It sounds like the lead developer has no influence on the overall direction of the product and no influence over any management related decisions. Even worse it

It sounds like the lead developer has no influence on the overall direction of the product and no influence over any management related decisions. Even worse it sounds like the feature set is being handed down on high by a panel. So the dev is in a dead end role, "forced" to spend his days working on pointless/less important features. It's no surprise that he is bored/frustrated.