How do I keep driving technical direction through influence?

You move the whole organization without needing a title to do it. That is a rare and hard-won kind of power, built on people trusting your judgment and choosing to follow it. It means many small deposits of credibility over years. Recognize what you have made. Influence like this is borrowed, not owned. It lasts only as long as people keep believing you act in good faith and get things right more often than not. One decision that looks self-serving, or a stretch of not listening, can quietly drain what took years to build. The strong are the ones most tempted to stop listening. So keep spending your credibility carefully. Stay as curious about others' concerns as you were on the way up, and be willing to be wrong out loud. Guard the trust that makes your influence work. That humility, held at the top, is what keeps you there.