I don't think the role of an engineering leader has changed much. I view AI in different forms as a tool to help us do our job more efficiently and perhaps more effective in doing the grunt work. You still have to do all the things you were doing before - planning, budgeting, ensuring quality and on time execution while keeping the team(s) motivated. One Bay Area peer group of Engineering Leaders that I was involved in is SFELC (San Francisco Engineering Leadership Council?). That time there used to be after work gatherings for leaders to network and discuss issues. I am not sure what's it current status.

Have you been a director of engineering before?

Your job is to devise plan to get rid of need for a CTO by year 1 and CEO by year 3.