Helping technology leaders navigate AI, scale and organisational change.
Learn from the stage. Challenge ideas in roundtables. Continue the conversation over coffee.
Because the best solutions rarely come from a keynote alone.
29-30 September, 2026
Capital C, Amsterdam
CTO Craft Con is more than just an event—it’s a true community for engineering leaders. Beyond the talks, what stood out to me was the intentionality of the event—the representation of women in leadership was also refreshing and inspiring. CTO Craft doesn’t just host conferences—they create spaces where engineering leaders can connect, share, and grow. I highly recommend their events and community to anyone looking to level up in their leadership journey!
CTO Craft Con is an incredible experience, bringing together some of the brightest minds in tech leadership. The talks are insightful, practical, and inspiring, but what really sets it apart is the networking.
CTO Craft Con is buzzing with energy! The CTO Craft team has created an incredible atmosphere filled with smart, passionate people. It's fantastic to see such a diverse conference and reconnect with old friends and meet new people. So much to learn from each other, network, and enjoy fun, insightful talks.
CTO Craft Con is my favourite event of the year. The event is so well organised with a really wide range of topics covered. There is something for all levels of tech leadership whether you're a start-up CTO/Engineering Manager or Transformational CTO used to working with hundreds of people. It really is for everyone.
Meet tech leaders you’ll actually swap playbooks with from the likes of:
The conversations Europe’s engineering leaders need to have right now.
AI strategy. Platform teams. Organisational design. Leadership under pressure.
CTO Craft Con: Europe brings together senior technology and engineering leaders from across Europe for two days of practical insight, structured discussion and peer learning.
Explore how organisations are approaching AI adoption, platform strategy, organisational design and the evolving role of technology leadership. Then take those conversations further in facilitated roundtables with leaders solving similar challenges in different companies and markets.
Because the best answers rarely come from a keynote alone. They come from comparing experiences with people who’ve faced the same decisions.
Which conversations matter most to you?
The best conference sessions start with a question every technology leader is already asking.
AI is changing everything. What should change first?
How do you adopt AI without losing engineering quality, autonomy or trust?
Raffi Krikorian
CTO
Mozilla
Raffi Krikorian is Chief Technology Officer at Mozilla, where he leads efforts to build trustworthy technology that serves the public interest and strengthens human agency. He previously served as CTO of Emerson Collective, where he focused on how technology and data can be used to drive solutions that promote social good; as the first CTO of the Democratic National Committee, where he built the technology, data, and security infrastructure that supported Democratic candidates nationwide; as Director of Uber’s Advanced Technologies Center, where he led the rollout of the first passenger-carrying self-driving car fleet; and as Vice President of Platform Engineering at Twitter.
Tom Howlett
Director of AI Engineering Engagement
Sonar
Tom Howlett is Director of AI Engineering Engagement at Sonar, leveraging over 30 years at the forefront of Software Development Practices. Starting as a developer in ‘90’s .com startups in London and NYC, he transitioned to guiding companies in adopting agile software engineering practices with a strong focus on quality. This commitment eventually brought him to Sonar, where he led Product Management before moving to AI Engineering Engagement. He now focuses on how developers can build an efficient Agent Centric Development Cycle without compromising on quality.
Vilhelm von Ehrenheim
Co-Founder & Chief AI Officer
QA.tech
Vilhelm von Ehrenheim is Co-founder and Chief AI Officer at QA.tech, an AI-native end-to-end testing and verification platform based in Stockholm. QA.tech crawls web and mobile applications to build a behavioral knowledge graph, then uses autonomous agents to verify changes on every PR without scripted tests.Before QA.tech, Vilhelm spent five years building the Motherbrain AI platform at EQT, one of the earliest production deployments of machine learning in venture capital. Prior to EQT, he led the Predictive Modeling team at Klarna, building real-time credit and fraud risk models in a decision pipeline processing around 300,000 transactions per day. His applied research has been published at EMNLP, KDD, and CIKM, and he holds an MSc in Engineering Physics from Lund University.
How should engineering organisations evolve?
Platform teams, organisational design and scaling engineering effectively.
Sander Hoogendoorn
CTO
iBood.com
Sander Hoogendoorn is an independent dad, avid traveller, and lifelong software developer with over 40 years of hands-on coding experience. He still writes code every day because, once a developer, always a developer.Currently CTO at iBOOD, Sander has led technology teams across multiple organisations and previously served as Capgemini’s global agile thought leader. Today, he’s known for challenging outdated practices with a pragmatic, post-agile mindset.Sander helps organisations replace heavyweight processes with lightweight thinking and agile dogma with genuine flow. His talks combine code, stories, and practical insights on software architecture, continuous delivery, microservices, disruption, and building better software. Fast-paced, thought-provoking, and grounded in real-world experience, Sander’s sessions champion critical thinking, small steps, and teams that deliver great software.
Suzanne Daniels
Sr. Chief Developer Advisor
Microsoft
Technology strategist and transformation leader with 30 years of experience delivering large-scale IT programmes across EMEA. Specialising in technology strategy, interim technology leadership, and platform engineering, they help organisations align technology with business goals to accelerate delivery and drive sustainable growth.Their expertise spans AI adoption, DevOps culture, developer productivity, and change management, with a proven track record of leading engineering organisations and platform teams through modernisation and complex transformation. Combining executive perspective with hands-on experience, they define clear roadmaps, build business alignment, and deliver measurable results.As Chief Developer Advisor at Microsoft, they partner with CTOs and technology leaders to improve engineering effectiveness and help organisations succeed through pragmatic technology leadership.
Nidhi Sharma
Global Head of Engineering AI and Incubation
Just Eat Takeaway.com
Nidhi Sharma is a technology leader with over 18 years of experience in engineering and leadership. Passionate about mentoring and sponsoring engineers, she is dedicated to helping technology professionals reach their full potential.After beginning her career as a corporate trainer, Nidhi transitioned into software development, where she has built and led high-performing engineering teams. Her experience spans SAP eCommerce, supply chain, digital transformation, and AI innovation, with a focus on both physical and virtual AI systems.Currently leading AI innovation projects, Nidhi combines deep technical expertise with strategic leadership to deliver impactful, future-focused solutions. She is also a passionate mentor and trusted advisor, helping professionals navigate the rapidly evolving AI landscape and the changing nature of technology leadership.
Simon Bostock
Managing Director Benelux
Equal Experts
Simon helps enterprises harness AI to transform software delivery at scale, aligning strategy and delivery for faster, smarter outcomes. With experience across product, UX, delivery, and platform strategy, he focuses on reducing strategic debt, scaling portfolios, and building adaptable, AI-ready cultures. A regular international speaker, he promotes a pragmatic, ethical approach to AI that cuts through hype and delivers lasting value
How do you influence beyond engineering?
Communicating technical strategy, making better decisions and earning executive trust.
Randy Shoup
SVP Engineering
CircleCI
Randy Shoup is a 30 year Silicon Valley veteran, currently serving as SVP Engineering at CircleCI. He has also been VP Engineering and Chief Architect at eBay, VP Engineering at Stitch Fix, and a Director of Engineering at Google Cloud. He talks a lot, sometimes at conferences about engineering leadership. He is particularly interested in the nexus of technology, culture, and organization.
Suzanne Tracy
CTO
Siro
Suzanne established and leads the Technology function at SIRO, the joint venture between Vodafone Ireland and ESB delivering full fibre broadband to Irish homes and businesses over the electricity network. She is responsible for network selection, design and rollout, IT systems deployment and operations, and in-home installation for SIRO’s retail and enterprise customers. Suzanne began her career as a process engineer in pharmaceuticals and has 25 years’ experience in technology and engineering, largely with Vodafone Group Technology across European markets. She is a member of the FTTH Council Europe Board and serves on the boards of Vodafone Group Services Ireland Limited and An Garda Síochána (Irish police force).
Lars Richter
VP Software Engineering
Univention
Lars serves as VP Software Engineering at Univention, bringing a career that spans .NET development, native iOS engineering, and years of progressive leadership roles from team lead to Head of Engineering. Today he leads multiple engineering teams building open-source software and spends most of his time thinking about how to build organisations that ship well — not just fast.
Irina Pushkina
Independent CTO
Designed in Flow
Irina Pushkina is a CTO and technology leader working across scaling SaaS, platform modernisation, and engineering leadership.Most recently CTO of a multi-tenant SaaS platform serving more than one million users across Europe, leading platform modernisation and engineering scaling under growth pressure.Earlier, she held technology leadership roles at Schuberg Philis on mission-critical systems for regulated enterprise clients. Her background spans SaaS, industrial software, semiconductor systems, simulation platforms, and high-performance computing — across organisations ranging from R&D-driven product companies to large-scale operational environments.
What’s next for technology leadership?
The ideas, experiments and lessons shaping Europe’s best engineering organisations.
Dawn Baker
CTO
Back Market
Dawn Baker is a senior engineering leader passionate about developing individuals, teams, and organizations. As CTO at Back Market, she leads global teams in powering an ecommerce platform that drives the circular economy. With experience leading a wide range of technology teams in diverse organizations, Dawn has a track record of transforming engineering culture to accelerate growth. She currently lives and works in Paris.
Lee Provoost
CTO
Flagstone
Lee is the CTO of Flagstone, the UK’s leading cash deposit platform. He loves solving complex problems, ranging from 3D-printed hardware for healthcare, to redesigning the UK’s online passport platform and driving innovation in the finance sector. Loves dogs, bourbon and fideua. Also holds the controversial opinion that The Office US is better than The Office UK.
Michelle McDaid
Founder | Leadership Development, Coach, Speaker
The Leading Place
Michelle McDaid is the founder of The Leading Place, a leadership consultancy helping organisations build high-performing, people-first cultures. With more than 25 years in technology leadership, including as Senior Director of Engineering at Workhuman, she has led global teams, scaled organisations, and guided complex change.Michelle combines practical leadership experience with evidence-based research, holding an MSc (Hons) in Work & Organisational Behaviour from DCU, where she studied trust in remote and hybrid teams. A qualified executive coach, she advises organisations on leadership, culture, communication, and organisational change, with a focus on trust, psychological safety, and inclusive leadership.A passionate advocate for women in technology, Michelle mentors through Growth Guild EU/UK, serves on the board of North Dublin Citizens Information Service, and is a regular conference speaker.
Hywel Carver
Founder and CEO
Skiller Whale
Hywel is the CTO-turned-Founder at Skiller Whale. He wrote his first program in C aged 9. After graduating with an MEng from Cambridge, he dropped out of his PhD programme to co-found his first start-up. Today, Hywel is Skiller Whale’s Co-Founder, he runs a dinner club for CTOs, a podcast for tech leaders called ‘Primarily Context-Based’, and is designing and building his own 8-bit computer for playing Pong. In his 15+ tech leadership career, he’s been building and scaling start-ups. With Skiller Whale, he is drawing on that experience to solve the biggest problem he faced as a CTO: learning for engineering teams.
The best ideas don’t end when the keynote does.
Most conferences ask you to listen. CTO Craft asks you to participate.
Hear practical experiences from leaders who’ve tackled the same challenges. Then take those ideas into structured discussions with peers, challenge assumptions and leave with practical approaches you can use in your own organisation.
Learn it.
Hear practical stories from technology leaders who've tackled the same organisational and leadership challenges you're facing.
Discuss it.
Take those ideas into facilitated roundtables with peers from different organisations, industries and markets.
Challenge it.
Compare approaches, ask difficult questions and discover perspectives you won't hear from the stage alone.
Continue it.
Whether it's Coffee Corners, lunch discussions or evening networking, we've designed the event so ideas keep evolving long after the keynote finishes.
Apply it.
Leave with practical ideas, new relationships and greater confidence in the decisions you'll make next.
Learning doesn’t stop when the session ends.
Coffee Discussions
Structured Roundtables
Lunch
Meet Your Peers
Keynotes
Circles Breakfast
Your ticket is just the beginning.
You’ll join Europe’s senior technology leaders for two days designed to help you make better engineering decisions.
Tech Leader Ticket
Two day conference pass including keynotes, roundtables, networking lunch and more...
Better decisions
A clearer approach to AI adoption
New perspectives on organisational design
Better connections
Relationships with peers facing similar challenges
Honest conversations that continue beyond the event
Better outcomes
Greater confidence in difficult leadership decisions
Practical ideas you can put into practice immediately
Everyone attending is responsible for engineering strategy, people or delivery. That’s what makes every conversation relevant.
Attending with your team?
Save an additional 15% when you book 3+ Tech Leader passes.
Don’t just take our word for it…
This was a valuable networking opportunity. I connected with several interesting and inspiring engineering leaders who I suspect will be thought partners for me in the future. I also found several of the sessions to be extremely relevant, with topics intersecting challenges I face as an engineering leader.
CTO Craft Con is an incredible experience, bringing together some of the brightest minds in tech leadership. The talks are insightful, practical, and inspiring, but what really sets it apart is the networking.
CTO Craft Con is buzzing with energy! The CTO Craft team has created an incredible atmosphere filled with smart, passionate people. It's fantastic to see such a diverse conference and reconnect with old friends and meet new people. So much to learn from each other, network, and enjoy fun, insightful talks. Thank you for an amazing experience!
CTO Craft Con is my favourite event of the year, it's already in my diary for next year! The event is so well organised with a really wide range of topics covered. There is something for all levels of tech leadership whether you're a start-up CTO/Engineering Manager or Transformational CTO used to working with hundreds of people. It really is for everyone.
