You're a talented engineer, brilliant at building things. Now you're responsible for people. And nobody warned you how different that was going to be.
You didn't just get promoted, you changed the fundamental nature of how you create. The skills that made you exceptional, the instinct to fix, to optimise, to solve, the deep satisfaction of building something real, those instincts are still there. But they seem to keep misfiring in this new arena.
You find yourself stepping in, intervening, and somehow it makes things worse. You cancel 1:1s because you're too busy firefighting. You sense someone on your team has disengaged, and you don't quite know what's going on or what to do about it.
And underneath all of it, you have a deeper concern: that in all
the meetings and all the "people stuff" and the endless reactive
days, you're losing what made this career fun and made you, you.
That's not a performance problem. It's a skills gap and an identity challenge.
I'm Jonathan Holburn. I'm a tech-native leadership development coach for engineers and tech leaders stepping into people leadership for the first time. "Tech-native" means I come from the tech world: fifteen years in deep tech, grew my own group from 5 to 20+ people at Cambridge Consultants, one of the world's most renowned deep-tech innovators. I understand what's important to engineers, how tech organisations work, and what's actually going on when the people craft isn't working.
Developing people is a craft I've spent years deliberately building, the same way we all build and hone technical skills. Why? Because beyond all the engineering wins, this was always the part of my career I found most rewarding. Deep tech credibility and genuine people development craft, and I bring both to every client I work with.
"I left feeling clearer and more confident about how to approach a challenging people-management situation." Rachel, Associate Director
We work together on your actual situation
Not with a framework to memorise or a course to complete. With genuine, focused work on what's actually happening in your world right now.
Over three months, we work through what's really going on, what's getting in the way, and how to build something that actually holds. You'll come away with a clearer sense of who you are as a leader, not a borrowed version of someone else's style, and a way of working that fits the complexity you're actually dealing with.
If you're ready to stop firefighting and start leading, let's talk.
"We finished with a deeper understanding of leadership and how to put it into practice." Oliver, Founder
I've spent fifteen years in deep tech, leading teams through serious engineering challenges. I know what it feels like to be responsible for things outside your direct control, to have your identity tied up in your technical credibility, and to be figuring out leadership largely on your own.
That experience is the foundation. But I've also deliberately learned the craft of developing people, trained in listening and helping people think rather than just telling them what I would do.
Ready to stop firefighting?
Book an 18-minute virtual coffee. 18 minutes gives us time to talk through the challenge you're facing at a high level, and discuss whether working together makes sense. If we both like the idea of going further, we'll schedule a deeper conversation to explore exactly what that would look like for you.