Engineering
Series 2024

ICONIQ Growth's Engineering Series examines topics that span the state of modern-day engineering organizations, from the future of engineering and developer productivity to team structure, career paths, and engineering leadership. The series leverages exclusive data and insights from engineering leaders and engineers at enterprise software companies.

About this Series

Research and development (R&D) is increasingly emerging as a significant expenditure and crucial distinguishing factor for companies. It is also frequently the least transparent function within many organizations. Unlike in finance or sales & marketing, engineering leaders often find it a challenge to access relevant or publicly available data against which to benchmark their engineering team performance.

ICONIQ Growth's Engineering Series shares best practices and proprietary benchmarks that can help you scale operations, with a specific focus on engineering-specific metrics and challenges. Each report in the series offers in-depth responses to critical questions about various operating topics, including the future of engineering, the organizational structure of engineering teams, engineering career paths, developer productivity, and engineering leadership.

The series leverages exclusive data and insights from surveys conducted in December 2023 of 200 engineering executives (including CTOs, technical founders, and VPs of Engineering), as well as 100 engineering employees (including engineers, senior engineers, and engineering managers), at Enterprise SaaS companies.1 The perspectives, insights, and best practices of engineering executives in the ICONIQ Growth portfolio and wider community are also woven throughout.

Share this series:

Copy page URL to clipboard

Share on X

Share on LinkedIn

https://www.iconiqcapital.com/growth/insights/

Reports in this Series

Report heading

Parent report name
Fill out fields before detaching ⬇️

Report heading

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Pellentesque libero neque, commodo at egestas a, malesuada sed tellus. Donec cursus pulvinar odio eu auctor. Nunc rutrum tellus eu enim tincidunt, ac rutrum mi tempor. Praesent orci elit, placerat nec tincidunt non, efficitur at tellus. 

Expand report

Text Link

Engineering Predictions for 2024 (and Beyond)

  • The mandate of developer productivity: Understanding and tracking developer productivity will be essential. But the focus should be on driving team-level efficiency and improving developer experience — rather than tracking individual productivity.
  • The rise of platform engineering: Building an ecosystem that allows developers to be more autonomous will mean better interfaces, enhanced integration, and streamlined workflows.
  • The death of agile: The agile manifesto often does not work for modern-day SaaS engineering organizations, who must navigate unplanned work, customer needs, and technical constraints.
  • The AI multiplier: Incorporating generative AI and large-language models (LLMs) into internal workflows will become table-stakes for engineering teams.

In 2024, engineering leaders’ top priorities fall across three broad categories: developer productivity and experience; the evolution and maturity of DevOps; and driving innovation and efficiency, with a focus on embedding AI.

Key Priorities for Engineering Leaders

  • Based on our research, we believe developer productivity should be assessed through a holistic framework that captures business impact, performance and reliability, developer effectiveness, and culture
  • A key factor to improving developer productivity and experience is the state of the underlying infrastructure and processes that power engineering teams
  • Our conversations with CTOs have revealed universal questions about AI that include where to start, use cases for most impact, and early ROI

Engineering leaders are prioritizing product development, accelerating developer velocity, and improving underlying infrastructure and processes 

We are keeping headcount flat in 2024, so a big focus for me this year is striking a balance between individual development goals and organization needs with a major focus on efficiency.”

Report heading

Parent report name
Fill out fields before detaching ⬇️

Report heading

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Pellentesque libero neque, commodo at egestas a, malesuada sed tellus. Donec cursus pulvinar odio eu auctor. Nunc rutrum tellus eu enim tincidunt, ac rutrum mi tempor. Praesent orci elit, placerat nec tincidunt non, efficitur at tellus. 

Expand report

Text Link

Engineering Predictions for 2024 (and Beyond)

  • The mandate of developer productivity: Understanding and tracking developer productivity will be essential. But the focus should be on driving team-level efficiency and improving developer experience — rather than tracking individual productivity.
  • The rise of platform engineering: Building an ecosystem that allows developers to be more autonomous will mean better interfaces, enhanced integration, and streamlined workflows.
  • The death of agile: The agile manifesto often does not work for modern-day SaaS engineering organizations, who must navigate unplanned work, customer needs, and technical constraints.
  • The AI multiplier: Incorporating generative AI and large-language models (LLMs) into internal workflows will become table-stakes for engineering teams.

In 2024, engineering leaders’ top priorities fall across three broad categories: developer productivity and experience; the evolution and maturity of DevOps; and driving innovation and efficiency, with a focus on embedding AI.

Key Priorities for Engineering Leaders

  • Based on our research, we believe developer productivity should be assessed through a holistic framework that captures business impact, performance and reliability, developer effectiveness, and culture
  • A key factor to improving developer productivity and experience is the state of the underlying infrastructure and processes that power engineering teams
  • Our conversations with CTOs have revealed universal questions about AI that include where to start, use cases for most impact, and early ROI

Engineering leaders are prioritizing product development, accelerating developer velocity, and improving underlying infrastructure and processes 

We are keeping headcount flat in 2024, so a big focus for me this year is striking a balance between individual development goals and organization needs with a major focus on efficiency.”
Engineering Series 2024

Compensation & Incentives

Publishing mid-April 2024

Compensation & Incentives examines engineering salary, benefits, and career paths. The report details compensation structure for key employees in R&D organizations, with particular focus on individual contributor product and engineering roles.

Engineering Series 2024

The Engineering Reporting Guide

Publishing late April 2024

Engineering Reporting presents key metrics and frameworks for engineering organizations to track and leverage. The report includes definitions, calculations, and frameworks for key metrics, as well as best practices and templates for best-in-class reporting.

Engineering Series 2024

Head of Product $0-$50M ARR

Publishing late April 2024

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius enim in eros elementum tristique. Duis cursus, mi quis viverra ornare, eros dolor interdum nulla, ut commodo diam libero vitae erat. Aenean faucibus nibh et justo cursus id rutrum lorem imperdiet. Nunc ut sem vitae risus tristique posuere.

Engineering Series 2024

Head of Product $50M ARR to Post IPO

Publishing late April 2024

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius enim in eros elementum tristique. Duis cursus, mi quis viverra ornare, eros dolor interdum nulla, ut commodo diam libero vitae erat. Aenean faucibus nibh et justo cursus id rutrum lorem imperdiet. Nunc ut sem vitae risus tristique posuere.

Engineering Series 2024

Head of Technology $50M ARR to Post IPO

Publishing late April 2024

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius enim in eros elementum tristique. Duis cursus, mi quis viverra ornare, eros dolor interdum nulla, ut commodo diam libero vitae erat. Aenean faucibus nibh et justo cursus id rutrum lorem imperdiet. Nunc ut sem vitae risus tristique posuere.

Engineering Series 2024

Head of Technology $0-$50M ARR

Publishing late April 2024

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius enim in eros elementum tristique. Duis cursus, mi quis viverra ornare, eros dolor interdum nulla, ut commodo diam libero vitae erat. Aenean faucibus nibh et justo cursus id rutrum lorem imperdiet. Nunc ut sem vitae risus tristique posuere.

Notes

  1. This data was collected anonymously by an external survey. Survey responses include some but not all ICONIQ Growth portfolio companies as well as companies not part of ICONIQ Growth’s portfolio.
  2. Please refer to the Disclosures at the end of this article for more information on BetterUp.
  3. ICONIQ Growth Tech Employee Survey from October – November 2021 which includes responses from ~70 tech employees; For more details on data source and insights, reference our Future of Work Series Introduction
  4. Themes, sentiments, and anonymized conversations from ~100,000 BetterUp onboarding sessions and ~128,000 coaching touchpoints
  5. Data from a survey of ~150 tech employees conducted in March 2022. For more details on data source and respondent make-up, reference our Future of Work Series: Professional Development report
  6. Themes, sentiments, and anonymized conversations from ~100,000 BetterUp onboarding sessions and ~128,000 coaching touchpoints
  7. Analysis uses implied gender based on pronouns used by coaches
  8. Themes, sentiments, and anonymized conversations from ~100,000 BetterUp onboarding sessions and ~128,000 coaching touchpoints
  9. ICONIQ Growth Tech Employee Survey from October – November 2021 which includes responses from ~70 tech employees; For more details on data source and insights, reference our Future of Work Series Introduction
  10. Data from a survey of ~150 tech employees conducted in March 2022. For more details on data source and respondent make-up, reference our Future of Work Series: Professional Development report
  11. Themes, sentiments, and anonymized conversations from ~100,000 BetterUp onboarding sessions and ~128,000 coaching touchpoints

Disclaimer

Unless otherwise indicated, the views expressed in this presentation are those of ICONIQ Growth (“ICONIQ" or the “Firm"), are the result of proprietary research, may be subjective, and may not be relied upon in making an investment decision. Information used in this presentation was obtained from numerous sources. Certain of these companies are portfolio companies of ICONIQ Growth. ICONIQ Growth does not make any representations or warranties as to the accuracy of the information obtained from these sources. 

This presentation is for general information purposes only and does not constitute investment advice. This presentation must not be relied upon in connection with any investment decision. The information in this presentation is not intended to and does not constitute financial, accounting, tax, legal, investment, consulting or other professional advice or services.  Nothing in this presentation is or should be construed as an offer, invitation or solicitation to engage in any investment activity or transaction, including an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any securities which should only be made pursuant to definitive offering documents and subscription agreements, including without limitation, any investment fund or investment product referenced herein. 

Any reproduction or distribution of this presentation in whole or in part, or the disclosure of any of its contents, without the prior consent of ICONIQ, is strictly unauthorized.

This presentation may contain forward-looking statements based on current plans, estimates and projections. The recipient of this presentation ("you") are cautioned that a number of important factors could cause actual results or outcomes to differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, the forward-looking statements. The numbers, figures and case studies included in this presentation have been included for purposes of illustration only, and no assurance can be given that the actual results of ICONIQ or any of its partners and affiliates will correspond with the results contemplated in the presentation. No information is contained herein with respect to conflicts of interest, which may be significant. The portfolio companies and other parties mentioned herein may reflect a selective list of the prior investments made by ICONIQ.

Certain of the economic and market information contained herein may have been obtained from published sources and/or prepared by other parties. While such sources are believed to be reliable, none of ICONIQ or any of its affiliates and partners, employees and representatives assume any responsibility for the accuracy of such information.

All of the information in the presentation is presented as of the date made available to you (except as otherwise specified), and is subject to change without notice, and may not be current or may have changed (possibly materially) between the date made available to you and the date actually received or reviewed by you. ICONIQ assumes no obligation to update or otherwise revise any information, projections, forecasts or estimates contained in the presentation, including any revisions to reflect changes in economic or market conditions or other circumstances arising after the date the items were made available to you or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. Numbers or amounts herein may increase or decrease as a result of currency fluctuations.