Too Long; Didn't Read
As far as users are concerned, systems are Toyota Camrys, and are supposed to Just Work. The only time they ever think of the engineers is when stuff doesn't work, and then, of course, it's the engineer's fault. Marketing is critically important for an engineering team. You need to make sure that people know what the engineering team is up to, why they do what they do, and how essential it is. This includes both the work that is being done to maintain existing systems, and, the effort that goes into avoiding catastrophes.