Engineering Leadership in the AI Era

4.6 (28)

·

2 Weeks

·

Cohort-based Course

Master essential people skills and AI tools to transform from technical expert to impactful leader in today's AI-driven tech landscape.

Trusted by employees at:

Meta
Salesforce
Klaviyo
Cox Automotive
Slack

Course overview

What makes a great engineering leader in the modern AI era?

Leaders are remembered not just for their technical prowess but for the lasting impact they have on their team's careers and success. In an era where AI is transforming how teams work, the human side of leadership has never been more critical.


This course equips both aspiring software engineering managers and experienced EMs alike with the essential interpersonal skills to amplify their influence and drive team performance. It leverages AI tools to enhance these fundamentally human leadership capabilities.


Over 100 individual contributors (ICs) and EMs have already enhanced their leadership capabilities through this course. Join them and transform your approach to tech leadership for the AI era.


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This interactive course will teach you how to solve 4 key problems faced by senior ICs and managers:


1️⃣ Identifying growth opportunities within your team and working with them to fill these missing areas—using both traditional mentoring approaches and AI-powered insights to personalize development plans


2️⃣ Communicating with clarity and impact with direct reports, peers, and upper management—enhanced with AI tools for message preparation, follow-up analysis, and communication refinement


3️⃣ Delivering constructive, actionable feedback that drives real improvement—using proven frameworks plus AI assistance for better situation analysis and delivery optimization


4️⃣ Balancing AI adoption with human needs by helping your team to navigate the challenges of AI integration while maintaining team trust and unity


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For the duration of this course you'll receive:


• 4 live sessions over 2 weeks hours over Zoom, with interactive lessons and breakout sessions

• Hands-on learning by walking through case studies and real-life examples with your cohort

• Templates and AI prompts you can immediately start using on the job

• In-depth live Q&A sessions to get immediate answers to your on-the-job questions

• Recording and slides for future reference and review


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Great leadership is more than just your title, it’s about supporting and growing the people around you. This is a course designed to give technical managers the skills and tools they need to become effective, influential leaders that can inspire teams as well as manage them. You’ve put in the hard work to get to management level, and on completing this course you’ll have the skills to prove yourself as a leader.

Who this course is for:

01

New and experienced managers looking to build the interpersonal skills required to succeed as a leader in the AI era

02

Technical managers who want to develop their team and build influence across their company while navigating AI adoption

03

Aspiring managers looking to lay the groundwork to create impact as an IC and future leader, preparing for an AI-transformed workplace

After taking this course, you'll be able to:

Build and scale a high performing team

Your success as a leader is measured by your team's execution, and to execute well, you need a great team. Learn to identify strengths, empower growth, and navigate AI's impact on team dynamics.

Conduct impactful 1:1s and development check-ins

1:1s and performance reviews don't have to be stressful. Learn how to keep the feedback loop active by applying proven frameworks and AI tooling to conduct meaningful 1:1s and provide tactical, actionable feedback to your team on a regular cadence.

Make difficult decisions with confidence

From performance management to resource allocation, learn frameworks for tough calls while leveraging AI for better information gathering. We'll cover how to gather the right information, involve the right people, and confidently communicate decisions upward and downward.

Navigate challenging conversations with peers and direct reports

Learn how to give constructive feedback from a trained therapist! Master effective communication strategies for conflict resolution within your team to build influence within your organization. Discover how AI can help you prepare for conversations and follow up effectively.

Lead through AI transformation

Balance AI advancement with human needs, ensuring your team thrives in an AI-augmented workplace. Learn to maintain psychological safety during change, help team members adapt their skills, and create an environment where both AI tools and human creativity can flourish.

What’s included

Kelly Vaughn

Live sessions

Learn directly from Kelly Vaughn in a real-time, interactive format.

Lifetime access

Go back to course content and recordings whenever you need to.

Community of peers

Stay accountable and share insights with like-minded professionals.

Certificate of completion

Share your new skills with your employer or on LinkedIn.

AI leadership toolkit

Practical prompt templates and tools for team assessment, communication, feedback, and development planning.

Maven Guarantee

This course is backed by the Maven Guarantee. Students are eligible for a full refund up until the halfway point of the course.

Course syllabus

6 live sessions • 3 projects

Week 1

Aug 19—Aug 24

    Pre-work: Team Assessment & Performance Management

    2 items

    Aug

    19

    Live Session 1: Becoming the leader your team needs

    Tue 8/194:00 PM—5:00 PM (UTC)

    Aug

    21

    Live Session 2: Career development without the noise

    Thu 8/214:00 PM—5:00 PM (UTC)

    Aug

    22

    Optional: Q&A

    Fri 8/224:00 PM—5:00 PM (UTC)
    Optional

Week 2

Aug 25—Aug 30

    Pre-work: Feedback Mastery & Integration

    1 item

    Aug

    26

    Live Session 3: Communicate like a leader

    Tue 8/264:00 PM—5:00 PM (UTC)

    Aug

    28

    Live Session 4: Feedback & conflict, minus the fear

    Thu 8/284:00 PM—5:00 PM (UTC)

    Aug

    29

    Optional: Q&A

    Fri 8/294:00 PM—5:00 PM (UTC)
    Optional

Post-course

    Self-paced Module: Course Wrap-up & Next Steps

    0 items

4.6 (28 ratings)

What students are saying

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Join an upcoming cohort

Engineering Leadership in the AI Era

Cohort 6

$999

Dates

Aug 19—30, 2025

Payment Deadline

Aug 12, 2025
Get reimbursed

Over 4 hours of live content + Q&A

  • Tuesday, August 19

    12:00 - 1:00 PM ET

    Session 1: Become the leader your team needs

    • Identifying the types of high performers on your team
    • Managing medium and low performers
    • Using AI to identify trends in performance
  • Thursday, August 21

    12:00 - 1:00 PM ET

    Session 2: Career development without the noise

    • Breaking down the 1:1
    • Quarterly development planning for your team
    • Building an AI bot to help you write QDPs
  • Tuesday, August 26

    12:00 - 1:00 PM ET

    Session 3: Communicate like a leader

    • Managing expectations with your team
    • Negotiating with your PM and EM peers
    • Managing up in your organization
    • How to use AI to assist in these conversations
  • Thursday, August 28

    12:00 - 1:00 PM ET

    Session 4: Feedback and conflict without the fear

    • Reframing your own views of feedback
    • Tactical feedback delivery framework
    • Practicing giving feedback with AI
    • Feedback case study

Frequently Asked Questions

Meet your instructor

Kelly Vaughn

Kelly Vaughn

Kelly Vaughn is a people-first leadership expert with 20+ years experience in software engineering and team management. Currently Senior Engineering Manager at Zapier, she has built and scaled engineering orgs of varying sizes and mentored dozens of leaders to nurture and grow their careers. 


She combines her engineering experience with learnings from her clinical social work studies to turn technical engineers and managers into impactful, influential leaders within their organizations. 


Kelly’s passion for engineering and leadership has seen her invited to be keynote speaker at All Things Open, as well as a speaker at leading conferences such as RenderATL, and React Summit.



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A pattern of wavy dots

Join an upcoming cohort

Engineering Leadership in the AI Era

Cohort 6

$999

Dates

Aug 19—30, 2025

Payment Deadline

Aug 12, 2025
Get reimbursed

$999

4.6 (28)

·

2 Weeks