Sebastiano has worked at Snapchat, PayPal, and Pinterest before Upwork. He argues engineering must earn its seat at the business table, not demand it — by speaking in outcomes, not outputs. He covers building cross-functional credibility through KPIs, remote leadership at a remote-first company, and what a global career teaches you about influence.
What we covered
- business-engineering alignment
- KPIs
- global engineering career
What I took away
- Engineering influence grows when engineers speak in outcomes, not outputs
- KPIs should span the full customer journey — engineering should own metrics, not just contribute
- Global career mobility requires adaptability to communication styles and decision-making norms
- Companies built on remote work model best practices for distributed engineering culture