Might be a far out idea, but I wonder if around this stage, bringing in an anthropologist to study the culture of the company and suggest ways how to preserve some of the characteristics that originally attracted the first engineers would help address this problem.
I worked for a company that brought in an organizational psychologist who tried to get a handle on what ways the company worked well and didn't work well. It seemed like an interesting exercise.
And then we were purchased by a company run by insecure petty tyrants who alternated between neglect and micro-management, so none of it mattered. Sigh.
