Day 1
08:15-09:15
Women in Tech Breakfast
Start your day with great coffee and even better company. This breakfast gathering is a relaxed space for women in tech leadership to connect, share experiences, and build relationships before the day kicks off. Enjoy some real conversation and facilitated discussions with brilliant people who get it. Open to all who identify as women or non-binary.
Natalie McCormack, Learning and Development Lead, JVM Consultancy
09:30-09:40
Chair’s Opening Remarks
Lee-Jon, CTO, CTO Craft
09:40-10:10
Keynote – AI and Engineering: Closing the Gap Between Expectations and Reality
Social media is filled with stories of developers building six-figure businesses overnight using AI, yet most real-world teams only see a 5–10% productivity boost—what’s really happening beneath the hype?
- The great divide — while individual developers report 5-10x gains and AI writes up to 90% of the code, enterprise teams struggle to achieve even 10% productivity improvements. Why is that? We’ll explore it through stories and ideas.
- AI workflows in the SDLC — while vibe coding gets all the headlines, AI is quietly infiltrating all the steps of the dev process, which is changing workflows more profoundly than pure throughput gains. We’ll go through the latest emerging patterns.
- Organisational evolution — we’ll look at how startups and forward-looking teams are reshaping their structures for AI leverage—reducing layers, empowering full-stack engineers, and following “Conway’s Law for AI”, where organisational design determines AI effectiveness.
Luca Rossi, Founder, Refactoring
10:10-10:35
Presentation – The CTO Spectrum – Which Archetype Are You?
- As a CTO, you might start talking to another CTO and suddenly realise, “Wow! Their job looks really different to mine.” You might even ask, “Am I doing the right thing?” Your worry might even amplify as you speak with other industry peers.
- Learn about some common CTO archetypes that I’ve observed in my 20+ years as a consultant, advisor, peer and coach to CTOs.
- Uncover the archetypes most frequently seen in the Berlin scene, and what that means for you if you’re a CTO, a person aspiring to be a CTO or working with a CTO today.
Pat Kua, CTO Coach and Founder, Tech Lead Academy
10:35-11:00
Presentation – Building High-Trust Teams in an AI-Enabled Engineering Org
- Explore a field-tested framework for leading engineering teams through the messy, thrilling shift toward AI without losing trust, ethics, or clarity.
- Learn why psychological safety, experimentation, and human-AI collaboration are now essential foundations of high-performing organisations.
- Hear honest stories, hard-won lessons, and what really changes—and what doesn’t—when AI becomes part of daily engineering work.
- Walk away with practical actions you can take tomorrow, even if your team is split between skeptics and prompt whisperers.
Paul Lunow, CTO of Digital Solutions, Vention
11:00-11:35
Coffee & Recharge Break
Coffee Corner Conversations: Tech Implementation War StoriesGrab a coffee and join the conversation — no sign-up, no schedule, just informal chats on big themes. Look for the signs and pull up a chair.
Not every rollout goes to plan and sometimes those missteps make the best stories. Share your tales of tough implementations, lessons learned, and the silver linings along the way.
11:35-12:20
Panel – The Resource-Conscious CTO: Building More with Less
- In a resource-constrained environment, scaling is not just about headcount but about optimising flow, value delivery, and team impact.
- This panel will explore how experienced leaders build lean engineering organisations that can scale efficiently without sacrificing quality.
- We’ll discuss strategies like Minimum Viable Product (MVP) redefinition, flow optimisation, and outcome-based delivery that enable speed and agility at any stage.
- Attendees will learn how to apply lean practices and meaningful metrics to navigate scaling challenges with confidence.
Konark Modi, Managing Director, Tesseracted Labs
Olga Khorkova, CTO, BARFER’S
Dirk Daumann, CTO/CPO, Blacklane
Andrea Perizzato, VP Engineering, FINN
Moderator: Anna McDougall, Director of Engineering Operations, Blinkist
Roundtable Conversations
11:35-12:35
From Code to Capability: Redefining Development and Data Teams in the Age of AI
- Share with peers your experience in witnessing a fundamental transformation of the IT market, driven by the convergence of technological, economic, and organisational trends.
- Join this conversation about the dominance of the full-stack model, the redefinition of the specialist’s role, and the pervasive impact of artificial intelligence which demand strategic adaptation from all market participants—from technical leaders to individual developers.
Grzegorz Wierzchanowski, CTO, RST Software
Wojciech Ruszkiewicz, Delivery Manager Data Solutions, RST Software
These sessions need to be experienced in-person and are crafted to be participatory and stimulating. You’ll be with peers to share ideas and learn from each other.
Don’t worry about missing anything on the main stage! With your ticket, you will have access to the recordings after the conference.
12:20-12:45
Community Showcase – Side Quest Unlocked: Community, Connection and the Future of Tech
- Recognise how “side quest” work like mentoring, documenting, and organising can lead to unexpected skills, opportunities, and personal growth.
- Understand why great engineers go beyond code to strengthen teams and build communities.
- Explore how community-building efforts develop leadership skills and why they deserve more recognition in tech.
- Leave with practical ways to contribute, a deeper appreciation for invisible work, and a challenge to define your role in shaping the future of tech.
Melinda Seckington, Founder, Learn Build Share
12:45-12:55
Presentation – Why are 41% of CTO’s Looking to Leave Their Job?
- Employee retention in the tech sector remains a pressing challenge, with this year’s research echoing last year’s finding that 41% of engineering leaders are considering leaving their roles.
- Hear about the top drivers for attrition: a lack of faith in leadership, concerns over company culture and performance, and the need for better work-life balance and fair compensation.
- Learn about how employees are seeking more than just good pay – they want transparency, support, and alignment with company values.
Henry Draper, Managing Director, Albany Partners
12:55-14:00
Lunch
14:00-14:25
Community Showcase – Calm in the Chaos: Leading in the Permacrisis
Rising panic. Geosociopolitical events beyond our control, groundbreaking technological advances, and an industry shallow-breathing in the face of economic turmoil…
In the midst of it all, you try to stand as an isolated beacon of light, battered by waves of dissent, disengagement, and the creeping wunderkind that is AI.
In response, here’s a light-hearted look at why we, and the people around us, might respond the way we do under this pressure. With stories from senior technical leadership teams, and insights from behavioural science and neuroscience, you’ll learn some top tips to help you find your way through the rubble (or is it a foundation?)
Ceri Newton-Sargunar, Systemic Behavioural Coach & Consultant, ThirstyHorse Consulting
Roundtable Conversations
14:00-15:00
Culture Mapping in Practice: How Differences in Communication and Decision-Making Shape Teams
- You could say that the software industry is very international. We take it for granted that we have colleagues from all over the world. But do you really understand what makes other cultures tick?
- Recognise how different cultural dimensions (e.g. communication styles, hierarchy and trust-building) impact engineering collaboration across global teams.
- Increase your self-awareness of your own default style and how it might be perceived differently in multicultural settings.
- Use Erin Meyer’s eight cultural dimensions (from the book The Culture Map) as a shared vocabulary for analysing challenges and guiding practical adjustments in leadership style.
Claus Höfele, Head of Engineering, On
These sessions need to be experienced in-person and are crafted to be participatory and stimulating. You’ll be with peers to share ideas and learn from each other.
Don’t worry about missing anything on the main stage! With your ticket, you will have access to the recordings after the conference.
14:25-14:50
Presentation – AI Access is not AI Ability: A Cautionary Tale on the Importance of Developing Your Team’s AI Skills and Measuring Impact
Access isn’t enough – why your team need new GenAI abilities to get the most impact.
The Risk of a False Sense of Mastery: how early success with GenAI can mask shallow understanding
How (Not) to Measure GenAI Impact: how do you know that Gen AI is working for you?
Building Real GenAI Fluency: practical ways to accelerate experience and help developers find a rational middle ground between hype and outright rejection.
Hywel Carver, Founder and CEO, Skiller Whale
14:50-15:15
Community Showcase- Quietly Powerful: Leadership for the Ones Who Don’t Shout
- Find out why “louder” isn’t the same as “stronger” in leadership—and how quiet confidence creates impact
- Hear real stories from my journey as an introverted engineering leader trying to fit in (and finally leading on my terms)
- Understand practical strategies to build trust, influence, and visibility without burning out or performing
- Leverage a new, more inclusive model of leadership—for anyone who’s ever felt like they didn’t belong in the spotlight
Limor Bergman, Executive Coach and Mentor, LBG Consulting Services
15:15-15:45
Coffee & Recharge Break
Coffee Corner Conversations: Leading Through ChangeGrab a coffee and join the conversation – no sign-up, no schedule, just informal chats on big themes. Look for the signs and pull up a chair.
Scaling fast, pivoting strategy, or navigating uncertainty – leading through change is part of every tech leader’s journey. Swap approaches, survival tips, and what’s worked (and what hasn’t).
15:45-16:10
Presentation – From Startup to Scale-Up: Designing for Growth from Day One
- Many leaders struggle with the shift from startup to scale-up mode, but what if the pain could be avoided?
- This session will explore how to set your engineering culture, structure and mindset for scale right from the beginning.
- The speaker will reflect on their own experiences—both successes and missteps—and share what they would do differently in hindsight.
Matthias Laug, CPTO, Enter
Roundtable Conversations
15:45-16:45
What Got Me Here Won’t Get Me There: Going From Expert to Strategic Mindset
- A candid conversation about the mindset shift from technical expert to strategic leader.
- Together, we’ll explore the habits, identity-limiting beliefs, and leadership upgrades required to thrive at the next level of CTO responsibility.
- Expect thought-provoking questions, real-world reflections, and practical insights you can apply to your own growth journey—plus the chance to connect with other tech leaders facing similar transitions.
Carol Palombini, Founder, Palombini
These sessions need to be experienced in-person and are crafted to be participatory and stimulating. You’ll be with peers to share ideas and learn from each other.
Don’t worry about missing anything on the main stage! With your ticket, you will have access to the recordings after the conference.
16:10-17:00
Lightning Talks – When Everything’s On Fire: Surviving and Thriving as a Turnaround CTO
This session explores how CTOs—including those stepping into new roles, fractional or interim roles—drive technical and cultural turnaround.
Speakers will share experiences of joining struggling teams, leading rewrites, fixing architecture, and managing tough conversations.
We’ll cover what it means to be pigeonholed as a firefighter and how to transition from crisis to calm.
Attendees will gain insights into turnaround leadership, private equity dynamics, and whether this high-stakes work is right for them.
What are Lightning Talks? They are a series of 10 minute presentations and an opportunity for senior tech leaders to tell their side of the story. Hear their experiences of joining struggling teams, leading rewrites, fixing architecture, and managing tough conversations!
David Asabina, Associate Partner, Philipps & Byrne
Sara El Afia, CPTO, TestWe
Dilip Saha, Senior Director of Software Engineering, HelloFresh
Birgit Pohl, Leadership, Organisational & Agile Coach, Leaders and Makers
17:00-17:25
Community Showcase – Motivational Leadership: Driving Change Through Empowered Engineers
- Discover how one engineering leader turned a team-level observability win into a scalable incident management strategy for the entire organisation.
- Uncover how influence, motivation, and credibility can lay the groundwork for broad technical change.
- Apply proven tactics—like roadmaps, milestones, and outcome tracking—to help structure and sustain your own large-scale improvements.
- Recognise how to spot and support emerging leaders who are ready to take on complex challenges and inspire change across teams.
Kimberly Schmitt, Engineering Manager, Babbel
17:25-17:30
Chair’s Closing Remarks
Lee-Jon, CTO, CTO Craft
17:30-19:30
Networking Reception
Stick around for some drinks and nibbles on us! This is your opportunity to relax and have a debrief of the day with all of your peers.
Hosted by our partner, Forte Group
Day 2
08:15-09:15
CTO Craft Circles – Taster Breakfast
Join us over breakfast to hear directly from Circles members about their experiences — what they’ve gained, how it’s shaped their development, and what you can expect. You’ll also take part in a short workshop and Q&A with CTO Coach & Circle facilitator Joel Chippindale, giving you a real flavour of what Circle membership is like. Spaces are limited, so register your interest today.
Joel Chippindale, CTO Coach
09:30-09:35
Chair’s Opening Remarks
Lee-Jon, CTO, CTO Craft
09:35-10:05
Keynote – Intelligent Connections: Transforming Work Through Strategic AI Integration
- Working with AI solutions individually already brings significant benefits, but the true transformation of organisational work happens when we use AI to improve collaboration and create seamless connections between people and systems.
- Learn how the team at Scout24 are implementing this vision by showcasing practical uses of Claude and the Model Context Protocol.
- Discover how AI can act as the connective tissue that strengthens an entire organisational fabric.
Gertrud Kolb, CTO, Scout24
10:05-10:30
Presentation – Back to the Code: Why CTOs Must Get Technical Again to Solve AI’s Real Problems
- Most AI implementations fail by repeating old mistakes, such as monolithic, unmanageable prompts that are costly, fragile, and hard to debug.
- This session makes the case for technical leadership to stay close to the code and understand the real challenges AI introduces to systems.
- Learn how CircleCI’s team used agent decomposition to transform unreliable workflows into composable, maintainable systems.
- You’ll walk away with a practical framework for modular AI agent design, and hard-won lessons from scaling AI beyond proof-of-concept.
Rob Zuber, CTO, CircleCI
10:30-10:55
Community Showcase – Making Better Decisions – How we Decide Better Together
- Most teams never learn how to make solid decisions, they just wing it – leading either to a few decision-makers and lack of autonomy or decision fatigue. When scaling, success is not only limited by the quality of decisions but also by peoples ability to continuously make better decisions with high autonomy and speed.
- Discuss what actually makes a good decision and how to use your team’s brainpower without getting lost in endless discussions.
- Learn about real methods (like consent and systemic consensing), when to use them, and how to keep things moving.
- Walk away with practical tools to make better, faster, more inclusive decisions – and less second-guessing after.
Tobias Mende, Leadership & Ops & Tech Advisor / Founder, Tech Unicorn Builders
10:55-11:30
Coffee & Recharge Break
Coffee Corner Conversations: Hiring HeadachesGrab a coffee and join the conversation – no sign-up, no schedule, just informal chats on big themes. Look for the signs and pull up a chair.
From endless interviews to finding culture fit, hiring is rarely simple. Compare notes with peers on what’s keeping you up at night, and hear how others are tackling talent challenges.
11:30-11:55
Fireside Chat – How Bad Actors (Ab)Use LLMs: The Mechanisms That Enable Misuse and What We Can Do About It
- Explore how malicious actors abuse GenAI-enabled systems, from prompt injection to hallucination-fueled supply chain attacks and even LLM-assisted malware creation. Dive deep into how LLMs work, why they’re vulnerable, and the mechanics that enable these threats, especially in modern applications powered by ChatGPT, Azure OpenAI, and open-source models.
- Discuss actionable defense strategies, including building more secure AI-powered features using least privilege principles, prompt hardening, model choice, and other practical mitigations.
Examine real-world examples where GenAI powers capabilities such as auto-triage and text-to-SQL. See how these same attacks could target features like these — and how we proactively defend against them.
Mackenzie Jackson, Developer and Security Advocate, Aikido
Kimberly Mattheys, Head of Application Security and DevSecOps, Solaris
Ciro Anunciação, Engineering Manager, PandaDoc
11:55-12:20
Community Showcase – If Feedback is a Gift, Why Does it Never Feel Like One?
- Despite feedback being called a “gift”, it often comes across as vague and generic, especially during performance reviews and 360-degree assessments.
- Explore how as executives and coaches, we’ve witnessed well-intentioned feedback fail because it wasn’t actionable or relatable enough for clients to implement.
- Transform processes around meaningful feedback, which is a skill that needs development. It can be learned – but requires taking initiative to improve.
- Discover the journey in overcoming feedback challenges and provides a practical toolkit for giving more effective feedback.
Mathias Meyer, Founding Partner & Executive Coach, The Intentional Organization
Roundtable Conversations
11:55-12:55
Building Leaderful Cultures: The Future is Shared Leadership
- Join an open discussion on what it really means to build a leaderful culture—where trust is the foundation and leadership is shared.
- Reflect with peers on your own leadership habits and how they shape your team’s culture.
- Pick up practical ideas to encourage more curiosity, empowerment, and transparency day to day.
- Walk away with one tangible, authentic action you can try immediately to strengthen collaboration and trust.
Natalie McCormack, Learning and Development Lead, JVM Consultancy
These sessions need to be experienced in-person and are crafted to be participatory and stimulating. You’ll be with peers to share ideas and learn from each other.
Don’t worry about missing anything on the main stage! With your ticket, you will have access to the recordings after the conference.
12:20-12:45
Presentation – Beyond the Buzz: Building Developer Platforms That Drive Business Success
- A great platform isn’t just a tech enabler—it’s a business accelerator that directly impacts developer experience and business outcomes.
- Learn the four pitfalls that cause platforms to fail: over-automation without user insight, rigid standardisation, neglecting integration, and building in isolation.
- See how platform engineering, developer experience, and business success are deeply connected—and why ignoring that link slows innovation.
- Walk away with real-world stories, practical frameworks, and a clear approach to making platform engineering a true strategic advantage.
Shweta Vohra, Lead Architect, Booking.com
12:45-13:50
Lunch
13:50-14:30
Panel – The Changing Face of Engineering: What Teams Need Now
- This session will explore how companies are redefining the engineering capabilities they prioritise to match evolving business models and technical shifts.
- We’ll go beyond speculation to examine how trends like AI integration, platform thinking, and outcome-based delivery are influencing how teams work.
- The panel will feature real-world insights into how organisations are evolving talent strategies—what skills they hire for, nurture, and sunset.
- Attendees will gain a clearer picture of where engineering skill demand is heading and how to adapt their organisations to stay competitive.
Cristina Turbatu, CTO, Casumo
Martin Lefringhausen, VP Platform Engineering, 1KOMMA5
Agnieszka Michalik, CTO and Co-Founder, Checkturio
Moderator: Anna McDougall, Director of Engineering Operations, Blinkist
Roundtable Conversations
13:50-14:50
The AI-Powered CTO: Building Intentional Workflows and Skilling Your Team for the Future
- Explore how to reverse-engineer AI workflows from business KPIs using data, guardrails, human-in-the-loop practices, and clear evaluation criteria.
- Collaborate in a live mini-sprint to sketch one AI-enhanced workflow end-to-end with go/no-go conditions.
- Walk away with 1–2 KPIs your team could realistically move in the next 2–4 weeks through targeted AI adoption.
Mario Duhanic, CTO
*These sessions need to be experienced in-person and are crafted to be participatory and stimulating. You’ll be with peers to share ideas and learn from each other.
Don’t worry about missing anything on the main stage! With your ticket, you will have access to the recordings after the conference.
14:30-14:55
Presentation – Challenger Safety: The Missing Link in Your Innovation Playbook
- Psychological safety is the foundation of innovation—and “Challenger Safety” is the final, critical stage.
- Discover three silent signals that your team may not feel safe enough to challenge ideas or the status quo.
- Learn how common leadership behaviours, even with good intentions, can discourage bold contributions.
- Reflect on your personal leadership approach with actionable prompts designed to foster a culture of smart experimentation.
Carol Palombini, Founder, Palombini
14:55-15:20
Presentation – The Always-On Culture: Redefining Urgency and Availability
- Out-of-hours work and crisis response have long been part of the tech industry—but are they sustainable?
- This talk will explore when leaders were right or wrong to ask for overtime, and how they managed the consequences.
- With “right to disconnect” policies gaining traction, consider the organisational impact and how to rebalance expectations.
Greg Ryzhov, CPTO, Clue
15:20-15:55
Coffee & Recharge Break
Coffee Corner Conversations: Tech & ParenthoodGrab a coffee and join the conversation — no sign-up, no schedule, just informal chats on big themes. Look for the signs and pull up a chair.
Balancing deadlines and deployments with family life can feel like running two startups at once. Talk openly about the wins, struggles, and hacks that help keep it all together.
15:55-16:20
Community Showcase – The Surprising Similarities Between Renovating your House and your Code Base
- Learn how code and buildings differ in structure, but renovating each reveals surprising parallels—especially when dealing with legacy systems and old plasterboard alike.
- Drawing on personal experience renovating both a house and a codebase, this session uses vivid, relatable analogies to demystify legacy code work.
- Gain practical, memorable strategies for tackling code renovation—no sledgehammer required.
- Explore how tools like Quality Views and CodeCharta can help map large codebases, surface architectural risks, and support meaningful conversations with non-technical stakeholders.
Richard Gross, Head of Software Archeology, MaibornWolff
16:20-16:45
Community Showcase – How Misjudging the Importance of an Unloved Project can Turn Into a Disaster: A Real-Life Incident Post-Mortem
- Hear the story of how the failure of a side legacy project, generating less than one-tenth of our revenue, spilled over and brought half of the company to a standstill for almost a month.
- Learn how accumulated technical debt, lack of ownership, and a series of poor decisions can lead to disastrous consequences. I’ll also discuss why disaster recovery for complex systems is often far more challenging than it appears.
Jerzy Kopaczewski, Co-founder and CTO, Devopsity
16:45-17:10
Presentation – Leading Through Change: Merging Two Marketplaces in Public
- Merging Technology, Business and Cultures. Slowing down before accelerating.
- Discuss practical strategies for managing change, from communicating new visions to maintaining morale.
- Differences in managing private and public companies.
- Insights on avoiding common pitfalls during restructuring, scaling, or pivoting and gaining tools to foster resilience and adaptability within your organisation.
Alesia Braga, Group CPTO, Cint
17:10-17:15
Chair’s Closing Remarks
Lee-Jon, CTO, CTO Craft