aligned.

It's because they have stopped caring.

I once had a team that nodded through every meeting, 
said “makes sense,” 
then went back to doing whatever they wanted. 

In this newsletter post, I share 3 Things That Engaged My Team and turned quiet agreement into real buy-in.

Read it here: https://lnkd.in/gFGgU6cf

Your best engineer used to light up in standups.

Now he gives one-word answers.

Your team used to ask questions.
Throw out ideas.
Challenge decisions.

Now they just nod.

The roadmap hasn’t changed.
The deadlines haven’t changed.
The people have.

And you’re wondering why everything suddenly feels... quiet.

Here’s a hint:

People don’t quit at once.
They go quiet first.

I learnt this the hard way and wrote about this in my newsletter post:

"3 Steps I Took to Stop Losing My Best People."

Read it here: https://lnkd.in/gsST65Ud

The Senior Engineer title is dangerous.

It tricks you into thinking you’ve “made it.”

That’s where most engineers stall.

Because going further requires a different kind of thinking.

• Systems over code
• Outcome over output
• Simplicity over complexity

You don’t get promoted for doing more.

You get promoted for thinking differently.

After working with 300+ engineers on this transition, I noticed a clear pattern. 

I wrote about it in my newsletter post: 

5 Skills That Separate Staff from Senior. 

Read it here: https://lnkd.in/gud4D4hw

If you’re always the firefighter, check your pockets for matches.

Some engineers wear constant firefighting like a badge of honor.

Always on call.
Always in the war room.
Always the one who “saves the day.”

But if you’re always in the fire, you might be part of what keeps it burning.

You jump in before others can solve it.
You’ve built systems that can’t run without you.
You’ve started chasing the adrenaline of being the hero.

The real win isn’t putting out more fires.
It’s building a system where fewer fires start.

If you can’t remember the last time you spent a week building instead of rescuing, ask yourself:

When the next fire starts, will you be protecting the product — or your place in it?

→ Every Sunday, I show engineers how to trade constant firefighting for lasting impact. Subscribe here: https://lnkd.in/g3J25k5w

I’ve been in calibration rooms.

No one says, “Who worked the hardest?”

No one says, “Who deserves it?”

The question sounds more like this:

“If we increase their blast radius, do we sleep better… or worse?”

That’s it.

You are either seen as someone who reduces risk at scale.

Or someone who creates it.

Most high performers don’t know which side they’re on.

Your promo packet won’t change that perception.

My today’s newsletter breaks down the two categories shaping your trajectory:

“Are You Dangerous Or Heavy?”

Read it here: https://lnkd.in/grUJvXeF

If you want the next level, understand how you are perceived first.

I watched coworkers half my age negotiate salaries I’d never see.

Not because they were better.
Not because they worked harder.

But because they asked.

They walked into rooms I avoided.
Named numbers I thought were “too much.”
Treated negotiation like part of the job,
while I treated it like a trip to the principal’s office.

I told myself I was “being realistic.”
What I was really being?
Scared.

Scared of hearing no.
Scared of losing the offer.
Scared of being seen as “difficult.”

So I stayed grateful.

Grateful while they made 30% more for the same work.
Grateful while the gap kept growing.

Here’s the truth I learned too late:

If you won’t advocate for yourself,
the market will never do it for you.

No one’s going to email you and say,
“We realized you’re underpaid. Here’s the difference.”

You have to name your number.
You have to ask for the thing you’re scared to lose.

Not because you’re entitled.
But because you’re worth it.

If you're an engineer, I built something to help you get paid what you’re worth: https://lnkd.in/gMGfmVas

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Omar Halabieh

Taha Hussain

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The Battle

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Taha Hussain

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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);}Taha Hussain's LinkedIn Performance

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