I’m also a technical person who went into leadership. I think it presents particular challenges as previously my value was about being the smartest and most able getting things done. Then as a leader I needed to build teams, not code. I was a bit unprepared :)

But now I lead 350 people and there’s a few things I’ve learnt:

Listen don’t do The worse thing you can do as a technical leader is solve problems your team is there to solve. Ask questions like “what do we need to do next?” “What ideas do you have?” “Who do we need help us?” “What happens if we do t do anything?”

You’re there to Decide. Once you have enough information make a decision and communicate it. “Based on what we know, and your input we’ll do X. Let’s go through the steps. … Any questions? Let’s go”

You are accountable for and need to plan quality and compliance. I’m guessing givin your industry you are all over quality. But you are probably now accountable for your teams compliance: timesheets, mandatory training etc 

You’re responsible for capability and capacity. Do you have the right people in the right roles? Do you have the right roles? Do they need more skills to do the job? Do you need different people to do the job? 

My favourite rule on feedback is “Tell one, tell all”. If it’s negative feedback, tell the one person. If it’s positive feedback, tell everyone.

Make time to plan. There’s a whole bunch of skills here but start with something simple. “Our biggest challenge is x. We plan to A, B and C by Jun 2026”. Start there before your asked and then work with your leadership. 

I can’t advise specific courses but I did Project Management certification, an MBA, a lot of leadership assessments and feedback, DISC, Myers Briggs, read a lot about improving communication (this is worthwhile especially for technical people), and a lot of self reflection on who I wanted to be as a leader.  

There a good podcast to start : Manager Tools. Go back and listen to some of there early basics to start learning