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Day 1 – November 3, 2025
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TALK SCHEDULE
08:00–09:15

Arrival & Coffee

09:15

Talk

Welcome to LeadDev Berlin 2025

A welcome from the host, Pat Kua.

+ More

Talk

Welcome to LeadDev Berlin 2025

This session is suitable for:

A welcome to LeadDev Berlin 2024 from the host, Pat Kua.
09:45

Talk

Experienced Manager•New Manager

How games engineering “embraced hard mode” to unlock innovation for Netflix games

Learn how embracing paradoxes, discovery-driven learning, and integrative decisions enabled collaboration and unlocked innovation at Netflix.

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Talk

How games engineering “embraced hard mode” to unlock innovation for Netflix games

This session is suitable for:

Experienced Manager•New Manager

What does “innovation” really mean, and what are the conditions that enable it? The book “Collective Genius” highlights that Leaders of innovation need to make sure they collaborate, engage in discovery-driven learning, and make integrative decisions. Additionally, embracing “paradoxes” in every situation will help you approach problems with a “both/and” mentality. Learn from our struggle in Games Engineering to create this environment and how we embraced these tensions to unlock innovation for Netflix Games.

  • FEATURING
    Bruce Wang
    Engineering DirectorNetflix

    Bruce has been in the software industry for 25+ years, and currently Engineering Director at Netflix, leading Games Platform.  This team owns the central technology that enable game developers to build great games and members to enjoy them, spanning end to end integration, SDK, Game Services, Game Developer Lifecycle and Reliability teams.  Prior to that, he led Product Platform Systems spanning APIs, Telemetry Info and Technology lifecycle.  Before Netflix, he was Sr Director of Eng at Shippo, VPE at Packet (now Equinix Metal) and CTO, Co-founder or Eng Leader at various startups and enterprises.  He is also a serious foodie and resides in San Francisco with his spouse and two daughters.

     

    View Bruce’s profile
10:10

Talk

Experienced Manager•New Manager•Staff+•Tech Lead

Hold on, let me prompt that

Explore how to lead with clarity and conviction in the GenAI era, balancing powerful tools with authentic, independent thinking.

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Talk

Hold on, let me prompt that

This session is suitable for:

Experienced Manager•New Manager•Staff+•Tech Lead

In the GenAI era, we’re outsourcing more than tasks – we’re outsourcing trust. This talk explores how to lead creatively and confidently when everything starts with a prompt.

This abstract has been created without relying on any GenAI tool. This was hard for me, I’m not a story teller, not a writer, I barely had conviction in what I had to say before GenAI came along. It’s been an incredible tool for me and countless others, It feels like my productivity shot through the roof, I had access to this wealth of knowledge, I felt like I had a voice – a seat on the table.

Over the last year, I’ve felt this voice get quieter.

In chasing speed, polish, accuracy, I’ve started to default to the tool – sometimes even before I’ve formed my own thought. “Hold on, let me prompt that”. For many of us, it’s become a way to delay decision-making, outsource confidence, and avoid the discomfort of trusting our own thinking. This talk is about exploring that tension: between the incredible power GenAI gives us, and the quiet erosion of the narrative conviction it can cause. For Engineering Leaders, this isn’t theoretical. We lead people. We make bets. We communicate vision. And when our sense of authority is blurred—by too many prompts, too much polish, or too much second-guessing – we risk leading from pre-defined templates instead of truth.

This talk invites us to take a pause, to sit with that moment where the answers aren’t clear yet, that thought isn’t fully refined yet. In a world where everyone has this tool, our advantage as engineering leaders is still the experience and perspectives we bring as individuals.

Key takeaways

  • Recognize early signs of Gen-AI induced confidence erosion
  • Rebuild your narrative and inner-clarity to enable high-stakes decisions as an Engineering Leader
  • Discern when to prompt, and when to lead from conviction
  • Apply simple techniques to model original thought and independent judgment
  • FEATURING
    Nikita Rathi
    Senior Engineering ManagerTaxfix

    Nikita Rathi is a dog-mum, a wife, a foodie amongst other things, and an engineering manager by day. She has spent her career in the tech industry between Illinois, New York, Dublin and Berlin solving problems, writing code, and managing engineering teams and now is a Senior Engineering Manager at Taxfix, a tax startup in Berlin that reduces the complexity of tax filing and helps save it’s users time and money. She has found herself ever-curious about human relationships and brings that curiosity to her work. Her thoughts and research have led her to think about different perceptions that folks might have based on past experiences and years of socialization and how that impacts the careers of those that are marginalized.

    View Nikita’s profile
10:25

Talk

Experienced Manager•New Manager•Staff+

LLMs: An operator’s view

Explore a pragmatic approach to using LLMs to boost team productivity, enhance products, and evolve your leadership strategy.

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Talk

LLMs: An operator’s view

This session is suitable for:

Experienced Manager•New Manager•Staff+

As leaders we have been tasked to go all-out with AI: both in terms of our products and also our productivity. This talk outlines what you should be thinking of doing for your team, your product, and, importantly, yourself with AI.

The hype surrounding Large Language Models (LLMs) has reached a fever pitch, making it challenging for technology leaders to discern actionable strategies from speculative promises. This talk cuts through the noise, offering a pragmatic operator’s perspective on how to genuinely leverage LLMs within your organisation.

We’ll cover specific, real-world applications for boosting your engineering team’s output, from automating mundane tasks to enhancing code quality and fostering rapid prototyping. You’ll learn how to identify high-impact product features powered by LLMs that deliver quick wins, along with practical considerations for data privacy, model selection, and deployment.

Crucially, we’ll discuss how you, as a leader, can personally leverage AI for better decision-making, thinking and strategic planning, ensuring you leave with concrete steps to implement and see immediate value from AI across your team, product, and leadership approach.

Key takeaways

  • Develop a clear, actionable AI strategy for your team: Learn how to assess the readiness of your engineering function for LLM adoption and identify practical tools and workflows to boost productivity and innovation without overwhelming your team.
  • Identify impactful LLM applications for your product: Understand methodologies for pinpointing genuine problems LLMs can solve within your product roadmap, moving beyond surface-level integrations to create meaningful user value.
  • Navigate the personal leadership shift with AI: Gain insights into how your role as a technology leader evolves with the rise of AI, including strategies for continuous learning, ethical considerations, and fostering a culture of responsible AI experimentation.
  • FEATURING
    James Stanier
    CTONordhealth

    James Stanier is Chief Technology Officer at Nordhealth. He is also the author of Become an Effective Software Manager and Effective Remote Work. He holds a Ph.D. in computer science and runs theengineeringmanager.com.

    View James’s profile
10:50–11:40

Morning Break

11:40

Talk

Experienced Manager•New Manager•Tech Lead

How KLM reduced compliance – Time from months to hours with GenAI

Discover how KLM used GenAI and cloud workflows to cut compliance time from weeks to hours, boosting accuracy and reducing risk.

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Talk

How KLM reduced compliance – Time from months to hours with GenAI

This session is suitable for:

Experienced Manager•New Manager•Tech Lead

Discover how KLM Royal Dutch Airlines transformed regulatory compliance using cloud platforms and Generative AI, reducing cycle times from weeks to hours, enhancing accuracy, and freeing up resources through automated data extraction and cloud workflows.

In the highly regulated aviation industry, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines faces the ongoing challenge of staying compliant with constantly evolving regulations. Traditionally, this process was manual, time-consuming, and prone to human error, with cycle times stretching from weeks to even months. The complexity of parsing regulatory documents, delivered in various formats, further compounded these challenges. The high stakes, including potential non-compliance costs of up to $15 million per incident, underscored the need for an efficient solution.

KLM embarked on a transformative journey by leveraging the cloud platforms, integrated with advanced Generative AI functionalities, to automate and streamline their compliance processes. By replacing complex code-based ETL pipelines with cloud native workflows, KLM was able to automate data extraction and interpretation from diverse regulatory texts. This approach not only standardized processes but also drastically reduced manual effort.

A key component of this transformation was the use of Generative AI models to interpret regulatory texts and extract critical dates, such as when regulations were passed and when they come into force. To ensure accuracy and prevent AI “hallucinations,” outputs were cross-referenced with verified sources and subject matter experts.

The results were remarkable. KLM freed up the equivalent of three full-time employees previously dedicated to manual tasks, reduced compliance update cycle times from weeks to hours, and saved four man-hours per compliance review. Additionally, the process became significantly more accurate, enhancing internal trust and satisfaction.

Join us to explore how KLM’s innovative use of cloud platforms and Generative AI not only improved compliance efficiency but also mitigated risks and reduced costs. This session will provide insights into the practical implementation of AI-driven automation in compliance and its transformative impact on organizational processes.

Key takeaways

  • Efficiency Gains: Learn how Generative AI reduced KLM’s compliance cycle times from weeks to hours, significantly boosting operational efficiency.
  • Resource Optimization: Discover how automation freed up three full-time employees, allowing KLM to reallocate resources to more strategic tasks.
  • Accuracy Enhancement: Understand the role of AI in improving data accuracy and minimizing human error in regulatory compliance processes.
  • Risk Reduction: Explore how faster compliance updates helped KLM mitigate the risks and costs associated with non-compliance.
12:05

Talk

Director+•Experienced Manager•New Manager

What if I don’t want to climb?

Rethink career growth by exploring how non-linear paths, flexible frameworks, and exploration-first mindsets create stronger, more inclusive teams.

+ More

Talk

What if I don’t want to climb?

This session is suitable for:

Director+•Experienced Manager•New Manager

Growth isn’t always vertical, and forcing people up the ladder often pushes them out. This talk challenges the frameworks we use to define success and shows how to build teams that grow without leaving.

We’ve convinced ourselves that growth = promotion. That career success means moving “up.” That to retain people, we must level them – whether they want to or not.

But what if someone doesn’t want to climb? What if their best work, their most fulfilled self, exists in a role without a title change?
In this lightning talk, I’ll expose the growth frameworks we use (and often weaponize):

  • The Career Ladder = deeply hierarchical → Promotions-as-growth, limited mobility → can’t be redeemed Burn it
  • The Dual Track Framework = rigid → Hard to switch, unequal prestige → good if we Redesign it
  • Competency Matrix = oversimplifies → Used as gatekeeping, checklisted → Reclaim it with care

These systems were built for order, not for humans. And they often punish the curious, the multi-passionate, and the quiet high performers.
I’ll share real stories of team members who thrived only after we ditched the “climb” mindset, and started treating careers like something to explore, not just escalate.

You’ll walk away with permission to rethink what growth really looks like, and how to build systems that support it without forcing everyone up.

Key takeaways

  • Not all growth is vertical, and that’s okay.
  • Promotion isn’t always retention.
  • Competency frameworks often punish real potential.
  • You can support growth without offering a new title.
  • Great teams make space for exploration, not just elevation.
  • FEATURING
    Saman Jafari
    CTO and Seasoned Leader

    Saman Jafari is a seasoned leader and strategist with nearly two decades of experience guiding teams, systems, and businesses through meaningful transformation. He began his career in Iran, where he built and ran a digital agency blending software, media, and storytelling. Now based in Germany, he serves as a CTO, helping organizations modernize architecture, grow people, and rethink how they work.

    Across roles and borders, Saman has led more than just code changes. He’s helped people lead better, reshaped team cultures, and guided businesses toward more thoughtful, human-centered ways of working. His leadership spans startups and mature companies alike, always focused on building systems that scale and teams that thrive.

    What drives him most is seeing people grow and watching businesses become more human, more resilient, and more aligned with their purpose.

    View Saman’s profile
12:20

Talk

From evals to experiments: How to ship successful AI initiatives by failing cheaply

Discover practical ways to blend qualitative evals with quantitative experiments to reduce risk, improve learning speed, and deliver impactful AI projects.

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Talk

From evals to experiments: How to ship successful AI initiatives by failing cheaply

This session is suitable for:

Sponsored by

Eppo by Datadog LeadDev

How to use both evals and experiments in your AI development lifecycle to avoid costly mistakes and ship more successful projects.

AI initiatives are anything but a slam dunk: projects can be expensive, hard to measure, and face many failures along the way. The key to success lies in building the capability to learn quickly and fail cheaply. By going beyond upstream, qualitative evals and incorporating downstream, quantitative experiments, teams can shorten feedback loops and allow for rapid course correction. In this talk, Datadog Senior Technical Advocate Ryan Lucht will show teams how to leverage both approaches and join model performance with business metrics to ship more successful AI initiatives.

Key takeaways

  • How to handle the low success rate of AI initiatives by failing cheaply
  • The different purposes of evals and experiments – and why you need both
  • Using error analysis to define and measure evaluators
  • Running experiments at scale with basic and advanced A/B testing approaches for AI development
  • FEATURING
    Ryan Lucht
    Senior Technical AdvocateDatadog

    Ryan Lucht is a Senior Technical Advocate at Datadog.

    View Ryan’s profile
12:50

Talk

Experienced Manager•New Manager•Staff+

Target architecture – Align. Execute. Deliver.

Explore how defining a clear target architecture boosts alignment, speeds up execution, and scales teams through better decision-making.

+ More

Talk

Target architecture – Align. Execute. Deliver.

This session is suitable for:

Experienced Manager•New Manager•Staff+

Developing a clear target architecture will take your technical leadership to the next level by improving collaboration, increasing efficiency, speeding up execution and allowing you to make data-driven decisions while building to scale.

Can you imagine if construction workers built a skyscraper using notes scribbled on random bits of paper? Imagine how they would coordinate the plumbing, electricity, floor plans…Yikes! Yet, this is sadly what most tech systems look like – patched up to “make things work”, always fixing “the previous person’s code” and constantly bumping into chunks of code which make absolutely no sense but you’re too scared to remove because you’re pretty sure it does something important somehow.

As the founding engineer of the Cash Flow domain in Pleo, I was privileged enough to play a key role in architecting a whole subsection of the company’s backend ecosystem while building up a team that would take it to new heights. In this talk, we’ll walk through this case study which covers the wins and fails of our journey and ultimately highlights the importance of having a target architecture and how it has helped inform decision-making (technical and non-technical), increase efficiency, improve collaboration and speed up execution while building to scale.

Key takeaways

  • What is a target architecture diagram and how to create it for different stakeholders
  • How target architecture informs decision-making (technical and non-technical), increases efficiency and speeds up execution
  • How to grow domains and teams based on target architecture
13:00–14:20

Lunch

14:20

Talk

Director+•Experienced Manager•New Manager•Staff+•Tech Lead

High-performance tech talent: Build, don’t buy!

Learn how CodeYourFuture develops diverse, high-potential individuals into advanced engineering roles while helping companies build exceptional, sustainable tech talent.

+ More

Talk

High-performance tech talent: Build, don’t buy!

This session is suitable for:

Director+•Experienced Manager•New Manager•Staff+•Tech Lead

Tech NGO partner

CodeYourFuture LeadDev

CodeYourFuture helps people change their lives by training exceptional early-career engineers without prior tech experience straight into advanced roles such as Platform SRE at Slack. Come learn how, be wowed by our graduates’ achievements, and talk about how you can hire amazing top talent more sustainably.

CodeYourFuture trains exceptional talent for advanced roles from under-served communities. We help high-potential people in need to change their lives by getting good jobs in tech.

We’ve trained people with no software background straight into high-achieving roles such as platform SREs at Slack, typically positions reserved for high-tenure, highly competitive, highly expensive candidates. We’ll share how we achieve this with world-class high-touch training, and how we can help you hire excellent talent more sustainably.

We’ll cover:

  • The kinds of communities we work with who you may not currently see represented in your staff.
  • How our course prepares people to join your teams better than bootcamps or universities would.
  • How we can help build sustainable and predictable hiring pipelines.
  • How we can help your teams up-skill their mentoring

But most of all, we’ll brag about some of the truly impressive things our graduates have done.

  • FEATURING
    Daniel Wagner-Hall
    Director of Technical EducationCodeYourFuture

    Daniel Wagner-Hall is the Director of Technical Education at CodeYourFuture.

    View Daniel’s profile
14:30

Talk

Director+•Experienced Manager

Leading leaders: Why your greatest strengths are your next blind spots

Managing managers isn’t just scaling up your IC playbook—it’s a whole new game. This talk challenges common assumptions and shares what it really takes to move from doing the work to enabling others to do it even better.

+ More

Talk

Leading leaders: Why your greatest strengths are your next blind spots

This session is suitable for:

Director+•Experienced Manager

If you think managing managers is just a bigger version of managing individual contributors, think again.

The strategies that launched your engineering career and got you into leadership won’t carry you to the next level. This talk challenges your assumptions and reveals what it truly takes to shift from doing it yourself to enabling others to do it better.

  • FEATURING
    Humera Noor
    CTODigital Munich Tech GmbH

    Dr. Humera Noor is an academician, an entrepreneur and a senior leader with over 25 years of experience. With a PhD in Machine Learning, she has led successful ML-based projects, including pioneering commercial-scale ad filtering. As the CTO of Digital Munich, she drives innovation in AI, AR/VR and IoT. She is the founder of Lumen, a bootcamp aimed at helping individuals break into data and AI.

    Dr. Humera is passionate about empowering others in tech, helping individuals reach their full potential. Dr. Humera finds peace in nature, starting her day at sunrise with a book on a bench by the fields — of course with coffee.

    View Humera’s profile
15:00

Talk

Detect malicious attacks at 84M RPS with ML under 500us

A deep dive into the high-performance, distributed architecture and machine learning optimizations Cloudflare uses to detect malicious attacks at a global scale with sub-millisecond latencies.

+ More

Talk

Detect malicious attacks at 84M RPS with ML under 500us

This session is suitable for:

Sponsored by

Cloudflare LeadDev

A deep dive into the high-performance, distributed architecture and machine learning optimizations Cloudflare uses to detect malicious attacks at a global scale with sub-millisecond latencies.

In a world where the scale of internet traffic is constantly growing, how do you protect against malicious attacks when you’re handling over 84 million requests per second? This talk will pull back the curtain on Cloudflare’s approach to high-throughput, low-latency threat detection. We’ll explore our distributed architecture that spans data centers worldwide, and how we leverage Rust for extreme efficiency and resource optimization, where every CPU cycle and byte of memory counts. We will delve into the smart processing techniques that are critical to our success, including advanced caching strategies and hardware tuning. A significant portion of the talk will focus on the machine learning models at the core of our Web Application Firewall (WAF), and the extensive optimizations we’ve implemented, from SIMD and TensorFlow Lite upgrades to LRU caching, to make them incredibly fast. We will also touch on our innovative data generation and sampling strategies that are key to training accurate and resilient AI models.

Key takeaways

  • Architecting for Scale: Learn how to design and build distributed systems capable of handling massive volumes of traffic with low latency.
  • Performance Optimization: Discover practical techniques for optimizing software and hardware, including the benefits of using Rust and advanced caching.
  • ML in Production: Understand the challenges and solutions for deploying and optimizing machine learning models in a high-stakes, real-time environment.
  • Actionable Scaling Strategies: Gain insights into how to leverage serverless and distributed architectures to scale your own applications and ML algorithms.”

  • FEATURING
    Denzil Correa
    Senior Engineering ManagerCloudflare

    Denzil Correa is a Senior Engineering Manager for Data Science at Cloudflare, where he leads teams that build client- and server-side machine learning solutions for web applications, helping to build a better Internet. Previously, Denzil served as a Data Science Lead at Bayer. Earlier in his career, he spent several years in academic research at the Max Planck Institute for Software Systems (MPI-SWS) and IIIT-Delhi.

    View Denzil’s profile
15:10

Talk

Experienced Manager•New Manager

Onboarding as a manager: How AI changed my first months

Learn how AI can support new engineering managers by accelerating context gathering, easing overwhelm, and enhancing team understanding.

+ More

Talk

Onboarding as a manager: How AI changed my first months

This session is suitable for:

Experienced Manager•New Manager

How I used AI tools to accelerate onboarding, understand team dynamics faster, and show up more confidently as a new engineering manager without drowning in docs or meetings.

Starting a new role as an engineering manager can be overwhelming. You’re expected to absorb technical context, understand team dynamics, and start delivering impact all within the first few months. In my most recent onboarding experience, I decided to do something different: I let AI help.

In this talk, I’ll share how I used AI tools to streamline my onboarding as a new manager. These tools didn’t just save time they helped me surface insights I might have missed, get clarity faster, and reduce the pressure of “figuring everything out” on my own.

I’ll walk through real examples of how I used AI to synthesize org charts and product documentation, explain complex systems, interpret unfamiliar code reviews and engineering standards, and improve team workflows. I’ll share how I mapped out my new engineers’ roadmap, identified gaps in our processes, and even prototyped onboarding plans all with AI’s support. I’ll also talk about what didn’t work, where human judgment was essential, and how I balanced automation with building authentic, trust-based relationships.

This isn’t about hype it’s about how AI can be a practical partner in the messy, high-context reality of engineering leadership. Whether you’re a new manager, hiring one, or just curious how AI is changing the way we work, you’ll walk away with practical ideas and honest reflections from the front lines.

Key takeaways

  • How to use AI tools to accelerate understanding of org context and culture
  • Pitfalls to avoid when over-relying on automation
  • How AI can reduce early-stage overwhelm for new managers
15:20

Talk

Experienced Manager•New Manager

Engineering leadership in 2025: Thriving when budgets shrink

Find practical strategies for leading engineering teams through budget pressure by aligning decisions with impact, focus, and value.

+ More

Talk

Engineering leadership in 2025: Thriving when budgets shrink

This session is suitable for:

Experienced Manager•New Manager

A practical playbook for leading engineering teams through 2025’s budget pressures; aligning technical decisions with business goals, empowering teams, and driving impact despite constrained resources.

In 2025, engineering leaders are under pressure from all directions. Customers expect faster feature delivery and tools that deliver even greater value. Product owners and the C-suite push for innovation and speed. Meanwhile the CFO demands all this, but without increasing spend. Budgets are tighter, hiring is slower, and AI is reshaping how teams operate. And yet, expectations keep rising. This talk is a practical playbook for navigating that tension.

At StatusCake, a bootstrapped SaaS company, we’ve never had the luxury of excess. We’ve operated for over a decade with lean teams, constrained budgets, and no external funding. That’s taught us how to align teams around impact, prioritise ruthlessly, and make technical decisions that directly support the business; all without burning people out or compromising on quality.

I’m not an engineer myself, but I’ve led engineering teams for 15 years. That perspective has forced me to build trust through clarity, not code. And to translate between product, engineering, and commercial strategy with precision. In this session, I’ll share the practical lessons that emerged from leading through constant constraint, and how they apply to the challenges engineering leaders now face at scale.

This is not a just a story of surviving 2025, but it should help you create a framework for a thriving engineering team within your organisation. Helping you and your team stay focused, motivated, and strategic when resources are scarce but expectations are high.

Key takeaways

By the end of the session I hope you’ll have learned 5 things to take back to your businesses:

  1. Why budget constraints are a leadership challenge, not just a financial one: Because leading through scarcity is about alignment, not spreadsheets.
  2. How to empower engineers to think commercially and make smarter technical trade-offs: When engineers understand the “why,” they make better calls on the “how.”
  3. Ways to align tech decisions with company-wide goals during moments of pressure: Strategy fails when tech and business drift out of sync; especially under stress.
  4. How constraints can sharpen focus and increase team autonomy: Limits don’t have to reduce creativity, they can accelerate it.
  5. How to reshape the role of engineering from a cost centre to a strategic driver of value: Engineering isn’t just delivery; it’s a key lever for business performance.
15:50–16:35

Afternoon Break

16:35

Talk

New Manager•Staff+•Tech Lead

Your career isn’t stuck – you’re playing by the wrong rules

Learn how to break free from outdated career rules by building visibility, influence, and leadership on your own terms.

+ More

Talk

Your career isn’t stuck – you’re playing by the wrong rules

This session is suitable for:

New Manager•Staff+•Tech Lead

Think you’re stuck in your career?

You’re not.

You’re just following the wrong rules.

This talk will show you how to get noticed, grow your influence, and finally get the recognition you deserve.

Are you working hard, hitting your goals, and still not getting the recognition or growth you deserve?
You’re not alone – and you’re not broken.
You’re just playing by rules that were never designed for you.

In this talk, I’ll share the unspoken truths about career growth in tech, especially for women, introverts, and hidden leaders who feel like they’re doing everything “right” but still getting overlooked.

From my experience as a Director of Engineering and now an executive coach for women in tech, I’ll walk you through what actually moves the needle – how to build visibility, influence decisions, and shape your path without selling your soul or burning out.

You’ll get a practical and honest framework for driving your career forward on your terms – and stop waiting for permission to lead.

This isn’t another “just be confident” pep talk.
It’s a real conversation about what works, what doesn’t, and how you can start leading now – even if no one handed you the title yet.
17:05

Talk

Experienced Manager•New Manager•Staff+•Tech Lead

Debugging self-doubt: A framework for building confidence

Explore a practical framework for tackling self-doubt with a debugging mindset to build lasting confidence and stronger teams.

+ More

Talk

Debugging self-doubt: A framework for building confidence

This session is suitable for:

Experienced Manager•New Manager•Staff+•Tech Lead

A light, practical talk for engineering leaders on tackling self-doubt using a debugging mindset. Learn how to build real confidence with a simple framework that improves not only you, but also your team.

As engineering leaders, we’re expected to have answers, make decisions, and support our teams – even when we’re quietly questioning ourselves. Speaking up in high-stakes meetings, giving feedback, or navigating ambiguity can trigger self-doubt and quietly erode confidence over time.

In this talk, Natalia shares how imposter syndrome shows up in leadership – and how to handle it using a mindset we already know well: debugging. With humor, personal stories, and practical tools, she introduces the Confidence Debugging Framework (CDF) – a 5-step approach to identifying confidence “crashes” isolating their causes, applying targeted fixes, and building habits that stick.

You’ll learn:

  • How to recognize your own confidence blockers and triggers
  • Simple, proven strategies to build confidence intentionally
  • Why your confidence directly impacts your team’s trust, performance, and growth

Expect a refreshing, actionable take on a topic that’s often overlooked in tech leadership – but deeply impactful. From private self-doubt to public team dynamics, this talk will leave you with tools to lead with more clarity, confidence, and self-awareness.

Because just like code, confidence isn’t perfect – but with the right mindset, you can always refactor it.

Key takeaways

  • Recognize how self-doubt shows up in everyday leadership.
  • Use a simple debugging mindset to approach confidence challenges.
  • Discover practical habits for building confidence over time.
  • Reflect on how your confidence affects your team’s trust and dynamics.
17:15

Talk

Experienced Manager•New Manager•Staff+

The twin mandate: What leaders still don’t get about observability

Talk details coming soon.

+ More

Talk

The twin mandate: What leaders still don’t get about observability

This session is suitable for:

Experienced Manager•New Manager•Staff+

Charity’s new talk will address the incredible variance in performance among engineering teams in 2025. While the ceiling for engineering performance has increased dramatically over the past decade, only a tiny fraction of teams are actually taking advantage of this shift. Hear how your observability team can help unlock the next level in performance.

  • FEATURING
    Charity Majors
    Co-Founder & CTOHoneycomb

    Charity Majors is the co-founder and CTO of honeycomb.io. She pioneered the concept of modern Observability, drawing on her years of experience building and managing massive distributed systems at Parse (acquired by Facebook), Facebook, and Linden Lab building Second Life. She is the co-author of Observability Engineering and Database Reliability Engineering (O’Reilly). She loves free speech, free software and single malt scotch.

    View Charity’s profile
17:45

Talk

End of day wrap-up

Closing thoughts from the host, Pat Kua.

+ More

Talk

End of day wrap-up

This session is suitable for:

Closing thoughts from the host, Pat Kua.
17:50–19:20

Networking Mixer

Hallway activities
10:50

Office Hours

Meet the speakers

Chat with the speakers face-to-face in a relaxed, conversational environment.

+ More

Office Hours

Meet the speakers – Day 1, 10:50

This session is suitable for:

If you’re inspired by a talk, want to learn more, or just want to chat about it with other folks, head to our Office Hours area where our speakers will be waiting for you.

  • FEATURING
    Nikita Rathi
    Senior Engineering ManagerTaxfix

    Nikita Rathi is a dog-mum, a wife, a foodie amongst other things, and an engineering manager by day. She has spent her career in the tech industry between Illinois, New York, Dublin and Berlin solving problems, writing code, and managing engineering teams and now is a Senior Engineering Manager at Taxfix, a tax startup in Berlin that reduces the complexity of tax filing and helps save it’s users time and money. She has found herself ever-curious about human relationships and brings that curiosity to her work. Her thoughts and research have led her to think about different perceptions that folks might have based on past experiences and years of socialization and how that impacts the careers of those that are marginalized.

    View Nikita’s profile
  • Bruce Wang
    Engineering DirectorNetflix

    Bruce has been in the software industry for 25+ years, and currently Engineering Director at Netflix, leading Games Platform.  This team owns the central technology that enable game developers to build great games and members to enjoy them, spanning end to end integration, SDK, Game Services, Game Developer Lifecycle and Reliability teams.  Prior to that, he led Product Platform Systems spanning APIs, Telemetry Info and Technology lifecycle.  Before Netflix, he was Sr Director of Eng at Shippo, VPE at Packet (now Equinix Metal) and CTO, Co-founder or Eng Leader at various startups and enterprises.  He is also a serious foodie and resides in San Francisco with his spouse and two daughters.

     

    View Bruce’s profile
  • James Stanier
    CTONordhealth

    James Stanier is Chief Technology Officer at Nordhealth. He is also the author of Become an Effective Software Manager and Effective Remote Work. He holds a Ph.D. in computer science and runs theengineeringmanager.com.

    View James’s profile
11:00
12:00

Community Representation Groups

Connecting Disabled leaders

Connect with other leaders who have similar backgrounds and experiences to yours, and build a peer network for support throughout your leadership journey.

+ More

Community Representation Groups

Connecting Disabled leaders

This session is suitable for:

Connect with folks over shared experiences

Everyone’s journey into leadership is tough, but some have a unique set of challenges that they need to navigate through. At times it can lead to leaders feeling isolated in their experiences.

We welcome you to the community representation groups, where you’ll be able to connect with folks who might have similar experiences to yours, where you’ll be able to build a peer network for support throughout your leadership journey.

  • FEATURING
    Sérgio Laranjeira
    CTOMetacore

    Sérgio is passionate about engineering management, leadership and software delivery. He strives to make a meaningful impact on organizations by delivering exceptional experiences to both internal and external customers. In parallel, he is deeply committed to the cause of Diversity and Inclusion (D&I). He believes that fostering D&I is not just a moral imperative but also a strategic advantage, and actively works to create inclusive workplaces, promote D&I at various events, and drive recruitment activities that promote diversity. He dedicates his time to working with people, building a culture where individuals can be themselves and bringing great results to the business.

    View Sérgio ‘s profile
12:00

Industry Interest Groups

Connecting engineering leaders in Banking and Financial Services

Join our relaxed sessions where you can meet peers working in similar domains to share ideas, collaborate on challenges and exchange solutions.

+ More

Industry Interest Groups

Connecting engineering leaders in Banking and Financial Services

This session is suitable for:

Join our relaxed sessions where you can meet peers working in similar domains to share ideas, collaborate on challenges and exchange solutions.

  • FEATURING
    Candost Dağdeviren
    Engineering ManagerSumUp
    View Candost’s profile
  • Dmytro Basan
    Engineering ManagerKlarna
    View Dmytro’s profile
  • Laís Oliveira
    Principal EngineerNubank

    Born and raised in Brazil, based in Berlin, Laís Oliveira is a marathonist, outdoor sports enthusiast and a Principal Engineer at Nubank. She holds a bachelor in Computer Science and a MBA in Software Engineering both graduated in São Paulo. Over the years she has built large scale systems for retail and financial industries, including building Nubank since early days from 12 thousand to 70 million customers. As a technical leader her areas of interest are functional programming, software architecture and cloud Infrastructure.

    View Laís’s profile
12:00

Voltron Quest

Voltron Quest

Inspired by Lara Hogan’s Manager Voltron, build your personal network at LeadDev Berlin.

+ More

Voltron Quest

Voltron Quest

This session is suitable for:

Inspired by Lara Hogan’s Manager Voltron, meet other leaders to build your peer network at LeadDev Berlin.

  • FEATURING
    Matej Strašek
    Frontend Chapter LeadExoticca
    View Matej ‘s profile
  • Elif Schaefer
    Data Engineering Manager

    Elif Schaefer is a distinguished Data Engineering Manager with over a decade of managerial experience in the tech industry. With a passionate focus on people leadership, her strength lies in mentoring, coaching and cultivating high-performing (data) engineering teams. Shifting from hands-on technical work early in her career, Elif has flourished in roles that allow her to guide, inspire and influence those around her.

    View Elif ‘s profile
11:30

Speed Coaching

Speed Coaching

Watch or participate in free 1:1 coaching with Mathias Meyer.

+ More

Speed Coaching

Speed Coaching

This session is suitable for:

Watch or participate in free 1:1 coaching with Mathias Meyer.

  • FEATURING
    Mathias Meyer
    Founding Partner & Executive CoachThe Intentional Organization

    Mathias is Founding Parter and Executive Coach at The Intentional Organization and executive coach to founders, CTOs, and senior engineering leaders. He supports his clients and their leadership teams in their personal and professional growth as they’re scaling out their business and their departments. Together with his business partner Sara, he’s co-authoring the forthcoming book “The Intentional Organization.” Starting his career as an engineer, Mathias has later worked in founder, CEO, and CTO roles across different companies, including Travis CI and Reaction Commerce.

    View Mathias’s profile
11:45
12:00

Table Talks

How do you keep learning even when you’re short on time?

Join facilitated conversations and dive into key issues facing engineering teams.

+ More

Table Talks

How do you keep learning even when you’re short on time?

This session is suitable for:

Sponsored by

O'Reilly x LeadDev

Join facilitated conversations and dive into key issues facing engineering teams.

  • FEATURING
    Daniela Matheis
    Chief of Staff to the CTOioki GmbH

    In her role as Chief of Staff to the CTO, she drives practical transformations in engineering culture, ensuring continuous learning is integrated into workflows. Using systemic coaching, she supports leaders in designing initiatives, improving team practices, and creating measurable impact across the organization.

    View Daniela’s profile
  • Ciro Anunciação
    Engineering ManagerBabbel
    View Ciro’s profile
12:00

Table Talks

How do you ensure your team knows what AI code is doing in production?

Join facilitated conversations and dive into key issues facing engineering teams.

+ More

Table Talks

How do you ensure your team knows what AI code is doing in production?

This session is suitable for:

Sponsored by

CircleCI Logo LeadDev

Join facilitated conversations and dive into key issues facing engineering teams.

  • FEATURING
    Dušan Warzok
    Head of EngineeringParto Group GmbH
    View Dušan’s profile
  • Anna Kurylo
    Manager, Software EngineeringRed Hat

    Anna is an engineer-turned-Engineering Manager at Red Hat, focusing on increasing product adoption through best-in-class technical training. She aligns product and engineering priorities while providing growth opportunities for her team. Her credo as a manager is to be kind and embrace discomfort as part of learning. Outside of work, Anna is an athlete, a makeup collector, and since recently a piano player.

    View Anna’s profile
12:00

Table Talks

How to mentor effectively?

Join facilitated conversations and dive into key issues facing engineering teams.

+ More

Table Talks

How to mentor effectively?

This session is suitable for:

Join facilitated conversations and dive into key issues facing engineering teams.

  • FEATURING
    Sayak Saha
    Director of EngineeringAuto1 Group

    Sayak Saha leads engineering for Auto1 Group, Europe’s top digital car platform with over €6B in annual revenue and 600,000+ cars sold each year. His 100+ member team across the EU powers technology for B2B business, logistics, and refurbishments. Sayak previously built products at Amazon, Dell Digital, and Astro Malaysia, reaching customers in India, Southeast Asia, and Europe. Passionate about turning data insights, AI, and automation into value for e-commerce and fintech—both B2B and D2C—he thrives on delivering impact. When not working, you’ll find him exploring Berlin or playing chess with his 10-year-old.

    View Sayak’s profile
  • Irene Anggreeni
    Mental Fitness CoachWhole Person Leaders

    Irene Anggreeni is a mental fitness coach and leadership speaker bridging the technical mind and the thriving heart.
    A former engineer with over 12 years in software development and research across Indonesia, Sweden, and the Netherlands, she is passionate about helping tech leaders build strong, resilient teams. You can talk to her about any aspects of it, including sustainable performance, psychological safety, and bouncing back after burnout.
    Outside of work, Irene is also an active mentor and trainer in the Toastmasters community.
    Based in Rotterdam with her husband and their cat, she enjoys dancing Argentinian tango, swimming, and doing nothing.

    View Irene’s profile
  • Matej Strašek
    Frontend Chapter LeadExoticca
    View Matej ‘s profile
12:00

Solution Swap

I’m burning out and it feels like there’s never enough time. What can I do?

Trade tactics for tackling everyday challenges.

+ More

Solution Swap

I’m burning out and it feels like there’s never enough time. What can I do?

This session is suitable for:

You’re constantly balancing competing demands – supporting your team, meeting delivery expectations, advocating for engineering health, responding to leadership and general admin. The result can be a relentless cycle of context switching, long hours, and the sense that you’re never quite doing enough.

You may suffer from irritability, concentration difficulties, or even resentment toward the role you once enjoyed. At the same time, the constant stream of meetings, messages, and tickets in your work management systems can leave you feeling like you’re drowning in tasks, with no clear way to prioritize. How can you step back when the demands never stop? What happens when the guilt of letting others down keeps you pushing past your limits?

Many of us will recognize this scenario from our own careers. In this session we’ll explore the dynamics that make burnout so common in leadership roles, share experiences of how it shows up in day-to-day work, and surface ideas about what can be done to create a healthier balance.

  • FEATURING
    Clare Sudbery
    Independent Technical CoachSudbery Software Engineering Ltd

    Clare Sudbery is an independent technical coach with 25+ years of software engineering experience. She specialises in TDD, refactoring, pair programming, continuous integration and other eXtreme Programming (XP) practices.

    Clare taught the Coding Black Females’ Return to Tech programme and co-ran Made Tech’s academy – coaching inexperienced engineers to learn on the job. She has a passion for helping under-represented groups to flourish in tech.

    Clare hosted Season One of the acclaimed Making Tech Better podcast and publishes content on Medium (“A Woman in Technology”) and her own site (“In Simple Terms”). She is the author of the Stupidity Manifesto, has written about trunk-based development and refactoring for O’Reilly and for Martin Fowler’s site, and regularly presents workshops and keynotes at events all over the world.

    Subscribe to Clare’s newsletter: https://queen-of-questions.kit.com/

    View Clare’s profile
12:15

Speed Coaching

Speed Coaching

Watch or participate in free 1:1 coaching with Mathias Meyer.

+ More

Speed Coaching

Speed Coaching

This session is suitable for:

Watch or participate in free 1:1 coaching with Mathias Meyer.

  • FEATURING
    Mathias Meyer
    Founding Partner & Executive CoachThe Intentional Organization

    Mathias is Founding Parter and Executive Coach at The Intentional Organization and executive coach to founders, CTOs, and senior engineering leaders. He supports his clients and their leadership teams in their personal and professional growth as they’re scaling out their business and their departments. Together with his business partner Sara, he’s co-authoring the forthcoming book “The Intentional Organization.” Starting his career as an engineer, Mathias has later worked in founder, CEO, and CTO roles across different companies, including Travis CI and Reaction Commerce.

    View Mathias’s profile
12:30
12:00

Table Talks

How do you foster structured support and connection for managers in distributed work environments?

Join facilitated conversations and dive into key issues facing engineering teams.

+ More

Table Talks

How do you foster structured support and connection for managers in distributed work environments?

This session is suitable for:

Sponsored by

Cloudflare LeadDev

Join facilitated conversations and dive into key issues facing engineering teams.

  • FEATURING
    George Kihara
    Senior Engineering ManagerCellulant
    View George’s profile
  • Tatsiana Mihai
    Staff Engineer Tractable

    Tatsiana Mihai, a skilled Staff Engineer at Tractable, brings over 12 years of expertise in crafting sophisticated software solutions across diverse industries—Automotive, AdTech, Education, Travel, E-commerce, and Gaming. As a leader with diverse capabilities, she excels not only in developing customer-facing products and nuanced software design but also in transforming challenges into successes. Tatsiana’s visionary approach, coupled with her adept problem-solving, is complemented by a unique ability to integrate engineering practices seamlessly with team management strategies. From startups to industry giants, her strategic decisions reflect a commitment to excellence and innovation in every venture.

    View Tatsiana ‘s profile
12:00

Table Talks

How do you create the conditions for your teams to experiment safely?

Join facilitated conversations and dive into key issues facing engineering teams.

+ More

Table Talks

How do you create the conditions for your teams to experiment safely?

This session is suitable for:

Sponsored by

LaunchDarkly LeadDev

Join facilitated conversations and dive into key issues facing engineering teams.
12:00

Table Talks

How can AI practically deliver value to engineering teams?

Join facilitated conversations and dive into key issues facing engineering teams.

+ More

Table Talks

How can AI practically deliver value to engineering teams?

This session is suitable for:

Join facilitated conversations and dive into key issues facing engineering teams.

  • FEATURING
    Dušan Warzok
    Head of EngineeringParto Group GmbH
    View Dušan’s profile
  • Viktor Stojanov
    Engineering ManagerBabbel

    Viktor Stojanov is an Engineering Manager at Babbel and Flutter app founder in his free time. He’s an avid learner with a passion for building beautiful, functional apps that tackle real-world problems while being a net positive in users’ lives.

    View Viktor’s profile
  • Shadi Sharaf
    Senior Software EngineerClave

    Senior software engineer, with background in Enterprise publishing platforms, leading high performing teams, open source contributions, and building AI-assisted platforms.

    View Shadi ‘s profile
12:00

Solution Swap

Talented engineers on my team want to advance their careers but there are not as many opportunities available, how do I keep them motivated?

Trade tactics for tackling everyday challenges.

+ More

Solution Swap

Talented engineers on my team want to advance their careers but there are not as many opportunities available, how do I keep them motivated?

This session is suitable for:

You are fortunate to lead a team of bright and ambitious engineers who are eager to grow. They want new responsibilities, visible projects, and a clear path to advancement. But maybe promotion opportunities are limited, or senior roles are scarce, or career ladders are not always well-defined. The gap between your team’s aspirations and what the company can offer is becoming harder to bridge.

You want to support their ambitions, but you don’t want to make promises you can’t keep. How do you keep them motivated when opportunities are unevenly distributed? What can you do to prevent frustration, stagnation, or even attrition when your most capable engineers are eager for more?

Many of us have wrestled with this challenge. In this session we’ll share stories, explore different approaches, and consider how to foster growth and engagement even when advancement paths are not immediately available.

  • FEATURING
    Clare Sudbery
    Independent Technical CoachSudbery Software Engineering Ltd

    Clare Sudbery is an independent technical coach with 25+ years of software engineering experience. She specialises in TDD, refactoring, pair programming, continuous integration and other eXtreme Programming (XP) practices.

    Clare taught the Coding Black Females’ Return to Tech programme and co-ran Made Tech’s academy – coaching inexperienced engineers to learn on the job. She has a passion for helping under-represented groups to flourish in tech.

    Clare hosted Season One of the acclaimed Making Tech Better podcast and publishes content on Medium (“A Woman in Technology”) and her own site (“In Simple Terms”). She is the author of the Stupidity Manifesto, has written about trunk-based development and refactoring for O’Reilly and for Martin Fowler’s site, and regularly presents workshops and keynotes at events all over the world.

    Subscribe to Clare’s newsletter: https://queen-of-questions.kit.com/

    View Clare’s profile
13:00
12:00

Office Hours

Meet the speakers

Chat with speakers face-to-face in a relaxed, conversational environment.

+ More

Office Hours

Meet the speakers – Day 1, 13:00

This session is suitable for:

If you’re inspired by a talk, want to learn more, or just want to chat about it with other folks, head to our Office Hours area, where our speakers will be waiting for you.

  • FEATURING
    Ranbir Sinha
    Software Engineering LeaderKLM Royal Dutch Airlines
    View Ranbir’s profile
  • Diane-Lee Pretorius
    Senior Engineering ManagerPleo
    View Diane-Lee’s profile
  • Saman Jafari
    CTO and Seasoned Leader

    Saman Jafari is a seasoned leader and strategist with nearly two decades of experience guiding teams, systems, and businesses through meaningful transformation. He began his career in Iran, where he built and ran a digital agency blending software, media, and storytelling. Now based in Germany, he serves as a CTO, helping organizations modernize architecture, grow people, and rethink how they work.

    Across roles and borders, Saman has led more than just code changes. He’s helped people lead better, reshaped team cultures, and guided businesses toward more thoughtful, human-centered ways of working. His leadership spans startups and mature companies alike, always focused on building systems that scale and teams that thrive.

    What drives him most is seeing people grow and watching businesses become more human, more resilient, and more aligned with their purpose.

    View Saman’s profile
12:00

Community Representation Groups

Connecting Asian leaders

Connect with other leaders who have similar backgrounds and experiences to yours, and build a peer network for support throughout your leadership journey.

+ More

Community Representation Groups

Connecting Asian leaders

This session is suitable for:

Connect with folks over shared experiences

Everyone’s journey into leadership is tough, but some have a unique set of challenges that they need to navigate through. At times it can lead to leaders feeling isolated in their experiences.

We welcome you to the community representation groups, where you’ll be able to connect with folks who might have similar experiences to yours, where you’ll be able to build a peer network for support throughout your leadership journey.

  • FEATURING
    Ricardo Yasuda
    Engineering ManagerGotPhoto

    Ricardo is an engineering leader with 25+ years in the software development industry. Currently an Engineering Manager at GotPhoto, he leads cross-functional teams building technology that empowers photographers to focus on their craft. Ricardo previously led teams at SumUp handling millions of transactions at scale. He is passionate about people-first and culture-aware leadership, creating environments where engineers thrive while delivering products that truly serves people and makes a difference.

    View Ricardo’s profile
  • Dilip Saha
    Senior Director of EngineeringHelloFresh
    View Dilip ‘s profile
  • Priyanka Syal
    Senior EngineerBCG Digital Ventures

    Priyanka Syal currently works at Senior Engineer at BCG Digital Ventures, Berlin. She has previously worked as a Software Engineer at multiple places including Microsoft and Dell EMC across different domains like CRM, cloud storage and AdTech. She is passionate about diversity and inclusion in tech and has worked as a part of various initiatives to support women in technology.

    View Priyanka’s profile
12:00

Next Steps AMA

Tackling the role of Tech Lead

Dedicated sessions on how to take the next step in your career for tackling the role of a Tech Lead.

+ More

Next Steps AMA

Tackling the role of Tech Lead

This session is suitable for:

Dedicated sessions on how to take the next step in your career for tackling the role of a Tech Lead.

Moderated by Phil Bennett, Experienced Engineering Leader & Former Director of Engineering at Kilo Health.

  • FEATURING
    Lean Vilas
    Software Engineering Team Lead

    Lean Vilas is a Senior Software Engineer, Team Lead, and mentor with over a decade of experience helping developers grow into confident, high-impact contributors.
    Known for blending technical expertise with a deep focus on people, he teaches software engineers how to navigate career transitions, especially the leap from individual contributor to engineering manager.
    Through his newsletter “From IC to EM” and conference talks, he shares practical, human-centered leadership insights that resonate with devs who want to lead without losing themselves.

    View Lean’s profile
  • Mahdi Pourziaei
    Tech LeadFashion Cloud

    Tech Lead (Staff) at Fashion Cloud, driving platform engineering and leading post-startup architecture.

    View Mahdi ‘s profile
  • Phil Bennett
    Director of EngineeringKilo Health
    View Phil’s profile
  • Theresa Robinson
    Technical Lead, Digital Innovation Cell at Rolls-RoyceRolls Royce

    Theresa Robinson has a PhD in aeronautics and astronautics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Her academic research was in numerical optimization applied to computational fluid dynamic problems, and robust and surrogate-based optimization algorithms. She was an assistant professor of aerospace and mechanical engineering at Queen’s University Belfast from 2008 to 2012.

    In 2012 she joined Rolls-Royce Deutschland, where she has worked on robust optimization of aircraft engine exhaust systems, safety and reliability analysis and simulation, and python development of internal tools. Currently she is the technical lead for Engine Network, a tool to help Rolls-Royce analyse, visualize, forecast the behaviour of in-service aircraft engines.

    View Theresa’s profile
13:15

Industry Interest Groups

Connecting engineering leaders in Ecommerce

Join our relaxed sessions where you can meet peers working in similar domains to share ideas, collaborate on challenges and exchange solutions.

+ More

Industry Interest Groups

Connecting engineering leaders in Ecommerce

This session is suitable for:

Join our relaxed sessions where you can meet peers working in similar domains to share ideas, collaborate on challenges and exchange solutions.

  • FEATURING
    Wojciech Poniatowski
    Senior Manager, Product & EngineeringAllegro
    View Wojciech’s profile
  • Ashwin Aggarwal
    Engineering ManagerZalando

    Ashwin is an Engineering Manager at Zalando where he leads a team of talented web and app engineers building GenAI powered experiences for Zalando’s 50M active customers. He is passionate about building healthy & resilient teams with open feedback culture and efficient practices.

    With over a decade of experience in software engineering and leadership, his expertise spans various industries, including Fashion eCommerce, Aviation, Enterprise Project & Portfolio Management, and eLearning Solutions.

    Having grown up in a small Himalayan town he enjoys hiking and listening to non-fiction audiobooks during his evening walks.

    View Ashwin’s profile
13:45
12:00

Community Representation Groups

Connecting Women leaders

Connect with other leaders who have similar backgrounds and experiences to yours, and build a peer network for support throughout your leadership journey.

+ More

Community Representation Groups

Connecting Women leaders

This session is suitable for:

Connect with folks over shared experiences

Everyone’s journey into leadership is tough, but some have a unique set of challenges that they need to navigate through. At times it can lead to leaders feeling isolated in their experiences.

We welcome you to the community representation groups, where you’ll be able to connect with folks who might have similar experiences to yours, where you’ll be able to build a peer network for support throughout your leadership journey.

  • FEATURING
    Silvia Schreier
    Principal EngineerIntersport

    As Principal Engineer and Architect at INTERSPORT, Silvia Schreier is committed to bridging the gap between technology and business. With over a decade of experience in web development, architecture, and wholesale and retail product management, she combines deep technical expertise with a strong business perspective. Driven by her passion for collaboration and connecting people, Silvia helps teams find solutions that are not only technically sound and sustainable but also deliver real business value.

    View Silvia’s profile
  • Gisela Rossi
    Engineering DirectorTrustpilot

    Gisela is an Engineering Director leading the B2B engine at Trustpilot. She enjoys leading and improving complex organisations and systems. Her colleagues have described her as a “force for change”, and she treasures that. She is devoted to helping people in the tech community grow and reach their full potential. Outside work, she enjoys oil painting, exercising, and quiet weekends at home with her husband and her cat.

    View Gisela’s profile
  • Emily Thomas
    Principal Software Engineer & TLM (Tech Lead Manager) Invisible Technologies Inc.

    Emily is not just an engineer or a manager, but a problem solver, focused on creating creative efficiency both in and out of code. She rapidly grew her career at hustling startups, experienced management at a massively scaling pre-IPO unicorn, and is now dedicated to solving the next big problem – the balance of humans and technology.

     

    View Emily’s profile
12:00

Next Steps AMA

Stepping into the role of Staff Engineer

Dedicated sessions on how to take the next step in your career for stepping into the role of a Staff Engineer.

+ More

Next Steps AMA

Stepping into the role of Staff Engineer

This session is suitable for:

Dedicated sessions on how to take the next step in your career for stepping into the role of a Staff Engineer.

Moderated by Phil Bennett, Experienced Engineering Leader & Former Director of Engineering at Kilo Health.

  • FEATURING
    Helen Durrant
    Staff EngineerWise

    Helen is a Staff Engineer at Wise in London. Recently she’s been interested in the product platform space, and in building tools that enable developers to build high quality product at scale.

    View Helen’s profile
  • Serhii Vasylenko
    Staff Platform EngineerGrammarly

    Serhii Vasylenko is a staff engineer for the Infrastructure FA at Grammarly. With over a decade of platform engineering experience, he designs cloud-native infrastructure foundations, CI/CD stacks, and developer experience tooling that enable hundreds of engineers to ship faster and more securely. Active in the BLN DevOps and AWS Community Builders communities, Serhii is passionate about pragmatic solutions that scale. When away from the keyboard, he can be found hiking mountain trails.

    View Serhii’s profile
  • Daniel Schniepp
    Senior Staff EngineerMercedes-Benz Mobility AG

    Daniel is as a Senior Staff Engineer working on various platform and software engineering topics as well as engineering culture initiatives at Mercedes-Benz Mobility AG.
    Before joining the corporate world, he co-founded two startups and worked as a freelance software engineer.

    View Daniel’s profile
  • Phil Bennett
    Director of EngineeringKilo Health
    View Phil’s profile
14:15

Solution Swap

There are many things that only I know how to do and I feel like I am becoming a bottleneck for my team – what can I do?

Trade tactics for tackling everyday challenges.

+ More

Solution Swap

There are many things that only I know how to do and I feel like I am becoming a bottleneck for my team – what can I do?

This session is suitable for:

You often find yourself stepping in to solve the toughest problems or handle the parts of the system that no one else fully understands. Over time, this can leave you as the single point of knowledge for critical areas, while the rest of the team depends on you to unblock their work. The result is long hours, constant interruptions, and the feeling that progress slows down whenever you’re not available.

You want to enable your team to be more independent, but deadlines and delivery pressure make it difficult to slow down and share knowledge. How do you stop being the bottleneck when it feels faster to just do it yourself? What happens when your own workload becomes unsustainable and your team’s growth stalls?

Many of us have been in this position. In this session, we’ll discuss how others have faced these challenges, what patterns emerge, and how teams can grow beyond a single point of dependency.

  • FEATURING
    Clare Sudbery
    Independent Technical CoachSudbery Software Engineering Ltd

    Clare Sudbery is an independent technical coach with 25+ years of software engineering experience. She specialises in TDD, refactoring, pair programming, continuous integration and other eXtreme Programming (XP) practices.

    Clare taught the Coding Black Females’ Return to Tech programme and co-ran Made Tech’s academy – coaching inexperienced engineers to learn on the job. She has a passion for helping under-represented groups to flourish in tech.

    Clare hosted Season One of the acclaimed Making Tech Better podcast and publishes content on Medium (“A Woman in Technology”) and her own site (“In Simple Terms”). She is the author of the Stupidity Manifesto, has written about trunk-based development and refactoring for O’Reilly and for Martin Fowler’s site, and regularly presents workshops and keynotes at events all over the world.

    Subscribe to Clare’s newsletter: https://queen-of-questions.kit.com/

    View Clare’s profile
14:45
12:00

Table Talks

How can you foster a culture of experimentation within your teams?

Join facilitated conversations and dive into key issues facing engineering teams.

+ More

Table Talks

How can you foster a culture of experimentation within your teams?

This session is suitable for:

Sponsored by

Eppo by Datadog LeadDev

Join facilitated conversations and dive into key issues facing engineering teams.

  • FEATURING
    Ivelina Dimova
    Senior Web EngineerAwesome Motive

    Ivelina is a Senior Web Developer at Awesome Motive, bringing over a decade of experience to crafting powerful back-end solutions. Proficient in PHP and WordPress, she excels at API integration and developing scalable products, with a portfolio including complex systems for international banks and booking platforms.

    Within the Research and Development team, Ivelina develops internal products leveraging Google Cloud for infrastructure solutions and is at the forefront of exploring AI agents using Python and Laravel. Her commitment to quality is evident in her dedication to automated testing and DevOps.

    When she’s not immersed in code, Ivelina enjoys yoga, exploring new destinations through travel, and photography. She’s also passionate about contributing to the tech community through speaking engagements and organizing WordPress events.

    View Ivelina’s profile
  • Candost Dağdeviren
    Engineering ManagerSumUp
    View Candost’s profile
12:00

Table Talks

How can you solve the problem of technical debt when you’re scaling up?

Join facilitated conversations and dive into key issues facing engineering teams.

+ More

Table Talks

How can you solve the problem of technical debt when you’re scaling up?

This session is suitable for:

Sponsored by

Harness LeadDev

Join facilitated conversations and dive into key issues facing engineering teams.
12:00

Table Talks

How do you embed observability into your engineering culture?

Join facilitated conversations and dive into key issues facing engineering teams.

+ More

Table Talks

How do you embed observability into your engineering culture?

This session is suitable for:

Join facilitated conversations and dive into key issues facing engineering teams.
15:00

Speed Coaching

Speed Coaching

Watch or participate in free 1:1 coaching with Lena Reinhard.

+ More

Speed Coaching

Speed Coaching

This session is suitable for:

Watch or participate in free 1:1 coaching with Lena Reinhard.

  • FEATURING
    Lena Reinhard
    Engineering Leadership & Executive Coach

    Lena Reinhard has dedicated her career to building successful, high-performing globally distributed engineering organisations, and helping teams thrive in times of high change like hypergrowth. She now offers transformational leadership coaching and consulting for leaders.

    Previously, Lena served as VP Engineering with CircleCI and Travis CI, as well as a startup co-founder & CEO, and through her cross-functional background and experience, she brings a unique perspective on systems of technology, business, and people.

    View Lena’s profile
15:45
12:00

Office Hours

Meet the speakers

Chat with speakers face-to-face in a relaxed, conversational environment.

+ More

Office Hours

Meet the speakers – Day 1, 15:45

This session is suitable for:

If you’re inspired by a talk, want to learn more, or just want to chat about it with other folks, head to our Office Hours area, where our speakers will be waiting for you.

  • FEATURING
    Roei Berkovich
    Software Team LeadRiverside
    View Roei’s profile
  • James Barnes
    CEO & Co-FounderStatusCake
    View James’s profile
  • Humera Noor
    CTODigital Munich Tech GmbH

    Dr. Humera Noor is an academician, an entrepreneur and a senior leader with over 25 years of experience. With a PhD in Machine Learning, she has led successful ML-based projects, including pioneering commercial-scale ad filtering. As the CTO of Digital Munich, she drives innovation in AI, AR/VR and IoT. She is the founder of Lumen, a bootcamp aimed at helping individuals break into data and AI.

    Dr. Humera is passionate about empowering others in tech, helping individuals reach their full potential. Dr. Humera finds peace in nature, starting her day at sunrise with a book on a bench by the fields — of course with coffee.

    View Humera’s profile
12:00

Community Representation Groups

Connecting Neurodivergent leaders

Connect with other leaders who have similar backgrounds and experiences to yours, and build a peer network for support throughout your leadership journey.

+ More

Community Representation Groups

Connecting Neurodivergent leaders

This session is suitable for:

Connect with folks over shared experiences

Everyone’s journey into leadership is tough, but some have a unique set of challenges that they need to navigate through. At times it can lead to leaders feeling isolated in their experiences.

We welcome you to the community representation groups, where you’ll be able to connect with folks who might have similar experiences to yours, where you’ll be able to build a peer network for support throughout your leadership journey.

  • FEATURING
    Margarita Litkevych
    Engineering ManagerSumUp

    Margarita Litkevych is an Engineering Manager at SumUp, where she is building innovative solutions that empower small businesses around the world. With extensive experience in software engineering and team leadership, she has a track record of delivering scalable, high-quality products while fostering collaboration and growth within her teams. Margarita is passionate about creating inclusive engineering cultures, mentoring talent, and supporting initiatives that encourage more women to pursue careers in technology.

    View Margarita’s profile
  • Sam Boswell
    CTOterralayr

    Sam leads technology teams at terralayr, an energy tech company providing flexibility-as-a-service through virtual storage capacity to address the massive deficit in global energy storage. He has worked and consulted on technical projects in energy, high-risk cybersecurity, industrial and commercial sectors. He’s currently focusing on building high-performing tech teams, and backing companies in the climate space.

    View Sam’s profile
  • Mahdi Pourziaei
    Tech LeadFashion Cloud

    Tech Lead (Staff) at Fashion Cloud, driving platform engineering and leading post-startup architecture.

    View Mahdi ‘s profile
12:00

Industry Interest Groups

Connecting engineering leaders in Automotive

Join our relaxed sessions where you can meet peers working in similar domains to share ideas, collaborate on challenges and exchange solutions.

+ More

Industry Interest Groups

Connecting engineering leaders in Automotive

This session is suitable for:

Join our relaxed sessions where you can meet peers working in similar domains to share ideas, collaborate on challenges and exchange solutions.

  • FEATURING
    Daniel Schniepp
    Senior Staff EngineerMercedes-Benz Mobility AG

    Daniel is as a Senior Staff Engineer working on various platform and software engineering topics as well as engineering culture initiatives at Mercedes-Benz Mobility AG.
    Before joining the corporate world, he co-founded two startups and worked as a freelance software engineer.

    View Daniel’s profile
15:55

Next Steps AMA

Preparing for the role of Principal Engineer

Dedicated sessions on how to take the next step in your career for preparing for the role of a Principal Engineer.

+ More

Next Steps AMA

Preparing for the role of Principal Engineer

This session is suitable for:

Dedicated sessions on how to take the next step in your career for preparing for the role of a Principal Engineer

Moderated by Phil Bennett, Experienced Engineering Leader & Former Director of Engineering at Kilo Health.

  • FEATURING
    Laura Ureche
    Principal Engineer

    Laura Ureche is a Principal Engineer with over 13 years of experience across startups and large organizations. She has a background in testing, software development, and SRE, and is known for driving scalable solutions, improving system reliability, and mentoring engineering teams. Passionate about problem-solving and observability, she helps teams deliver high-quality, impactful software.

    View Laura’s profile
  • Phil Bennett
    Director of EngineeringKilo Health
    View Phil’s profile
  • Laís Oliveira
    Principal EngineerNubank

    Born and raised in Brazil, based in Berlin, Laís Oliveira is a marathonist, outdoor sports enthusiast and a Principal Engineer at Nubank. She holds a bachelor in Computer Science and a MBA in Software Engineering both graduated in São Paulo. Over the years she has built large scale systems for retail and financial industries, including building Nubank since early days from 12 thousand to 70 million customers. As a technical leader her areas of interest are functional programming, software architecture and cloud Infrastructure.

    View Laís’s profile
17:45
12:00

Office Hours

Meet the speakers

Chat with speakers face-to-face in a relaxed, conversational environment.

+ More

Office Hours

Meet the speakers – Day 1, 17:45

This session is suitable for:

If you’re inspired by a talk, want to learn more, or just want to chat about it with other folks, head to our Office Hours area, where our speakers will be waiting for you.

  • FEATURING
    Limor Bergman Gross
    Leadership CoachLBG Consulting
    View Limor’s profile
  • Natalia Nazaruk
    Engineering Squad LeadKingfisher
    View Natalia’s profile
  • Charity Majors
    Co-Founder & CTOHoneycomb

    Charity Majors is the co-founder and CTO of honeycomb.io. She pioneered the concept of modern Observability, drawing on her years of experience building and managing massive distributed systems at Parse (acquired by Facebook), Facebook, and Linden Lab building Second Life. She is the co-author of Observability Engineering and Database Reliability Engineering (O’Reilly). She loves free speech, free software and single malt scotch.

    View Charity’s profile
12:00

Community Representation Groups

Connecting Black leaders

Connect with other leaders who have similar backgrounds and experiences to yours, and build a peer network for support throughout your leadership journey.

+ More

Community Representation Groups

Connecting Black leaders

This session is suitable for:

Connect with folks over shared experiences

Everyone’s journey into leadership is tough, but some have a unique set of challenges that they need to navigate through. At times it can lead to leaders feeling isolated in their experiences.

We welcome you to the community representation groups, where you’ll be able to connect with folks who might have similar experiences to yours, where you’ll be able to build a peer network for support throughout your leadership journey.

  • FEATURING
    James Samuel
    Engineering ManagerReddit

    James Samuel is an Engineering manager at Reddit specializing in scaling software teams and software architectures. Prior to joining the mobility sector, he had worked in Fintech, EdTech, and PropTech. He’s also a co-organiser of the @AWS UserGroup Berlin Meetup. James is passionate about empowering engineers through his blog, presentations, and monthly newsletter.

    View James’s profile
12:00

Contributor AMA

Become a LeadDev Contributor AMA

Join the LeadDev content team to explore ways to share your experience and get involved as a contributor.

+ More

Contributor AMA

Become a LeadDev Contributor AMA

This session is suitable for:

Want to contribute to LeadDev but not sure where to start?

Join the LeadDev content team for a relaxed AMA session where you can ask questions about getting involved.

Whether you are interested in speaking on stage, writing an article, or hosting a meetup, this session will guide you through the process. You will learn how to create strong speaker submissions and engaging article proposals, and discover how to take your first step toward becoming a LeadDev contributor.

  • FEATURING
    Scott Carey
    Editor in ChiefLeadDev

    Scott Carey is the Editor in Chief at LeadDev. An experienced technology journalist, he has covered software development for Computerworld, CIO, and InfoWorld before joining LeadDev.

    View Scott’s profile
  • Ruth Yarnit
    CEO & Co-founderLeadDev

    Ruth Yarnit co-founded White October Events with Dave Fletcher in 2013 to run human-centred events for the tech industry. The White October Events team creates content and conferences for the leaders and changemakers in software engineering teams around the world, developing their tech, team and tools to advance their businesses. Lead Dev is their flagship event with conferences in London, New York, Berlin and San Francisco. Ruth is interested in human beings and teams, both in her own business and in the wider tech industry. Outside of work she is particularly interested in two small human beings, aged 1 and 3.

    View Ruth’s profile
WORKSHOPS
11:45

Workshop

Reading your systems: Using technical skills to drive software delivery excellence

Learn to “read” your engineering systems using data and technical insight to uncover bottlenecks, optimize flow, and accelerate software delivery.

+ More

Workshop

Reading your systems: Using technical skills to drive software delivery excellence

This session is suitable for:

Sponsored by

CircleCI Logo LeadDev

Whether you’re a CTO or a rising engineering leader, you’re likely under immense pressure to ship more value, faster. Yet, you know that jumping in and contributing code is unlikely to be the path to success. So, as a technical leader, how do you help your teams? They are likely dealing with increasing system complexity, siloed knowledge, and mounting technical debt. Many engineering metrics (DORA, DX Core 4, etc) can confirm there’s a problem. You should definitely talk to your people, but they have biases and will either tell you what they think you want to hear, or tell you what they have concluded is the problem. So how do you get past the gut feeling and put your skills to work to optimize your org and systems for software delivery excellence?

The answer lies in reframing the technical understanding you already have at a system level, using the strategies of systems thinking. It’s not about applying technical knowledge to solve technical problems (e.g., rewriting code), but rather paying attention to the flow of code and information to remove blockers in systems. By analyzing how code and PRs are structured, understanding how feedback flows through systems, and identifying where breakdowns occur, you can unlock the full potential of your software delivery system.
No matter how big or small your systems are, this workshop will help you develop the superpower of reading your systems’ vital signs to create environments where teams can deliver software quickly, confidently, and effectively.

What will you learn?

  • How to use your technical expertise to identify hidden system issues by analyzing code patterns, PR structures, and team interactions.
  • How to measure and quantify technical bottlenecks rather than relying on subjective assessments when prioritizing improvements.
  • Tips for designing team structures based on evidence of what actually enables faster delivery vs. relying on intuition.
  • FEATURING
    Olaf Molenveld
    Technology AdvisorCircleCI

    Olaf is a seasoned technology leader with over 25 years of experience in the software industry, excelling in both technical and leadership roles. He has a strong foundation in software development, architecture, and consulting, with a focus on aligning business challenges with cutting-edge technology solutions. As the founder and former CTO of Vamp.io, he played a key role in developing DevOps tools for containers, Kubernetes, and microservices. Following Vamp’s acquisition by CircleCI, Olaf now serves as a Technology Advisor, working closely with CTO Rob Zuber to advance CircleCI’s offerings. His expertise continues to drive technical innovation and excellence for the company and its customers.

    View Olaf’s profile
14:30

Workshop

Navigating difference and disagreement

Explore how to turn differences and disagreements into opportunities for growth by practicing healthy conflict and effective team communication.

+ More

Workshop

Navigating difference and disagreement

This session is suitable for:

Our differences in opinion, experience and approach can be a difficult source of tension in teams, and if ignored and overlooked people will feel demotivated, excluded and undervalued.

At the same time productive conflict is important to help us grow and find the best solutions.

In this session, we’ll explore what unhealthy or healthy conflict looks like – and how your own experiences of conflict shape the way you engage when there is disagreement within a team. We’ll also practice conversational frameworks for both group and 1-2-1 settings that you can use to improve your team’s interactions with one another and ensure you’re building environments where everyone can work together towards shared goals.

  • FEATURING
    Joel Chippindale
    CTO CoachMonkey's Thumb

    Joel Chippindale is an Engineering Leadership Coach and Adviser. He has about 20 years experience building, scaling and leading software development teams, including CTO roles at Econsultancy, FutureLearn and Unmade.

    He values building inclusive, empowered, sustainable teams. He has experienced the challenges of nurturing the cultures, skills and practices that enable teams and individuals to achieve their full capabilities.

    Joel uses his experience, beliefs and skills to help organisations overcome the challenges they face in building more effective and inclusive software development teams.

    View Joel’s profile
SOLUTIONS STAGE
11:00

Demo Stage

Live demo: Harness

Explore solutions for your technical issues.

+ More

Demo Stage

Live demo: Harness

This session is suitable for:

Sponsored by

Harness LeadDev

Explore solutions for your technical issues.

Make the most of your breaks with the demo stage sessions, where leading tech providers will showcase their innovative solutions in informative and concise presentations. Each carefully curated 10 minute demo will show the very best engineering solutions available.
11:15

Demo Stage

Live demo: Incident.io

Explore solutions for your technical issues.

+ More

Demo Stage

Live demo: Incident.io

This session is suitable for:

Sponsored by

Incident io logo

Explore solutions for your technical issues.

Make the most of your breaks with the demo stage sessions, where leading tech providers will showcase their innovative solutions in informative and concise presentations. Each carefully curated 10 minute demo will show the very best engineering solutions available.
13:15

Demo Stage

Live demo: Honeycomb

Explore solutions for your technical issues.

+ More

Demo Stage

Live demo: Honeycomb

This session is suitable for:

Sponsored by

Honeycomb LeadDev

Explore solutions for your technical issues.

Make the most of your breaks with the demo stage sessions, where leading tech providers will showcase their innovative solutions in informative and concise presentations. Each carefully curated 10 minute demo will show the very best engineering solutions available.
13:30

Demo Stage

Live demo: Retool

Explore solutions for your technical issues.

+ More

Demo Stage

Live demo: Retool

This session is suitable for:

Sponsored by

Retool LeadDev

Explore solutions for your technical issues.

Make the most of your breaks with the demo stage sessions, where leading tech providers will showcase their innovative solutions in informative and concise presentations. Each carefully curated 10 minute demo will show the very best engineering solutions available.
13:45

Demo Stage

Live demo: LaunchDarkly

Explore solutions for your technical issues.

+ More

Demo Stage

Live demo: LaunchDarkly

This session is suitable for:

Sponsored by

LaunchDarkly LeadDev

Explore solutions for your technical issues.

Make the most of your breaks with the demo stage sessions, where leading tech providers will showcase their innovative solutions in informative and concise presentations. Each carefully curated 10 minute demo will show the very best engineering solutions available.
14:00

Demo Stage

Live demo: Checkly

Explore solutions for your technical issues.

+ More

Demo Stage

Live demo: Checkly

This session is suitable for:

Sponsored by

Checkly LeadDev

Explore solutions for your technical issues.

Make the most of your breaks with the demo stage sessions, where leading tech providers will showcase their innovative solutions in informative and concise presentations. Each carefully curated 10 minute demo will show the very best engineering solutions available.
16:00

Demo Stage

Live demo: Vercel

Explore solutions for your technical issues.

+ More

Demo Stage

Live demo: Vercel

This session is suitable for:

Sponsored by

Explore solutions for your technical issues.

Make the most of your breaks with the demo stage sessions, where leading tech providers will showcase their innovative solutions in informative and concise presentations. Each carefully curated 10 minute demo will show the very best engineering solutions available.
16:15

Demo Stage

Live demo: Pandorian

Explore solutions for your technical issues.

+ More

Demo Stage

Live demo: Pandorian

This session is suitable for:

Sponsored by

Pandorian LeadDev

Explore solutions for your technical issues.

Make the most of your breaks with the demo stage sessions, where leading tech providers will showcase their innovative solutions in informative and concise presentations. Each carefully curated 10 minute demo will show the very best engineering solutions available.
DIRECTORPLUS
11:45
12:00

DirectorPlus Roundtable

How to effectively stay aware of everything going on in multiple teams?

Conversations on how to position yourself most effectively as a leader and drive your teams towards success.

+ More

DirectorPlus Roundtable

How to effectively stay aware of everything going on in multiple teams?

This session is suitable for:

Conversations on how to position yourself most effectively as a leader and drive your teams towards success.

Discussion will include:

• Avoiding communication bottlenecks
• Counterbalancing alignment and autonomy for teams
• Monitoring and course correcting as the project progresses.

  • FEATURING
    Vitor Reis
    Director of EngineeringDelivery Hero

    A hands-on engineering lead with 12 years of experience in multiple industries, creating teams that work well together and delivers great things on time, developing products & tech running on over 1000 hosts in 5 data centers serving 45 countries and 4 continents.

    View Vitor’s profile
12:00

DirectorPlus Roundtable

How to measure the impact GenAI tooling investments?

Conversations on quantifying the impact of GenAI investments and how to communicate those insights to your leadership team.

+ More

DirectorPlus Roundtable

How to measure the impact GenAI tooling investments?

This session is suitable for:

Conversations on quantifying the impact of GenAI investments and how to communicate those insights to your leadership team.

Discussion will include:

  • Defining the right metrics to measure productivity gains
  • Crafting a compelling narrative that balances realism with optimism
  • Exploring real-world business cases for GenAI
  • FEATURING
    Yenny Cheung
    VP of Productcharles

    Yenny is the VP of Product at Charles, the leading Whatsapp conversational commerce platform in Europe. Previously, Yenny and her teams worked on API Devtools at Rapid, Conversational AI at Rasa, and Adtech at Yelp. She has led international organizations with between 4 and 40 people. Yenny is experienced in building effective hybrid and distributed product teams.

    She specializes in the B2B SaaS space and she has a track record supporting enterprise transformations in startups. She takes pride in cutting through ambiguity and providing her teams with the business context to lead.

    View Yenny’s profile
14:30
12:00

DirectorPlus Roundtable

How to move fast while building resilient systems?

Conversations on how to balance innovation with system resilience.

+ More

DirectorPlus Roundtable

How to move fast while building resilient systems?

This session is suitable for:

Sponsored by

Honeycomb LeadDev

Conversations on how to balance innovation with system resilience.

Discussions will include:

  • Getting teams ready for AI and LLMs
  • Driving speed, resilience, and ROI across the software cycle
  • Connecting engineering to business value
  • FEATURING
    Colin Burke
    Director of Customer Success – EMEAHoneycomb

    Colin Burke is the Director of Customer Success for EMEA at Honeycomb.io, where he helps engineering and technology leaders harness the full potential of observability to drive business outcomes. With more than a decade of experience at industry leaders like VMware and Pivotal, Colin has worked at the intersection of enterprise platforms, developer productivity, and system resilience.

    Throughout his career, Colin has partnered closely with product and engineering teams to scale modern platforms and improve velocity – always with a sharp focus on connecting technical excellence to strategic advantage. At Honeycomb, he empowers teams to shift observability from a reactive tool to a proactive driver of innovation and performance.

    View Colin’s profile
12:00

DirectorPlus Roundtable

Tackling tech debt: How to identify, quantify, and decide when to pay it down

Conversations on how senior engineering leaders can evaluate and manage technical debt to drive long-term engineering effectiveness and organizational impact.

+ More

DirectorPlus Roundtable

Tackling tech debt: How to identify, quantify, and decide when to pay it down

This session is suitable for:

Conversations on how senior engineering leaders can evaluate and manage technical debt to drive long-term engineering effectiveness and organizational impact.

Discussion includes:

  • Identifying and categorizing different types of technical debt across systems and teams
  • Quantifying the cost and trade-offs of tech debt for better decision-making
  • Communicating debt impact to executives and stakeholders in business terms
  • Establishing frameworks for prioritizing when to pay down debt versus when to defer
  • FEATURING
    Chris Jimenez
    Director of Platform EngineeringZenjob

    Chris is the Director of Platform Engineering at Zenjob, bringing over 15 years of experience leading Platform and Infrastructure teams across Latin America, the United States, and Europe

    With a genuine passion for mentoring engineering managers and fostering supportive communities, Chris is passionate about enabling engineers to successfully transition into leadership roles while promoting growth and support within organizations.

    Chris actively contributes to open-source projects, embracing collaboration and knowledge-sharing within the developer community.

    Outside of work, Chris leads non-profit initiatives dedicated to wildlife conservation in Latin America and Asia. Chris also finds joy in photography, running, and cycling, sometimes mixing them all at the same time. “

    View Chris’s profile
TALK SCHEDULE
08:00–09:30

Arrival & Coffee

09:30

Talk

Welcome to LeadDev Berlin 2025

A welcome from the host, Pat Kua.

+ More

Talk

Welcome to LeadDev Berlin 2025

This session is suitable for:

A welcome to LeadDev Berlin 2024 from the host, Pat Kua.
09:50

Talk

Experienced Manager•New Manager

The joy of being wrong

Discover how rethinking assumptions drives better decisions, strengthens leadership, and builds more adaptive, collaborative teams.

+ More

Talk

The joy of being wrong

This session is suitable for:

Experienced Manager•New Manager

You spend a lot of your workday thinking, but how much time do you spend rethinking? Failure to challenge our own assumptions can lead us to miss big opportunities. Sometimes, failure to rethink can even have deadly consequences.

Through real-world examples from NASA’s Challenger explosion to Blackberry’s failure to thrive, we’ll examine how thinking like a scientist can make us a better leader and improve team dynamic.

You’ll learn how to challenge your assumptions, encouraging you to actively seek out information that challenges your views.
You’ll learn how to inspire a learning mindset in our teams through a strong foundation of psychological safety and promoting constructive conflict.
And you’ll learn why we should replace a culture of “best practices” with a learning culture.

We’re quick to update our possessions. When our clothes are out of style, we go shopping. When our phones are old, we replace them. So why shouldn’t we update our opinions and assumptions? It’s time we stop listening to views that make us feel good and seek out views that make us think hard.

Key takeaways

  • Frequently updating our own views makes us a stronger leader.
  • Challenging others to open their minds and potentially change their views strengthens team bonds and allows for healthy discussions.
  • Replacing “best practice” culture with a learning culture at work improves psychological safety and efficiency.
  • FEATURING
    Emma Bostian
    Engineering ManagerSpotify

    Emma Bostian is an Engineering Manager at Spotify in Stockholm. She is an instructor at LinkedIn Learning and Frontend Masters and Co-Host of the Ladybug Podcast.

    View Emma’s profile
10:15

Talk

Director+•Experienced Manager•New Manager•Staff+•Tech Lead

Measuring system performance in 2026

Insights from the inaugural LeadDev Engineering Performance Report, with Honeycomb.

+ More

Talk

Measuring system performance in 2026

This session is suitable for:

Director+•Experienced Manager•New Manager•Staff+•Tech Lead

Insights from the inaugural LeadDev Engineering Performance Report, with Honeycomb. Find out how organizations measure the performance of their software and systems, the impact AI is having on that performance, and the most impactful ways to unblock performance bottlenecks.

  • FEATURING
    Scott Carey
    Editor in ChiefLeadDev

    Scott Carey is the Editor in Chief at LeadDev. An experienced technology journalist, he has covered software development for Computerworld, CIO, and InfoWorld before joining LeadDev.

    View Scott’s profile
10:30

Talk

Experienced Manager•New Manager•Staff+•Tech Lead

Migrations done right: Success stories and lessons learned

Learn proven strategies for executing large-scale system migrations safely, using incremental rollouts, clear planning, and strong stakeholder communication.

+ More

Talk

Migrations done right: Success stories and lessons learned

This session is suitable for:

Experienced Manager•New Manager•Staff+•Tech Lead

Learn how to perform large-scale migrations and rewrites of complex systems safely. An experienced engineering leader will share his learnings from leading teams that have successfully performed multiple migrations over the past few years.

Performing large-scale migrations, rewrites, and sunsetting systems in software engineering is inevitable. They are an organic part of continuously growing, improving, and evolving the systems we work on. Teams and organizations that master these tasks successfully have a competitive advantage when it comes to adapting to changes and innovation.

This talk will share hard-earned lessons and insights on how to successfully migrate key functionalities safely and without negatively impacting users. It will first explore common reasons why teams usually need to undertake these projects. Then, it will present and assess different execution strategies, focusing in particular on different techniques that enable having incremental progress instead of a big bang switchover. Finally, it will cover how to effectively measure and communicate the progress of the migration, as well as how to build trust with stakeholders.

Key techniques discussed in this talk will include:

  • Learning how to break down your problem and set up an incremental delivery plan
  • Partial rollouts that provide faster feedback loops and avoid risky releases
  • Dual-read approaches, on-the-fly migrations, and hard cuts
  • Traffic splitting through feature flags and load balancing

The speaker will share his firsthand experience and learnings after having migrated several complex systems during the last years. Attend this session to gain valuable knowledge on ensuring your migrations are both safe and successful.

Key takeaways

  • Understand common triggers for large-scale migrations and rewrites
  • Learn strategies for executing migrations successfully and understand their trade-offs
  • Discover techniques for planning and implementing incremental rollouts
  • Learn how to build trust and effectively communicate the progress of the migration to your stakeholders
  • Explore methods for traffic splitting at both application and infrastructure levels
10:55–11:30

Morning Break

11:30

Talk

Experienced Manager•New Manager•Staff+

Leveling up engineers in an AI-driven world

Learn how to mentor junior engineers in an AI-driven world by reinforcing core skills and balancing AI-assisted workflows.

+ More

Talk

Leveling up engineers in an AI-driven world

This session is suitable for:

Experienced Manager•New Manager•Staff+

How can senior ICs and managers strategically guide junior engineers to develop critical engineering skills amid the rise of AI coding assistants?

In a landscape where generative AI and coding assistants are increasingly prevalent, how do we ensure that junior engineers develop the critical thinking and problem-solving skills necessary to progress to senior roles?

This talk explores how senior ICs can foster a learning environment that leverages AI tools without allowing them to become crutches. We will discuss frameworks for evaluating when AI can accelerate learning versus when it might obscure skill gaps, and share case studies on effective mentorship strategies in this new paradigm.

Attendees will leave with actionable insights on balancing AI-assisted workflows with traditional engineering skill development, ensuring that emerging engineers are prepared to thrive as senior ICs in the future.

Key takeaways

  • Identify key skill areas that AI tools may obscure and strategies for reinforcing them.
  • Implement mentorship frameworks that balance AI use with traditional problem-solving techniques.
  • Develop actionable plans to assess junior engineers’ readiness for senior roles amid AI-driven workflows.
  • FEATURING
    Jonathan Fielding
    Principal EngineerLegend

    Jonathan is a Principal Engineer at Legend, focusing on building systems that scale with the company’s growth. Previously, he’s held individual contributor and management roles, including acting principal engineer at both Spendesk and RVU and engineering manager at Beamly, allowing him to have a broad understanding of the technical and business sides of working in tech.

    What drives Jonathan is creating inclusive, empowered teams. He loves working with teams to simplify complex technical problems in ways that bring everyone along for the journey. When he’s not coding or coaching, he’s a huge advocate for diversity and inclusion, launching successful Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) across multiple companies to support underrepresented voices and build more connected workplaces. He’s a frequent speaker in the tech community, whether sharing insights on modern system design or advocating for equity in tech spaces

    View Jonathan’s profile
12:10

Talk

Experienced Manager•New Manager•Staff+•Tech Lead

Machine learning in production. The hidden effort

Uncover the hidden engineering work behind real-world ML products, from scaling and orchestration to cost control and team alignment.

+ More

Talk

Machine learning in production. The hidden effort

This session is suitable for:

Experienced Manager•New Manager•Staff+•Tech Lead

The gap between AI demo and AI product is full of hard engineering work. I’m sharing 10 years of experience involving scaling, orchestration and cost optimisation.

How much does it take to go from a shiny AI demo to a deployed application? Everyone’s excited about new AI capabilities, but few talk about the engineering work required to use ML models in production. Getting this hidden part right is what separates successful AI projects from failed ones. In my talk I’ll show what it takes to turn ML experiments into robust, scalable products.

At Chattermill we’ve spent 10 years bringing ML to production. I’ll share hard-won lessons on orchestration of a dozen self-hosted ML services. We’ve had to tame the unpredictability of LLMs at scale, bridge the velocity gap between engineering and data science, and drive down both processing time and infrastructure costs. Have you ever thought that innocent retries could cost you hundreds of dollars?

You’ll walk away with methods to iterate faster and deliver more reliably in a heterogeneous environment of data scientists and software engineers. Whether you are a tech lead, architect or manager, this talk will prepare you to ship real-world ML applications, not just experiments.

Key takeaways

  • Dealing with pace differences between data science and engineering
  • Methods to iterate faster with ML products
  • Awareness of the hidden effort required to bring ML to production and differences between regular software projects and ML ones
  • FEATURING
    Maciej Rząsa

    Software engineer with 10+ years of experience. He started applications from scratch, dealt with legacy, extracted services from a monolith and led teams. Strong proponent of diving deep into black boxes, he focuses on distributed systems and database internals. Has a strange hobby of writing regular expressions by hand and discussing their performance. Knowledge-sharing advocate: after work, he’s a university instructor, public speaker and meetup organiser. Bookworm, hiker and history buff (ask him about Napoleon!).

    View Maciej’s profile
12:25

Talk

Experienced Manager•New Manager•Staff+

Couple’s therapy for product and tech

Learn how to build a strong, lasting partnership between product and tech through alignment, trust, and intentional collaboration.

+ More

Talk

Couple’s therapy for product and tech

This session is suitable for:

Experienced Manager•New Manager•Staff+

No matter what your org chart says, if you’re building a lasting product, you’re in a product and tech relationship. Make it a good one.

Good means effective and efficient, but also enjoyable. That kind of partnership takes time, care, and intention.

Here are the three pillars of a strong product and tech relationship:

  1. Alignment – Are you actually on the same page? Leadership styles, ways of working, and long-term goals need to match before you can make real progress.
  2. Date Night – Keep the spark alive with regular check-ins, syncs, and collaborative rituals to ensure ongoing alignment — especially at the leadership level.
  3. Best Friend to Moan To – No relationship is without its challenges. Have a trusted partner to vent, troubleshoot, and work through friction before it turns into conflict.

Key takeaways

  • Tools and best practices for alignment and collaboration
  • How to create moments of being human to develop trust and make your relationship stronger
  • A laugh or two as I share stories from the messy reality at the intersection between product and tech and what we can learn from them.
12:50–14:15

Lunch

14:15

Talk

Experienced Manager•New Manager

Journeys in diversity – what difference really means

Discover what true inclusion means by exploring practical ways to support neurodivergent colleagues and create genuinely diverse teams.

+ More

Talk

Journeys in diversity – what difference really means

This session is suitable for:

Experienced Manager•New Manager

What does it really mean to support people who are different and create an inclusive working environment for all neurotypes? Learn the difference between lip service and real diversity.

This talk is about the difference between paying superficial support to diversity and inclusion, versus truly understanding how different colleagues, team members, and employees have varying challenges and needs. From the small, everyday details to the bigger picture, this talk includes practical ideas and examples of how your behaviour and the support you offer can have a major impact on whether you and those around you are able to thrive.

Clare draws on years of experience supporting people with a wide range of needs as a mentor, tutor, interviewer, and line manager. She also shares her own perspective as a middle-aged autistic woman with ADHD navigating menopause. Through personal stories, she highlights the challenges she has faced and what has made a real difference.

Small actions can have a big impact.

This is a grounded and honest look at what it really means to be different, with practical advice and insights on how greater awareness can lead to meaningful change.

Key takeaways

  • How to identify the needs and strengths of all your team members
  • How to create a supportive working environment for people with differing needs
  • What neurodivergence means
  • The strengths of neurodivergent team members
  • FEATURING
    Clare Sudbery
    Independent Technical CoachSudbery Software Engineering Ltd

    Clare Sudbery is an independent technical coach with 25+ years of software engineering experience. She specialises in TDD, refactoring, pair programming, continuous integration and other eXtreme Programming (XP) practices.

    Clare taught the Coding Black Females’ Return to Tech programme and co-ran Made Tech’s academy – coaching inexperienced engineers to learn on the job. She has a passion for helping under-represented groups to flourish in tech.

    Clare hosted Season One of the acclaimed Making Tech Better podcast and publishes content on Medium (“A Woman in Technology”) and her own site (“In Simple Terms”). She is the author of the Stupidity Manifesto, has written about trunk-based development and refactoring for O’Reilly and for Martin Fowler’s site, and regularly presents workshops and keynotes at events all over the world.

    Subscribe to Clare’s newsletter: https://queen-of-questions.kit.com/

    View Clare’s profile
14:40

Talk

Experienced Manager•New Manager•Tech Lead

We brought AI into our sprints, here’s what changed

Explore how integrating AI into product sprints changed team habits, improved delivery, and revealed what works and what breaks in practice.

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Talk

We brought AI into our sprints, here’s what changed

This session is suitable for:

Experienced Manager•New Manager•Tech Lead

A real-world story of how we integrated AI into our product development workflow, what broke, what worked, and how it’s changing our sprints, our quality, and our team habits.

How do you bring AI into your product development workflow without slowing your team down or making things worse?
At Learnn, an italian EdTech startup with over 200,000 users, we set out to do just that.

In this talk, I’ll walk you through how we introduced AI into our engineering process, not as a shiny tool, but as part of how we build, test, and deliver product. You’ll see what worked, what failed, and how AI is now helping us write code, deliver features, generate tests, improve documentation, and even speed up product discovery.

We’ll look at the impact on sprint velocity, product quality, and team dynamics with honest lessons from the trenches.

Whether you’re leading a small team or scaling a large org, this talk will give you practical ideas (and cautionary tales) on how to adopt AI in a way that’s sustainable, measurable, and team-friendly.

Key takeaways

  • A practical framework to start integrating AI into your workflow.
  • Key insights into what AI is good at and where it breaks.
  • How AI adoption changed our sprint dynamics and team mindset.
  • Strategies to introduce AI without losing control or quality.
  • A real-world use case of AI’s impact on our product delivery
14:55

Talk

Experienced Manager•New Manager

Rethinking interviewing in an AI era

Explore how to redesign technical interviews for an AI era by focusing on real-world thinking, communication, and human-centered evaluation.

+ More

Talk

Rethinking interviewing in an AI era

This session is suitable for:

Experienced Manager•New Manager

AI is reshaping what’s easy to solve in technical interviews, prompting us to revisit what we ask and why. This talk explores how more thoughtful, human interviews can lead to deeper signal and better hiring.AI is reshaping what’s easy to solve in technical interviews, prompting us to revisit what we ask and why. This talk explores how more thoughtful, human interviews can lead to deeper signal and better hiring.

AI is changing the landscape of technical interviews. With tools that can generate code, explanations, and solutions in seconds, many traditional formats are losing their ability to surface meaningful signal. At the same time, AI is becoming a natural part of how engineers work – so why design interviews that ignore it?

This talk explores how we can adapt interviews to this new reality. Rather than relying on questions that are easy to offload, we’ll focus on ways to uncover deeper qualities: how candidates think through ambiguity, weigh trade-offs, and communicate their decisions. It’s not about avoiding AI—it’s about designing interviews that reveal what it can’t answer for someone.

We’ll dig into practical strategies for structuring interviews around your team’s actual workflows, crafting questions that invite thoughtful discussion, and creating an environment where candidates feel comfortable showing how they approach real problems. You’ll also learn how interviewer tone and feedback can elevate – not dilute – evaluation.

More humane interviews don’t just feel better for candidates – they give your team a clearer signal, more honest conversations, and ultimately,
stronger hires.
15:20

Talk

Experienced Manager•New Manager

Latency, load, and leadership: Building a team nervous system

Discover how to build feedback systems that detect early stress signals, enabling healthier, more resilient, and productive teams.

+ More

Talk

Latency, load, and leadership: Building a team nervous system

This session is suitable for:

Experienced Manager•New Manager

Discover a system that monitors your team’s stress signals, staves off burnout, and evolves leadership into a dynamic and adaptive framework.

Engineering teams face challenges that traditional KPIs often overlook. In this talk, I share practical lessons learned from creating systems to detect early signs of burnout, stress, and misalignment across teams. I compare how we monitor code performance with the way we notice subtle signals in team behavior, such as variations in energy, mood, or engagement that typically remain unseen.

I will outline straightforward methods for implementing regular check-ins and feedback loops that capture early warning signs. You’ll learn simple practices that encourage transparent communication and prompt the reporting of issues before they escalate into burnout or operational disarray.

This talk is geared toward anyone who leads engineering teams, whether managing a small group or an entire department. The techniques I share are practical and straightforward, focusing on establishing routine assessments that serve as health-checks for your organization. By shifting from a reactive approach to proactive management, leaders can maintain steady progress while ensuring team well-being.

Ultimately, you’ll come away with actionable insights that help you build a self-regulating team system: one that detects early stress signals and enables timely intervention. This approach not only boosts productivity, but also helps create a sustainable, supportive work environment where innovation can thrive.

Key takeaways

  • How to track subtle signals of stress and low energy in your team.
  • Practical steps for setting up regular feedback and check-in processes.
  • Methods for addressing issues before they escalate into burnout.
  • How to balance productivity with the ongoing well-being of your team.
  • FEATURING
    Saba Khurram
    FounderHypha Labs

    Saba is an engineer who has wiggled her way through teams both big and small. She is fascinated by the hidden systems that either help teams work together smoothly, or cause them to fall apart. Through years in fast-paced environments and a non-linear journey into engineering, Saba has learned practical methods to spot early warning signs of stress and misalignment. By drawing exciting parallels from seemingly-unrelated domains, she applies a data & systems-based approach to fine-tune team dynamics, anticipate falling productivity, and maintain alignment. When she is not coding, you might find her chasing her dog to save her shoes or diving into watercolour “alchemy”.

    View profile
15:35–16:20

Afternoon Break

16:20

Talk

Experienced Manager•New Manager•Staff+

Building AI into critical systems: Lessons learned

Learn how the Financial Times built AI into paywalls and retention systems, navigating trade-offs, risks, and real-world complexity at scale.

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Talk

Building AI into critical systems: Lessons learned

This session is suitable for:

Experienced Manager•New Manager•Staff+

Discover how the Financial Times used AI to personalise paywalls and reduce churn – along with the architecture, trade-offs, and unexpected side effects of applying machine learning to real business-critical decisions.

Over the past year, the FT has partnered with two external AI providers to deliver large-scale machine learning projects focused on subscriber acquisition and retention. By using predictive models to personalise user journeys on FT.com, we’ve more than doubled our projected lifetime revenue per customer.

In this talk, I’ll walk through the real-world implementation of AI at a media organisation – what worked, what didn’t, and what we’d do differently. You’ll get a behind-the-scenes look at our architecture for integrating Sub(X) into the paywall, and how we navigated unintended consequences, like a risk to advertising revenue we initially handled the wrong way. I’ll also share how we tackled churn reduction with a different AI model built by VectorLabs, which runs on our own infrastructure – and the unique technical and operational challenges that came with that.

Finally, I’ll offer hard-earned lessons on evaluating and maintaining AI in production: how to adapt to disruptions like price changes, what to monitor during model training, and how we revisited our approach to testing to cope with the explosion of possible user journeys AI introduced. Whether you’re considering an AI initiative or already running one, this talk will give you a clear-eyed look at the trade-offs, stakeholder dynamics, and surprising complexity that come with applying machine learning in a real business context.

Key takeaways

  • Strategies to minimise risk and build stakeholder confidence when integrating AI into critical user journeys
  • Practical techniques for evaluating models that continuously adapt and evolve
  • Why we chose different AI providers and model architectures for acquisition vs. retention – and what we learned from that decision
16:45

Talk

Experienced Manager•New Manager•Staff+•Tech Lead

No promotion. Now what!?

Explore how to navigate promotion denial with resilience, clarity, and strategy to reignite career growth and fulfillment.

+ More

Talk

No promotion. Now what!?

This session is suitable for:

Experienced Manager•New Manager•Staff+•Tech Lead

Promotion denial stings. Discover strategies for bouncing back, effectively managing expectations, and reigniting your career growth and fulfillment, with insights on effective communication and managerial support.

Rejection stings. Especially when it’s a promotion a person was aiming for and putting significant effort in. So what happens when that ‘next step’ doesn’t happen?

This presentation dives into the different aspects of navigating this challenging situation, offering valuable insights for both employees and managers. Understanding the emotional impact of rejection, the potential loss of trust, and the various ways disappointment can manifest are crucial first steps in effectively addressing the aftermath of a denied promotion.

This session will dive into the critical questions and decision-making process an employee faces after a promotion denial:
“Who am I without this promotion?” Having a promotion denied often feels like a personal rejection instead of a professional one. We will look into how to reframe success beyond the title.

“Is it me or the company?” It’s important to get clarity why the promotion was denied. We will examine common reasons, such as personal factors, role preparedness, or simply unfair treatment.

“Should I stay or should I go?” Should the person remain with the organization (double down on any growth areas or pursue alternative paths internally) or to seek new challenges elsewhere? We will analyze the factors that might influence this decision and provide frameworks for evaluating different options.

We will also explore the importance of well-defined promotion pathways. Transparent communication throughout the promotion process is crucial, ensuring that employees understand the criteria of performance and promotion, and have clarity on their progress. The role of managerial support in providing constructive feedback, guidance, plans, and ongoing development opportunities is key for navigating the situation successfully.

Furthermore, we will focus on the essential skill of resilience in case of a career setback. We will discover practical strategies for bouncing back from a missed promotion, effectively managing expectations and adapting to unexpected turns in their career trajectory. We will explore how to transform disappointment into renewed focus on personal and professional development, ultimately reigniting career growth and fostering a sense of fulfillment.

Key takeaways

  • Techniques to transform promotion denial to an opportunity of personal and career growth
  • 30-day comeback plan after promotion denial
  • Mini-resilience self assessment
17:00

Talk

Experienced Manager•New Manager•Staff+

The twin mandate: What leaders still don’t get about observability

Talk details coming soon.

+ More

Talk

The twin mandate: What leaders still don’t get about observability

This session is suitable for:

Experienced Manager•New Manager•Staff+

Charity’s new talk will address the incredible variance in performance among engineering teams in 2025. While the ceiling for engineering performance has increased dramatically over the past decade, only a tiny fraction of teams are actually taking advantage of this shift. Hear how your observability team can help unlock the next level in performance.

  • FEATURING
    Charity Majors
    Co-Founder & CTOHoneycomb

    Charity Majors is the co-founder and CTO of honeycomb.io. She pioneered the concept of modern Observability, drawing on her years of experience building and managing massive distributed systems at Parse (acquired by Facebook), Facebook, and Linden Lab building Second Life. She is the co-author of Observability Engineering and Database Reliability Engineering (O’Reilly). She loves free speech, free software and single malt scotch.

    View Charity’s profile
17:25

Talk

End of day wrap-up

Closing thoughts from the host, Pat Kua.

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Talk

End of day wrap-up

This session is suitable for:

Closing thoughts from the host, Pat Kua.
HALLWAY ACTIVITIES
10:15
12:00

Solution Swap

How do I stop firefighting and make space for long-term improvements?

Trade tactics for tackling everyday challenges.

+ More

Solution Swap

How do I stop firefighting and make space for long-term improvements?

This session is suitable for:

It’s easy to get stuck in constant firefighting. One production issue after another. Stakeholders demanding quick fixes. Urgent requests that feel impossible to ignore. This session is about breaking the cycle.

How do you push back on “urgent” tasks that aren’t truly urgent? What techniques help you make time for long-term work without losing trust from the business? We’ll talk about how to set boundaries, prioritise effectively, and win support for technical health.

Bring your experiences, frustrations, and tactics. Together, we’ll explore how to build breathing room into team life and move from reactive to proactive.
12:00

Speed Coaching

Speed Coaching

Watch or participate in free 1:1 coaching with Mathias Meyer.

+ More

Speed Coaching

Speed Coaching

This session is suitable for:

Watch or participate in free 1:1 coaching with Mathias Meyer.

  • FEATURING
    Mathias Meyer
    Founding Partner & Executive CoachThe Intentional Organization

    Mathias is Founding Parter and Executive Coach at The Intentional Organization and executive coach to founders, CTOs, and senior engineering leaders. He supports his clients and their leadership teams in their personal and professional growth as they’re scaling out their business and their departments. Together with his business partner Sara, he’s co-authoring the forthcoming book “The Intentional Organization.” Starting his career as an engineer, Mathias has later worked in founder, CEO, and CTO roles across different companies, including Travis CI and Reaction Commerce.

    View Mathias’s profile
11:00
12:00

Office Hours

Meet the speakers

Chat with speakers face-to-face in a relaxed, conversational environment.

+ More

Office Hours

Meet the speakers – Day 2, 11:00

This session is suitable for:

If you’re inspired by a talk, want to learn more, or just want to chat about it with other folks, head to our Office Hours area, where our speakers will be waiting for you.

  • FEATURING
    Fernando Cristiani
    Team Lead Software EngineeringSeven.One
    View Fernando’s profile
  • Emma Bostian
    Engineering ManagerSpotify

    Emma Bostian is an Engineering Manager at Spotify in Stockholm. She is an instructor at LinkedIn Learning and Frontend Masters and Co-Host of the Ladybug Podcast.

    View Emma’s profile
  • Scott Carey
    Editor in ChiefLeadDev

    Scott Carey is the Editor in Chief at LeadDev. An experienced technology journalist, he has covered software development for Computerworld, CIO, and InfoWorld before joining LeadDev.

    View Scott’s profile
12:00

Community Representation Groups

Connecting Trans and Gender Non-conforming leaders

Connect with other leaders who have similar backgrounds and experiences to yours, and build a peer network for support throughout your leadership journey.

+ More

Community Representation Groups

Connecting Trans and Gender Non-conforming leaders

This session is suitable for:

Connect with folks over shared experiences

Everyone’s journey into leadership is tough, but some have a unique set of challenges that they need to navigate through. At times it can lead to leaders feeling isolated in their experiences.

We welcome you to the community representation groups, where you’ll be able to connect with folks who might have similar experiences to yours, where you’ll be able to build a peer network for support throughout your leadership journey.

  • FEATURING
    Sasha Göbbels
    Senior Engineering Manager

    With a PhD in Theoretical Chemistry Sasha never worked as a chemist but went straight into software development. After writing software for telco providers, airports and federal German police she fell for web development.
    First as an individual contributor, then as a tech/team lead and senior engineering manager because she discovered that working with people is even more awesome than working with tech alone. On her way she also co-founded two companies and currently is working as a (senior) engineering manager at Overleaf/Digital Science. But still she couldn’t let go of writing software. Sasha is trans femme.

    View Sasha’s profile
12:00

Next Steps AMA

Making the leap to Engineering Manager

Dedicated sessions on how to take the next step in your career for making the leap to Engineering Manager.

+ More

Next Steps AMA

Making the leap to Engineering Manager

This session is suitable for:

Dedicated sessions on how to take the next step in your career for making the leap to Engineering Manager.

Moderated by Phil Bennett, Experienced Engineering Leader & Former Director of Engineering at Kilo Health.

  • FEATURING
    Dmytro Mindra
    Engineering ManagerGrammarly
    View Dmytro’s profile
  • Marta Kędzior-Krasoczko
    Engineering ManagerBackbase
    View Marta’s profile
  • Phil Bennett
    Director of EngineeringKilo Health
    View Phil’s profile
  • Rui Posse
    Engineering ManagerWorld Host Group
    View Rui’s profile
  • Anna Kurylo
    Manager, Software EngineeringRed Hat

    Anna is an engineer-turned-Engineering Manager at Red Hat, focusing on increasing product adoption through best-in-class technical training. She aligns product and engineering priorities while providing growth opportunities for her team. Her credo as a manager is to be kind and embrace discomfort as part of learning. Outside of work, Anna is an athlete, a makeup collector, and since recently a piano player.

    View Anna’s profile
11:30

Solution Swap

What’s the best way to get engineers more interested in the business side of things?

Trade tactics for tackling everyday challenges.

+ More

Solution Swap

What’s the best way to get engineers more interested in the business side of things?

This session is suitable for:

Some engineers love diving deep into technical puzzles. But business context? Not so much. When engineers connect their work to business goals, they make smarter trade-offs and feel more invested in outcomes. Without that link, teams risk building technically elegant solutions that don’t move the needle for customers or the company.

So, how do you get them interested without it feeling like homework? We’ll share ways to make business knowledge engaging and relevant. This room is a chance to swap ideas, test assumptions, and learn how to spark curiosity in the bigger picture.
11:45

Speed Coaching

Speed Coaching

Watch or participate in free 1:1 coaching with Lena Reinhard.

+ More

Speed Coaching

Speed Coaching

This session is suitable for:

Watch or participate in free 1:1 coaching with Lena Reinhard.

  • FEATURING
    Lena Reinhard
    Engineering Leadership & Executive Coach

    Lena Reinhard has dedicated her career to building successful, high-performing globally distributed engineering organisations, and helping teams thrive in times of high change like hypergrowth. She now offers transformational leadership coaching and consulting for leaders.

    Previously, Lena served as VP Engineering with CircleCI and Travis CI, as well as a startup co-founder & CEO, and through her cross-functional background and experience, she brings a unique perspective on systems of technology, business, and people.

    View Lena’s profile
12:15
12:00

Table Talks

How can I create the conditions for my team to be their most productive?

Join facilitated conversations and dive into key issues facing engineering teams.

+ More

Table Talks

How can I create the conditions for my team to be their most productive?

This session is suitable for:

Join facilitated conversations and dive into key issues facing engineering teams.

  • FEATURING
    Mariia Punda
    Engineering ManagerLimehome

    Mariia is an Engineering Manager at Limehome with a background in frontend engineering. She leads a team focused on creating seamless digital booking experiences. Mariia enjoys bringing structure and clarity to complex challenges while helping people and products grow.

    View Mariia’s profile
  • Dmytro Basan
    Engineering ManagerKlarna
    View Dmytro’s profile
  • Ferit Topcu
    Senior Manager, Engineering ManagementRedCare Pharmacy (formerly Shop-Apotheke)

    Ferit Topcu, a Berlin-based Engineering Manager at RedCare Pharmacy, leverages a decade of software engineering expertise. Known for his humor, often derived from his adventures raising three kids, Ferit currently leads four teams with a keen focus on enhancing the customer journey. His skills span client-side architecture, agile workflows, and a sincere commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). As an active community contributor, Ferit founded an Employee Resource Group for Muslim colleagues, providing steadfast support. In the tech industry, Ferit stands out for merging professional expertise with a deeply human approach to leadership.

    View Ferit’s profile
12:00

Table Talks

How can you facilitate valuable post-incident reviews?

Join facilitated conversations and dive into key issues facing engineering teams.

+ More

Table Talks

How can you facilitate valuable post-incident reviews?

This session is suitable for:

Sponsored by

Incident io logo

Join facilitated conversations and dive into key issues facing engineering teams.
12:00

Table Talks

How can AI be leveraged in day to day workflows?

Join facilitated conversations and dive into key issues facing engineering teams.

+ More

Table Talks

How can AI be leveraged in day to day workflows?

This session is suitable for:

Join facilitated conversations and dive into key issues facing engineering teams.
12:50

Office Hours

Meet the speakers

Chat with speakers face-to-face in a relaxed, conversational environment.

+ More

Office Hours

Meet the speakers – Day 2, 12:50

This session is suitable for:

If you’re inspired by a talk, want to learn more, or just want to chat about it with other folks, head to our Office Hours area, where our speakers will be waiting for you.

  • FEATURING
    Laura Dietze
    Fractional Product Leader and CoachProduct and Change
    View Laura’s profile
  • Maciej Rząsa

    Software engineer with 10+ years of experience. He started applications from scratch, dealt with legacy, extracted services from a monolith and led teams. Strong proponent of diving deep into black boxes, he focuses on distributed systems and database internals. Has a strange hobby of writing regular expressions by hand and discussing their performance. Knowledge-sharing advocate: after work, he’s a university instructor, public speaker and meetup organiser. Bookworm, hiker and history buff (ask him about Napoleon!).

    View Maciej’s profile
  • Jonathan Fielding
    Principal EngineerLegend

    Jonathan is a Principal Engineer at Legend, focusing on building systems that scale with the company’s growth. Previously, he’s held individual contributor and management roles, including acting principal engineer at both Spendesk and RVU and engineering manager at Beamly, allowing him to have a broad understanding of the technical and business sides of working in tech.

    What drives Jonathan is creating inclusive, empowered teams. He loves working with teams to simplify complex technical problems in ways that bring everyone along for the journey. When he’s not coding or coaching, he’s a huge advocate for diversity and inclusion, launching successful Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) across multiple companies to support underrepresented voices and build more connected workplaces. He’s a frequent speaker in the tech community, whether sharing insights on modern system design or advocating for equity in tech spaces

    View Jonathan’s profile
13:00
12:00

Community Representation Groups

Connecting Queer leaders

Connect with other leaders who have similar backgrounds and experiences to yours, and build a peer network for support throughout your leadership journey.

+ More

Community Representation Groups

Connecting Queer leaders

This session is suitable for:

Connect with folks over shared experiences

Everyone’s journey into leadership is tough, but some have a unique set of challenges that they need to navigate through. At times it can lead to leaders feeling isolated in their experiences.

We welcome you to the community representation groups, where you’ll be able to connect with folks who might have similar experiences to yours, where you’ll be able to build a peer network for support throughout your leadership journey.

  • FEATURING
    Rolando Angelini
    Director of Software EngineeringAffirm

    Rolando is currently working in the world of agile product development in FinTech, with a focus on Developer Productivity. He has extensive experience in Tech Leadership, Software Engineering, Project Management, Strategic Planning, and IT Coaching across various industries: Finance/Banking/FinTech, People & Talent, TELCO, EdTech, Retail, and eCommerce (OTA/Travel industry). He considers himself a seasoned Tech Leader and Software Engineer. He is also an enthusiast of TDD, Kubernetes (k8s), Kotlin, Golang, and DevSecOps. Building teams and crafting software are not just duties of my profession, they are two of his greatest passions. Rolando also loves learning new things, mentoring, coaching, researching, and traveling.

    View Rolando ‘s profile
  • Steven Langbroek
    Director of Software DevelopmentCuculus
    View Steven ‘s profile
  • Janina Kim Marks
    Engineering ManagerZalando SE
    View Janina ‘s profile
12:00

Next Steps AMA

Diving into the role of Engineering Director

Dedicated sessions on how to take the next step in your career for preparing for the role of an Engineering Director.

+ More

Next Steps AMA

Diving into the role of Engineering Director

This session is suitable for:

Dedicated sessions on how to take the next step in your career for preparing for the role of an Engineering Director.

Moderated by Phil Bennett, Experienced Engineering Leader & Former Director of Engineering at Kilo Health.

  • FEATURING
    Phil Bennett
    Director of EngineeringKilo Health
    View Phil’s profile
  • Gisela Rossi
    Engineering DirectorTrustpilot

    Gisela is an Engineering Director leading the B2B engine at Trustpilot. She enjoys leading and improving complex organisations and systems. Her colleagues have described her as a “force for change”, and she treasures that. She is devoted to helping people in the tech community grow and reach their full potential. Outside work, she enjoys oil painting, exercising, and quiet weekends at home with her husband and her cat.

    View Gisela’s profile
  • Chris Jimenez
    Director of Platform EngineeringZenjob

    Chris is the Director of Platform Engineering at Zenjob, bringing over 15 years of experience leading Platform and Infrastructure teams across Latin America, the United States, and Europe

    With a genuine passion for mentoring engineering managers and fostering supportive communities, Chris is passionate about enabling engineers to successfully transition into leadership roles while promoting growth and support within organizations.

    Chris actively contributes to open-source projects, embracing collaboration and knowledge-sharing within the developer community.

    Outside of work, Chris leads non-profit initiatives dedicated to wildlife conservation in Latin America and Asia. Chris also finds joy in photography, running, and cycling, sometimes mixing them all at the same time. “

    View Chris’s profile
  • Anita Singh
    Director of EngineeringGorillas

    Anita is an engineering leader who is passionate about building mobile apps and empowering teams to build quality software that delights users.

    After spending a couple of years working for big tech, Anita has since worked at startups in both Silicon Valley and Berlin, where she has scaled teams, culture, processes and software from the ground up. She enjoys coaching engineering managers and staff engineers in her current role and hopes to continue on this path.

    View Anita’s profile
13:45
12:00

Community Representation Groups

Connecting Non-traditional leaders

Connect with other leaders who have similar backgrounds and experiences to yours, and build a peer network for support throughout your leadership journey.

+ More

Community Representation Groups

Connecting Non-traditional leaders

This session is suitable for:

Connect with folks over shared experiences

Everyone’s journey into leadership is tough, but some have a unique set of challenges that they need to navigate through. At times it can lead to leaders feeling isolated in their experiences.

We welcome you to the community representation groups, where you’ll be able to connect with folks who might have similar experiences to yours, where you’ll be able to build a peer network for support throughout your leadership journey.

  • FEATURING
    Sebastian Gerhardt
    CEOFlea

    Sebastian Gerhardt is the co-founder and CEO of Flea, a Berlin-based startup that helps engineering leaders surface hidden friction and improve developer experience in the AI era. He also founded the Dev Leaders Lunch Club, a peer community that hand-matches senior engineering leaders for monthly 1:1 lunch conversations. Coming from a business background, Sebastian had to immerse himself deeply in the engineering world to build Flea. That journey makes him one of many leaders who’ve taken a non-traditional path into tech leadership.

    View Sebastian’s profile
  • Kimberly Schmitt
    Engineering ManagerBabbel

    Kimberly Schmitt, Engineering Manager has led the development of a data-driven platform to combat homelessness and the creation of innovative products at Babbel.

    Kimberly’s drive to develop high performing and quality data platforms and related services began when she led efforts to use data to first understand and then address the challenge of homelessness. She led a team of data analysts and engineers to develop a centralized means of identifying those experiencing homelessness and in connecting them to the appropriate housing resource.

    Kimberly has transformed experiences gained from developing strategies to work with diverse individuals and communities to building consensus to create change, improving teams and engineering practices.

    View Kimberly’s profile
12:00

Next Steps AMA

Becoming a VP of Engineering

Dedicated sessions on how to take the next step in your career for Becoming a VP of Engineering.

+ More

Next Steps AMA

Becoming a VP of Engineering

This session is suitable for:

Dedicated sessions on how to take the next step in your career for Becoming a VP of Engineering.

Moderated by Phil Bennett, Experienced Engineering Leader & Former Director of Engineering at Kilo Health.

  • FEATURING
    Shobhna Srivastava
    VP EngineeringAccredible

    Shobhna Srivastava is Vice President of Engineering at Accredible, with over 23 years of experience in technology leadership, architecture, and data & search platforms. She brings deep expertise in scaling engineering teams, building resilient systems, and driving organisational change. With a background spanning Elsevier, The Economist, and Thomson Reuters, Shobhna combines high-level strategic vision with hands-on architectural thinking. An architect at heart, she uses principles like Lean Architecture and Conway’s Law to align systems, teams, and culture. Her leadership style emphasises trust, ownership, and long-term impact—making her a respected voice in transforming organisations through both technology and people.

    View Shobhna’s profile
  • Daniel Paulus
    VP of EngineeringCheckly

    Daniel Paulus has taken a unique journey from military officer to tech leader, and he’s now the VP of Engineering at Checkly. Along the way, he’s worn many hats— from engineering lead to director —learning how to build strong teams and solve tough challenges. Outside of work, Daniel lives near Berlin with his family and four kids, while also finding time to maintain an open-source project. Whether it’s scaling teams or debugging code, he’s passionate about technology and enjoys sharing his knowledge with others.

    View Daniel’s profile
  • Phil Bennett
    Director of EngineeringKilo Health
    View Phil’s profile
  • Anthony Mayer
    VP Engineeringcharles

    Anthony is the VP Engineering at charles, focused on expanding conversational commerce on top of WhatsApp across Europe. He was previously at Getsafe, working on modernizing the consumer insurance experience in Europe. Having grown up between the US and Germany and after having worked for US based tech companies like NextRoll and Yelp, he’s excited to now be a part of the German and broader European tech scene.

    When he’s not working on being the best engineering leader he can be and helping his team to grow, Anthony spends his time obsessing over his 2 dogs, 1 cat, and rotating cast of foster cats.

    View Anthony’s profile
14:30
12:00

Table Talks

How can you measure developer productivity without damaging morale?

Join facilitated conversations and dive into key issues facing engineering teams.

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Table Talks

How can you measure developer productivity without damaging morale?

This session is suitable for:

Join facilitated conversations and dive into key issues facing engineering teams.

  • FEATURING
    Kimberly Schmitt
    Engineering ManagerBabbel

    Kimberly Schmitt, Engineering Manager has led the development of a data-driven platform to combat homelessness and the creation of innovative products at Babbel.

    Kimberly’s drive to develop high performing and quality data platforms and related services began when she led efforts to use data to first understand and then address the challenge of homelessness. She led a team of data analysts and engineers to develop a centralized means of identifying those experiencing homelessness and in connecting them to the appropriate housing resource.

    Kimberly has transformed experiences gained from developing strategies to work with diverse individuals and communities to building consensus to create change, improving teams and engineering practices.

    View Kimberly’s profile
12:00

Table Talks

How do you manage your team’s workload spikes?

Join facilitated conversations and dive into key issues facing engineering teams.

+ More

Table Talks

How do you manage your team’s workload spikes?

This session is suitable for:

Join facilitated conversations and dive into key issues facing engineering teams.
12:00

Table Talks

How do you manage your workload with your parenthood duties, without burning out?

Join facilitated conversations and dive into key issues facing engineering teams.

+ More

Table Talks

How do you manage your workload with your parenthood duties, without burning out?

This session is suitable for:

Join facilitated conversations and dive into key issues facing engineering teams.
14:45

Speed Coaching

Speed Coaching

Watch or participate in free 1:1 coaching with Lena Reinhard.

+ More

Speed Coaching

Speed Coaching

This session is suitable for:

Watch or participate in free 1:1 coaching with Lena Reinhard.

  • FEATURING
    Lena Reinhard
    Engineering Leadership & Executive Coach

    Lena Reinhard has dedicated her career to building successful, high-performing globally distributed engineering organisations, and helping teams thrive in times of high change like hypergrowth. She now offers transformational leadership coaching and consulting for leaders.

    Previously, Lena served as VP Engineering with CircleCI and Travis CI, as well as a startup co-founder & CEO, and through her cross-functional background and experience, she brings a unique perspective on systems of technology, business, and people.

    View Lena’s profile
15:00

Solution Swap

How do I build trust with a new team?

Trade tactics for tackling everyday challenges.

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Solution Swap

How do I build trust with a new team?

This session is suitable for:

Walking into a new team as leader is tricky. You inherit old habits, relationships, and maybe a few scars from past managers. The question is: how do you quickly earn trust without overplaying your hand? How do you build psychological and challenger safety?

In this session, we’ll talk about what worked, what backfired, and what helped people shift from seeing you as “the new boss” to a trusted partner.
15:35

Office Hours

Meet the speakers – Day 2, 15:35

Chat with speakers face-to-face in a relaxed, conversational environment.

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Office Hours

Meet the speakers – Day 2, 15:35

This session is suitable for:

If you’re inspired by a talk, want to learn more, or just want to chat about it with other folks, head to our Office Hours area, where our speakers will be waiting for you.

  • FEATURING
    Saba Khurram
    FounderHypha Labs

    Saba is an engineer who has wiggled her way through teams both big and small. She is fascinated by the hidden systems that either help teams work together smoothly, or cause them to fall apart. Through years in fast-paced environments and a non-linear journey into engineering, Saba has learned practical methods to spot early warning signs of stress and misalignment. By drawing exciting parallels from seemingly-unrelated domains, she applies a data & systems-based approach to fine-tune team dynamics, anticipate falling productivity, and maintain alignment. When she is not coding, you might find her chasing her dog to save her shoes or diving into watercolour “alchemy”.

    View profile
  • Omar Diop
    Technical LeadLearnn
    View Omar’s profile
  • Justin Lee
    Senior Software EngineerNotion
    View Justin’s profile
  • Jenny Warnke
    Director of EngineeringDelivery Hero
    View Jenny’s profile
  • Tatiana Stantonian
    Principal EngineerFinancial Times
    View Tatiana’s profile
  • Sam Newman
    Independent Tech Consultant & AuthorSam Newman & Associates
    Sam Newman is an independent consultant who loves solving problems with technology. Focusing primarily in the areas of cloud, microservice architecture and continuous delivery, Sam works with companies big and small all over the world. He is also an experienced conference speaker, and author of the O’Reilly books Monolith To Microservices, Building Microservices, and the forthcoming Building Resilient Distributed Systems.
    View Sam’s profile
  • Clare Sudbery
    Independent Technical CoachSudbery Software Engineering Ltd

    Clare Sudbery is an independent technical coach with 25+ years of software engineering experience. She specialises in TDD, refactoring, pair programming, continuous integration and other eXtreme Programming (XP) practices.

    Clare taught the Coding Black Females’ Return to Tech programme and co-ran Made Tech’s academy – coaching inexperienced engineers to learn on the job. She has a passion for helping under-represented groups to flourish in tech.

    Clare hosted Season One of the acclaimed Making Tech Better podcast and publishes content on Medium (“A Woman in Technology”) and her own site (“In Simple Terms”). She is the author of the Stupidity Manifesto, has written about trunk-based development and refactoring for O’Reilly and for Martin Fowler’s site, and regularly presents workshops and keynotes at events all over the world.

    Subscribe to Clare’s newsletter: https://queen-of-questions.kit.com/

    View Clare’s profile
15:40

Community Representation Groups

Connecting Parent leaders

Connect with other leaders who have similar backgrounds and experiences to yours, and build a peer network for support throughout your leadership journey.

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Community Representation Groups

Connecting Parent leaders

This session is suitable for:

Connect with folks over shared experiences

Everyone’s journey into leadership is tough, but some have a unique set of challenges that they need to navigate through. At times it can lead to leaders feeling isolated in their experiences.

We welcome you to the community representation groups, where you’ll be able to connect with folks who might have similar experiences to yours, where you’ll be able to build a peer network for support throughout your leadership journey.

  • FEATURING
    Anita Singh
    Director of EngineeringGorillas

    Anita is an engineering leader who is passionate about building mobile apps and empowering teams to build quality software that delights users.

    After spending a couple of years working for big tech, Anita has since worked at startups in both Silicon Valley and Berlin, where she has scaled teams, culture, processes and software from the ground up. She enjoys coaching engineering managers and staff engineers in her current role and hopes to continue on this path.

    View Anita’s profile
15:45

Next Steps AMA

The path to CTO

Dedicated sessions on how to take the next step in your career for the path to CTO.

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Next Steps AMA

The path to CTO

This session is suitable for:

Dedicated sessions on how to take the next step in your career for the path to CTO.

Moderated by Phil Bennett, Experienced Engineering Leader & Former Director of Engineering at Kilo Health.

  • FEATURING
    Nasreen AbdulJaleel
    CTO & CPOMarley Spoon
    View Nasreen’s profile
  • Christine Pinto
    CTPO and Co-FounderEpic Test Quest

    Christine Pinto is a Berlin-born female tech leader with nearly two decades of experience in software testing. As the Co-founder and CTPO at Epic Test Quest, she combines her extensive testing expertise with strategic product leadership.
    Throughout her 18-year journey from manual tester to tech founder, Christine has worked across diverse environments – from dynamic startups to complex government organizations – both in Germany and worldwide. She specializes in AI-enhanced testing practices and test automation, with particular expertise in bridging traditional testing methodologies with emerging technologies.
    A passionate advocate for quality engineering, Christine regularly shares her insights at international conferences and meetups, focusing on practical applications of AI in testing, public sector quality assurance, and the evolution of testing leadership in modern tech organizations.

    View profile
  • Phil Bennett
    Director of EngineeringKilo Health
    View Phil’s profile
  • Bernie Miles
    CTOPPRO

    Bernie Miles is a technology exec with over 20 years of experience in the e-commerce and fintech sectors. He has held leadership roles at prominent companies, including Expedia, Hotels.com, Klarna, and Wayfair. In December 2021, he was appointed CTO at PPRO, a global provider of local payments infrastructure. In this role, Bernie oversees a global engineering team across Munich, Berlin, London, São Paulo, Córdoba, Luxembourg and Singapore, focusing on scaling PPRO’s platform to support the company’s rapid growth trajectory. His extensive technology leadership and product development background has been instrumental in advancing cross-border payment technologies and fostering financial inclusion.

    Bernie also advises tech scale-ups, guiding investors, CTOs, CPOs, and founders. With experience in e-commerce, payments, re-platforming, and scaling teams, he offers expertise in navigating scaling tech whilst supporting global growth.

    View Bernie ‘s profile
WORKSHOPS
14:15
12:00

Workshop

Reading your systems: Using technical skills to drive software delivery excellence

Learn to “read” your engineering systems using data and technical insight to uncover bottlenecks, optimize flow, and accelerate software delivery.

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Workshop

Reading your systems: Using technical skills to drive software delivery excellence

This session is suitable for:

Sponsored by

CircleCI Logo LeadDev

Whether you’re a CTO or a rising engineering leader, you’re likely under immense pressure to ship more value, faster. Yet, you know that jumping in and contributing code is unlikely to be the path to success. So, as a technical leader, how do you help your teams? They are likely dealing with increasing system complexity, siloed knowledge, and mounting technical debt. Many engineering metrics (DORA, DX Core 4, etc) can confirm there’s a problem. You should definitely talk to your people, but they have biases and will either tell you what they think you want to hear, or tell you what they have concluded is the problem. So how do you get past the gut feeling and put your skills to work to optimize your org and systems for software delivery excellence?

The answer lies in reframing the technical understanding you already have at a system level, using the strategies of systems thinking. It’s not about applying technical knowledge to solve technical problems (e.g., rewriting code), but rather paying attention to the flow of code and information to remove blockers in systems. By analyzing how code and PRs are structured, understanding how feedback flows through systems, and identifying where breakdowns occur, you can unlock the full potential of your software delivery system.
No matter how big or small your systems are, this workshop will help you develop the superpower of reading your systems’ vital signs to create environments where teams can deliver software quickly, confidently, and effectively.

What will you learn?

  • How to use your technical expertise to identify hidden system issues by analyzing code patterns, PR structures, and team interactions.
  • How to measure and quantify technical bottlenecks rather than relying on subjective assessments when prioritizing improvements.
  • Tips for designing team structures based on evidence of what actually enables faster delivery vs. relying on intuition.
  • FEATURING
    Olaf Molenveld
    Technology AdvisorCircleCI

    Olaf is a seasoned technology leader with over 25 years of experience in the software industry, excelling in both technical and leadership roles. He has a strong foundation in software development, architecture, and consulting, with a focus on aligning business challenges with cutting-edge technology solutions. As the founder and former CTO of Vamp.io, he played a key role in developing DevOps tools for containers, Kubernetes, and microservices. Following Vamp’s acquisition by CircleCI, Olaf now serves as a Technology Advisor, working closely with CTO Rob Zuber to advance CircleCI’s offerings. His expertise continues to drive technical innovation and excellence for the company and its customers.

    View Olaf’s profile
12:00

Workshop

Navigating difference and disagreement

Explore how to turn differences and disagreements into opportunities for growth by practicing healthy conflict and effective team communication.

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Workshop

Navigating difference and disagreement

This session is suitable for:

Our differences in opinion, experience and approach can be a difficult source of tension in teams, and if ignored and overlooked people will feel demotivated, excluded and undervalued.

At the same time productive conflict is important to help us grow and find the best solutions.

In this session, we’ll explore what unhealthy or healthy conflict looks like – and how your own experiences of conflict shape the way you engage when there is disagreement within a team. We’ll also practice conversational frameworks for both group and 1-2-1 settings that you can use to improve your team’s interactions with one another and ensure you’re building environments where everyone can work together towards shared goals.

  • FEATURING
    Joel Chippindale
    CTO CoachMonkey's Thumb

    Joel Chippindale is an Engineering Leadership Coach and Adviser. He has about 20 years experience building, scaling and leading software development teams, including CTO roles at Econsultancy, FutureLearn and Unmade.

    He values building inclusive, empowered, sustainable teams. He has experienced the challenges of nurturing the cultures, skills and practices that enable teams and individuals to achieve their full capabilities.

    Joel uses his experience, beliefs and skills to help organisations overcome the challenges they face in building more effective and inclusive software development teams.

    View Joel’s profile
SOLUTIONS STAGE
10:50

Demo Stage

Live demo: Harness

Explore solutions for your technical issues.

+ More

Demo Stage

Live demo: Harness

This session is suitable for:

Sponsored by

Harness LeadDev

Explore solutions for your technical issues.

Make the most of your breaks with the demo stage sessions, where leading tech providers will showcase their innovative solutions in informative and concise presentations. Each carefully curated 10 minute demo will show the very best engineering solutions available.
11:05

Demo Stage

Live demo: Incident.io

Explore solutions for your technical issues.

+ More

Demo Stage

Live demo: Incident.io

This session is suitable for:

Sponsored by

Incident io logo

Explore solutions for your technical issues.

Make the most of your breaks with the demo stage sessions, where leading tech providers will showcase their innovative solutions in informative and concise presentations. Each carefully curated 10 minute demo will show the very best engineering solutions available.
11:20

Demo Stage

Live demo: Honeycomb

Explore solutions for your technical issues.

+ More

Demo Stage

Live demo: Honeycomb

This session is suitable for:

Sponsored by

Honeycomb LeadDev

Explore solutions for your technical issues.

Make the most of your breaks with the demo stage sessions, where leading tech providers will showcase their innovative solutions in informative and concise presentations. Each carefully curated 10 minute demo will show the very best engineering solutions available.
13:00

Demo Stage

Live demo: Retool

Explore solutions for your technical issues.

+ More

Demo Stage

Live demo: Retool

This session is suitable for:

Sponsored by

Retool LeadDev

Explore solutions for your technical issues.

Make the most of your breaks with the demo stage sessions, where leading tech providers will showcase their innovative solutions in informative and concise presentations. Each carefully curated 10 minute demo will show the very best engineering solutions available.
13:15

Demo Stage

Live demo: LaunchDarkly

Explore solutions for your technical issues.

+ More

Demo Stage

Live demo: LaunchDarkly

This session is suitable for:

Sponsored by

LaunchDarkly LeadDev

Explore solutions for your technical issues.

Make the most of your breaks with the demo stage sessions, where leading tech providers will showcase their innovative solutions in informative and concise presentations. Each carefully curated 10 minute demo will show the very best engineering solutions available.
13:30

Demo Stage

Live demo: Checkly

Explore solutions for your technical issues.

+ More

Demo Stage

Live demo: Checkly

This session is suitable for:

Sponsored by

Checkly LeadDev

Explore solutions for your technical issues.

Make the most of your breaks with the demo stage sessions, where leading tech providers will showcase their innovative solutions in informative and concise presentations. Each carefully curated 10 minute demo will show the very best engineering solutions available.
13:45

Demo Stage

Live demo: Vercel

Explore solutions for your technical issues.

+ More

Demo Stage

Live demo: Vercel

This session is suitable for:

Sponsored by

Explore solutions for your technical issues.

Make the most of your breaks with the demo stage sessions, where leading tech providers will showcase their innovative solutions in informative and concise presentations. Each carefully curated 10 minute demo will show the very best engineering solutions available.
14:00

Demo Stage

Live demo: Pandorian

Explore solutions for your technical issues.

+ More

Demo Stage

Live demo: Pandorian

This session is suitable for:

Sponsored by

Pandorian LeadDev

Explore solutions for your technical issues.

Make the most of your breaks with the demo stage sessions, where leading tech providers will showcase their innovative solutions in informative and concise presentations. Each carefully curated 10 minute demo will show the very best engineering solutions available.
DIRECTORPLUS
11:30
12:00

DirectorPlus Roundtable

Growing your influence: How to become a trusted Executive Partner

A roundtable on communication and building strong relationships and influence with executives and boards.

+ More

DirectorPlus Roundtable

Growing your influence: How to become a trusted Executive Partner

This session is suitable for:

A roundtable on communication and building strong relationships and influence with executives and boards.

Discussion includes:

  • Communicating and building relationships with your CEO and executive team peers
  • Effectively influencing the Board
  • Influencing organizational goals, strategies, and outcomes
  • FEATURING
    Bernie Miles
    CTOPPRO

    Bernie Miles is a technology exec with over 20 years of experience in the e-commerce and fintech sectors. He has held leadership roles at prominent companies, including Expedia, Hotels.com, Klarna, and Wayfair. In December 2021, he was appointed CTO at PPRO, a global provider of local payments infrastructure. In this role, Bernie oversees a global engineering team across Munich, Berlin, London, São Paulo, Córdoba, Luxembourg and Singapore, focusing on scaling PPRO’s platform to support the company’s rapid growth trajectory. His extensive technology leadership and product development background has been instrumental in advancing cross-border payment technologies and fostering financial inclusion.

    Bernie also advises tech scale-ups, guiding investors, CTOs, CPOs, and founders. With experience in e-commerce, payments, re-platforming, and scaling teams, he offers expertise in navigating scaling tech whilst supporting global growth.

    View Bernie ‘s profile
12:00

DirectorPlus Roundtable

How to redefine performance and leadership growth in an AI-first world?

Tackle tough leadership challenges with your peers.

+ More

DirectorPlus Roundtable

How to redefine performance and leadership growth in an AI-first world?

This session is suitable for:

Details coming soon.

  • FEATURING
    Sérgio Laranjeira
    CTOMetacore

    Sérgio is passionate about engineering management, leadership and software delivery. He strives to make a meaningful impact on organizations by delivering exceptional experiences to both internal and external customers. In parallel, he is deeply committed to the cause of Diversity and Inclusion (D&I). He believes that fostering D&I is not just a moral imperative but also a strategic advantage, and actively works to create inclusive workplaces, promote D&I at various events, and drive recruitment activities that promote diversity. He dedicates his time to working with people, building a culture where individuals can be themselves and bringing great results to the business.

    View Sérgio ‘s profile