To some extent, I'm finding very difficult to work on something with no understanding of who is going to use it, how it's going to be used, and why it's needed.

To some extent, I'm finding very difficult to work on something with no understanding of who is going to use it, how it's going to be used, and why it's needed. It makes engineering decisions very difficult, maintenance work horrible since you don't know the impact, and new features difficult to 'bound' (do I really need to handle all these extra corner cases, or can I just say it's not supported?). Basically, understanding context is key to high impact work in many cases. So, while I agree with OP about the qualities of 'product-minded engineers' (they're good qualities), I believe they should be part of the default skillset of any senior engineer, and especially so since 'product' can be a library shipped internally, and doesn't have to be the final product shipped to clients outside the company.