Perhaps it's generational? Maybe Mr. Poettering is a talented individual who lacks some specific experiences/history which requires re-learning some lessons from developing linux?
This isn't just SystemD. you should ask rasterman sometime about his stint at RH Labs. There was a great interview with him and Havoc Pennington back in 1999 or 2000 where HP couldn't say a nice thing about the guy or his code, because he just didn't fit in with the redhat culture (he liked to wear formal wear to work - a subtle protest of mandatory office attire).
The entire Red Hat corporation has been like this since about the 5.2 release, when they removed "Redneck" as a system language option.