You probably should set your sights more on becoming a lead developer, where your experience as an engineer will be respected but you can transition into management later on. Also focus on discussing your mentoring experience a lot, including the outcomes you've helped achieve (ex. 200% growth in X, 50% fewer bugs in Y, etc.)
As someone who hires for this role, I look for people who can handle teams well and deliver outcomes, not just code. This means I need to be able to trust you with the careers of the team and the project results.
A good transition is actually consulting on tech teams, which is somewhat a leadership role that will give you the management experience needed later on. More often that not, companies absorb good consultants if they jive well with the team.
As someone who hires for this role, I look for people who can handle teams well and deliver outcomes, not just code. This means I need to be able to trust you with the careers of the team and the project results.
A good transition is actually consulting on tech teams, which is somewhat a leadership role that will give you the management experience needed later on. More often that not, companies absorb good consultants if they jive well with the team.