This. Unless there's a competant project manager already in place and they are asking for a good technical lead to be put in place, it's highly likely a last di

This. Unless there's a competant project manager already in place and they are asking for a good technical lead to be put in place, it's highly likely a last ditch attempt to pull something magical off. If there's no PM then that's what the company needs, not a technical lead. As others have said, the teams under stress and the delivery date is coming up, so the only thing to really change is the scope and project tracking.