A few weeks ago, I talked about how tech talent is flowing back into traditional industries.
First, they left for Big Tech. Now, they’re returning, bringing not just skills but a new mindset. And they’re driving big change.
So where are these returnees going? And what impact are they making?
Three industries stand out:
Manufacturing — Industry 4.0 needs people who can scale IoT platforms, implement predictive maintenance, and build real-time analytics. Tech leaders are adapting their agile methods to environments where physical constraints and safety come first.
Media — Perhaps the most natural fit. Tech veterans bring experience building recommendation engines, content delivery systems, and audience analytics — while translating between creative and technical teams.
Automotive — As vehicles become software platforms, tech veterans are driving transformation in over-the-air updates, user experience, and data analytics. They’re also bridging two vastly different development speeds: Silicon Valley’s rapid iteration and Detroit’s safety-first cycles.
A common thread across all three:
These leaders aren’t just importing skills. They’re introducing a mindset of rapid iteration, data-driven decision-making, and hybrid innovation — blending tech’s speed with traditional industry’s depth.
The challenge:
Cultural integration. Enterprises must balance speed with risk management and create environments where this talent can thrive.
The opportunity:
Firms that adapt quickly will gain a competitive edge not just in technology, but in talent attraction and cultural evolution.
Below I explore how this return migration is playing out, and reshaping the manufacturing, media, and automotive industries in greater detail.
Part 1: How Tech Talent Is Reshaping Manufacturing
We begin with manufacturing, a sector long defined by stability and now under pressure to adapt faster than ever. Economic volatility, skilled labor gaps, digital disruption, and rising geopolitical uncertainty are forcing manufacturers to become more agile than ever before.
And in response, we’re seeing a powerful shift in leadership: Experienced tech executives are returning to traditional industries, bringing with them the tools and mindsets needed to lead through complexity.
Why Manufacturing Is Attracting Tech Returnees
Manufacturers are facing what one client recently described to me as a “full-system reset.” They’re being asked to:
- Build resilient supply chains amid shifting trade policies
- Leverage AI and analytics to optimize operations
- Adapt to new sustainability mandates and automation demands
- And do all of this while upskilling a workforce that spans multiple generations
For many of these challenges, returning tech leaders are an ideal fit.
They’ve spent years solving similar problems at scale — designing distributed systems, applying predictive analytics to dynamic environments, and leading through rapid change. And now, after a wave of tech sector consolidation and recalibration, many are ready to bring that experience back to more traditional environments.
Real Leaders, Real Shifts
- Ford Motor Company hired Doug Field (Tesla & Apple) to run EV and digital-systems engineering, bringing Silicon-Valley software discipline to a century-old automaker.
- Honeywell recruited Sheila Jordan (former CIO at Symantec and long-time Cisco IT leader) as Chief Digital Technology Officer. Her mandate: embed cloud, AI and the Honeywell Forge analytics platform across factories, supply chain and field service, turning a classic industrial into a data-driven enterprise.
- General Motors brought in Jens Peter Clausen (ex-Google Data Centers & Tesla Gigafactory scale-up lead) to accelerate smart-factory programs and sustainability initiatives, applying hyperscale efficiency to GM’s global manufacturing footprint.
These leaders show why manufacturers are looking beyond traditional plant operations for talent. They need executives who’ve solved complexity at internet scale and can translate that mindset to heavy-asset environments.
What Tech Veterans Are Bringing
These leaders are helping manufacturers:
- Deploy IoT and AI at scale: using sensor networks, real-time data, and predictive algorithms to optimize production and reduce downtime
- Modernize supply chains: with greater visibility, flexibility, and risk mitigation baked in
- Bring agile thinking to physical operations: introducing faster iteration and digital twins without disrupting core safety and quality protocols
- Drive workforce transformation: creating tools and processes that upskill traditional teams and attract next-gen talent
But their most critical impact may be cultural: They challenge deeply held assumptions about what’s possible, and how fast change can happen.
Challenges and Opportunities
The challenge: Manufacturing environments aren’t naturally wired for rapid change. New leaders must navigate legacy processes, compliance requirements, and change-resistant cultures, while still pushing for innovation.
The opportunity: Companies that successfully integrate these returnees are evolving into adaptive, data-driven enterprises. They’re better prepared for disruption, and better positioned to lead their categories as industrial transformation accelerates.
The Bottom Line
The return of tech leaders to manufacturing isn’t just a hiring trend. It’s a strategic shift in how these companies are building for the future, blending operational rigor with digital speed.
Part 2: How Tech Talent Is Reshaping Media
Nowhere is this talent shift more dramatic, or more public, than in media – and we’ve had a front-row seat.
Over the past decade, my team and I have led 20+ executive searches for Disney’s streaming business, from pre-launch hires to the leadership team that helped Disney+ surpass 100 million subscribers. Each growth stage required leaders who blended product, data, and creative fluency, which is exactly the hybrid profile driving this Great Leadership Migration.
Why Media Attracts Tech Migrants
Media companies have three burning priorities attractive to technology executives:
- Personalization at scale.
- Distribution everywhere: phones, TVs, social feeds, podcasts, live events.
- Data monetization opportunities amid shifting ad models and privacy rules.
The talent that built recommendation engines at Netflix, scaled cloud delivery at Google, or ran growth loops at Meta can plug into traditional studios and move the needle fast. And with generative AI accelerating content ops and marketing, the pull is only getting stronger.
Real Life Examples
- Robert Kyncl: The YouTube Chief Business Officer joined Warner Music Group as CEO to help the 70-year-old music company pivot from physical sales to data-driven streaming economics and artist services.
- Avi Saxena: The former Amazon Technology VP is now steering streaming & platform engineering for Warner Bros Discovery’s global product stack.
- Pete Distad: The former Apple TV+ and Hulu executive is transforming Fox’s direct-to-consumer streaming business across Sports, News, and Entertainment.
These moves underscore how traditional media companies are migrating technology-enabled product, data, and platform leadership into decades-old content brands, exactly what The Great Leadership Migration is all about.
Challenges & Opportunities
The challenge: The center of gravity in traditional media is significantly different from that in tech. In Big Tech, technology is the sun, and most other functions orbit it. In media, creative and finance set priorities and control budgets, and technology plays an enablement role. Leaders who do not recalibrate to this reality often end up frustrated and sidelined. The better approach is to learn how decisions get made, who owns goals and budgets, and frame outcomes in their terms.
The opportunity: Technology is not the win; business outcomes are the win. In media, that means greenlights, audience growth and retention, ad yield, ARPU, and margin. When tech leadership ties AI and data work to those outcomes, adoption improves, friction drops, and value becomes clear, while preserving the creative voice that makes the brand valuable.
The Bottom Line
The Great Leadership Migration isn’t about putting butts in seats… It’s about rewiring the business models of legacy industries. Media companies, in particular, that pair creative DNA with tech-native leadership have an opportunity to out-innovate both pure-tech platforms and legacy studios.
Part 3: How Tech Talent Is Reshaping Automotive
As my friend Thomas Nielsen, former Chief Digital Officer at Deutsche Bank and Tesco, puts it: “I don’t drive a car, I drive an iPad on wheels.” It’s a sharp summary of how this century-old industry is being remade by software, data, and digital ecosystems.
Over the past several years, automakers have been racing to hire leaders who combine deep technology fluency with operational scale. At SPMB, we’ve seen this transformation up close. We led Ford Motor Company’s search for a Chief Data, AI & Analytics Officer, ultimately placing a leader who grew up at the overlap between innovation (Uber) and scale (bp). We also recently completed the Chief Technology Officer search for Ford’s $67 billion commercial division, a business historically defined by industrial logistics and fleet management but now being reimagined as a connected, data-driven mobility platform.
These roles barely existed ten years ago; today, they sit at the center of competitive differentiation.
And Ford is hardly alone.
- Stellantis hired Ned Curic, Amazon’s former VP of Alexa Automotive, as Chief Technology Officer. He is building a unified in‑vehicle operating system and cloud platform across fourteen heritage brands.
- General Motors recruited longtime Apple product leader Baris Cetinok to serve as Vice President of Product for its software and services group. His mandate is to turn vehicle data and over‑the‑air updates into recurring revenue and a better customer experience.
Across the industry, the message is clear: automotive is no longer just about manufacturing vehicles. It’s about orchestrating technology ecosystems at scale.
Why Automotive Is Drawing Tech Leaders
For senior technologists, modern vehicles represent an irresistible challenge. They are complex, data-rich systems that blur the line between hardware and software. Executives coming from Silicon Valley or digital-native companies bring experience that automakers increasingly need:
- Software at scale. Building flexible architectures that support millions of connected vehicles.
- Agile development. Accelerating traditionally slow automotive development.
- Data intelligence. Turning telemetry and user data into continuous product improvement.
- User experience design. Reimagining how drivers interact with software and services.
Above all, they bring a mindset shift: the belief that rapid innovation isn’t just possible in traditional industries, it’s essential.
Challenges and Opportunities
The hardest part isn’t technology… It’s culture.
Automakers have spent decades optimizing for safety, reliability, and compliance, where “move fast and break things” can’t apply. Tech veterans, by contrast, are wired for rapid iteration and risk-tolerant experimentation.
Bridging these worldviews requires translation on both sides. Digital leaders must adapt to regulatory rigor and longer product cycles, while legacy organizations must resist the instinct to isolate innovators in “innovation labs” that lack influence over core business.
The companies that get this right treat digital transformation not as a side project but as a redefinition of the enterprise itself.
What Lies Ahead
The winners in this next era of mobility will be those who integrate technology leadership into the fabric of their business, not as a bolt-on, but as a new operating model. For these companies, hiring a CTO or Chief Data & AI Officer isn’t just about modernization; it’s about cultural reinvention.
The automotive industry’s future will depend on how well it merges two disciplines: the precision of engineering and the velocity of software. The convergence is already underway, and the executives leading it will define the next decade of innovation.
I’d love to hear from others:
Where else are you seeing this return migration? What’s working — and what isn’t?
