Who will you be writing for? 

Our audience consists of all senior engineering folk, from tech leads to VPs and senior ICs. They are consistently technical (across a very broad range of technologies and industries) with many line-managing people in their organisations. It’s also important to note that some folks have just been promoted or are trying to figure out what skills they need to progress into a more technical role.   

What does LeadDev offer? 

If we choose your article for publication, we’ll offer all the support we can in the creation of your article. After a first draft has been handed in, it will be passed to our in-house editor, who will work with you to ensure your article is the best it can be.  We also pay a $250 honorariumto everyone who writes an article for our site.   

What are we looking for?

• Personal experiences with key takeaways for our community 
• Case studies or projects you’ve worked on that have made a difference 
• Lessons learned from your own career journey 
• Demystifying a complex role or piece of engineering jargon – whether that’s a team or a project, a collaborative process or a niche job title. If it will inform our audience. 
• Essays on how AI is changing software engineering, even (especially?) if it's an unpopular opinion! Is there something on the horizon you want to talk about? Or a hot take you are ready to defend? We’d love to hear from you!

What subject should you focus on? 

• Team (anything related to people management, inclusive & diverse environments, hiring & retention, challenging issues etc.)
• Tech (anything related to new languages, frameworks & technologies, AI, trends & changes, scaling, architecture etc.)
• Tools (anything related to the systems that you use to design, build, test, deploy, and maintain software more efficiently and reliably etc.)
• Process (anything related to the way your team works, Agile & other delivery methods, maintaining a high-performing team etc.)
• Personal Development/Career Development (anything related to improving leadership skills, maintaining your mental health, adapting to a new role etc.)
• StaffPlus (anything on big picture thinking, making the right technical decisions, or influencing at scale)

How does the article review process work?

We review article proposals on a rolling monthly basis, in the order they’re received. Due to a high volume of submissions, we review 40 proposals each month.

Submissions remain open at all times, so it may take 8–12 weeks for your proposal to be reviewed, depending on when it was submitted.

If you haven’t heard from us yet, your submission is still in our review queue. Thanks so much for your patience while we work through it. Unfortunately, we’re not able to provide individual status updates during this period.

If your proposal is selected, we’ll be in touch with the next steps and a writing timeline (usually 3–4 weeks). If your proposal isn’t selected, you’ll receive an update via Submittable once it’s been reviewed.

If you have general questions about the article submission process, you can contact the team at hello@leaddev.com

Hello Berlin!

We’re super excited to announce that LeadDev is returning to Berlin on 9–10 November 2026.

About LeadDev

LeadDev is an event aimed specifically at addressing the challenges faced by engineering leaders. If you're a Tech Lead, Engineering Manager, Staff Engineer, Head of Engineering or Director of Engineering  - then this is the place for you. The event focuses on two things: how to give you the skills and knowledge to be the most effective in your job; and how you can supercharge the effectiveness of your team.

What is the story you want to tell that can help other engineering leaders?

What topics are we interested in?

The event is focused around three big themes: team, tech, and tools. We’ve detailed a bit about them below and remember, you can submit more than one idea!

• Team - Our team talks cover anything related to leadership, personal development, and anything that happens within the unit of your teams. Think about: the skills that you need to be an effective leader; how to maximise the impact and velocity of your teams; skills for growing people; creating inclusive and diverse environments; hiring and retention; adapting to new roles.
• Tech - Our tech talks cover anything you need to run an effective technical team in 2026. We love hearing case studies for our tech talks - real stories about what went right and what went wrong (which is always more interesting!). Think about: AI / LLMS, new languages, frameworks, scaling, architecture.
• Tools - Our tools talks cover anything related to the way your teams get work done. Think about: agile and other delivery methods; frameworks for things like code reviews and 1:1s; on call; observability; continuous integration; velocity and debugging productivity; maintaining a high performing team.

The speaker experience

Working with speakers is one of our favourite things about running LeadDev. We love to give you the opportunity to share your stories and knowledge with our audience - and we put a tonne of work in to help your content shine. Throughout the process, you’ll have the opportunity to work with our professional coach who’ll help you hone your presentation delivery, and our content team who’ll review your talk and help you sharpen it for our audience.

As a speaker for the event, we offer you:

• A free ticket to the conference
• A complimentary ticket to a LeadDev conference the following year
• 2 nights accommodation at the conference hotel
• Economy travel expenses if you need them
• Dedicated support from our team at all stages of your participation 

Good luck

We hope that's given you all the information you need to submit a great proposal. We can't wait to read them!