VP of Engineering & Leadership Mentor

Gil Cohen

Mentorship for Leaders. Scaling R&D. Engineering Excellence.

I mentor engineering leaders - from first-time managers to VPs - and help them build and scale high-performing R&D organizations, including the move to agentic engineering.

Gil Cohen

About Me

I'm a seasoned engineering leader and consultant with extensive experience in building high-performing teams, scaling organizations, and driving technical excellence. My expertise spans from hands-on engineering management to strategic advisory work with founders and executives.

My core focus is mentorship for leaders. I believe great organizations are built by empowered leaders at every level, so I invest heavily in developing managers, senior engineers, and new VPs - helping them grow into confident decision-makers who can manage upwards, scale teams, own outcomes, and lead with empathy. By combining clear expectations, continuous feedback, and trust, I build leadership pipelines that strengthen the organization long term.

I also help organizations scale their R&D - designing the right structure and operating model, and guiding the move to agentic engineering. As a working VP of Engineering embedding AI agents into the software lifecycle, my guidance here is grounded in what's really shipping in production, not hype.

20+

Years Experience

180+

Engineers Led

15+

Leaders Grown Internally

Professional Experience

VP of Engineering

Firefly AI

2021 - Present

  • Grew the engineering team from 10 to 50+ engineers
  • Led the org's move to agentic engineering - embedding AI agents across the SDLC and upskilling teams to work with them in production
  • Led cross-functional engineering teams
  • Initiated and scaled the engineering off-shore sites and strategies
  • Managed and mentored engineers and managers
  • Partnered with the product team to define the product roadmap and prioritize features
  • Orchestrated internal and external dependencies, optimizing for speed to market

Director of Engineering

Rise

2020 - 2021

  • Architected scalable microservices infrastructure
  • Collaborated with product teams to deliver customer-focused solutions

Group Manager

ironSource Inc.

2017 - 2020

  • Developed high-performance data pipelines and ETL infrastructure
  • Optimized database queries and system performance
  • Managed and mentored junior leaders and senior engineers in team building and technical planning

Consulting Services

Scaling R&D Organizations

Build the structure, processes, and leadership pipeline to grow R&D without losing velocity or culture - including the move to agentic engineering.

  • Operating model and org structure design
  • Adopting agentic engineering - AI agents across the SDLC
  • Hiring strategy and offshore / distributed teams
  • Delivery processes optimized for speed to market

Team Building & Culture

High-performing teams are built deliberately. I help you hire, align, and grow teams that own outcomes and lead with empathy.

  • Hiring strategy and process optimization
  • Culture and values alignment
  • Continuous feedback and performance
  • Mentoring managers and senior engineers

Get In Touch

Ready to Grow Your Leaders?

Whether you're growing as a leader, scaling R&D, or adopting agentic engineering, let's discuss how I can help your teams, leaders, and organization get there.