Been at my company 5 years.

Got promoted to Senior last year. My assumption was I’d now spend some time actually growing into the role properly. Not coasting, just gradually taking on more scope and moving from “new senior” to a more established senior over time.

Earlier this year I joined what was meant to be a one-week discovery sprint for a new internal initiative. I thought it would just be a short-term thing with product/design/engineering people from a few different areas.

Instead it turned into a much bigger initiative, pretty visible internally, with actual deadlines attached to it. Work got split into smaller streams and I ended up being assigned as the technical lead / lead engineer for one of them.

Since then I’ve been doing a lot more than I expected: architecture, scoping, estimation, phasing, cross-team coordination, stakeholder discussions, dependency stuff, figuring out ownership boundaries, all of that.

Part of me actually likes it. I do want stretch. I do want bigger responsibility. I can feel that it’s pushing me.

But the other part of me feels like I’ve been thrown into the deep end way too fast, and pretty much alone.

That’s the bit I’m struggling with. It’s not just “this is hard.” It’s more that there doesn’t seem to be much support structure around me while I’m doing it. No real lead-engineer-level backing on my side of the org, not much clarity on who the actual engineering owner is overall, not much clarity on whether I’m just temporarily filling a gap or whether I’m now expected to keep carrying this through launch and beyond.

I’ve already asked for more resourcing. My manager said he’s trying to pause other work and move people onto this initiative. That’s helpful, but to me that solves the capacity problem more than the leadership problem.

At my year-end review, my manager said:

• I’ve done strong work
• the discovery / groundwork / early shaping all looks good
• but since I was only promoted to Senior last year, I shouldn’t expect anything major recognition-wise this cycle
• and because nothing is in production yet, the real measurable impact is more likely next year

I’m not even mad at that, to be honest. I’m not sitting here saying “promote me again already.” I’m actually not in a rush to become a Lead. I’d be completely fine just continuing to grow within Senior.

What’s bothering me is more this feeling that I’m kind of speedrunning through a huge chunk of the senior-to-lead progression because the company needs someone to do it, and I don’t really have the support around me that would normally help you grow into that kind of responsibility.

And I’m also worried that if I raise this too much, I’ll just look like I’m overthinking things, talking too much, or “making it difficult” before I’ve actually shipped outcomes.

So I guess my question is:

Has anyone been in this kind of situation where a stretch opportunity was also kind of a lonely / under-supported one?

How did you figure out whether it was:

• a genuine growth opportunity or
• a leadership vacuum landing on you because you were the nearest capable person?

And how do you ask for clarity/support without sounding like you’re trying to dodge responsibility?

Would genuinely appreciate advice from people who’ve been through this.