CONFERENCE DAY ONE

As platform engineering matures, the imperative is no longer just to remove the burden of undifferentiated technology, while increasing consistency, security, and adoption of standards—but to deliver measurable, strategic value to internal teams. This session led by Bruno Suárez Laffargue – a leader passionate about software development end-to-end lifecycles – shares a case study detailing how adopting a Product Operating Model is transforming their internal platform from a cost centre into a value-driving product line. Bruno will outline the impact of:

• Treating internal platforms as products with defined personas and roadmaps.
• Segmenting internal audiences to personalise adoption and onboarding strategies.
• Aligning platform evolution with broader strategic outcomes.
• Building feedback loops to continuously improve developer experience and value.

Bruno Suarez Laffargue

Head of Product for Engineering Effectiveness
Tesco

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Session to be Announced

While every industry has its individual issues, the challenges of platform engineering in enterprise contexts has significant overlap. This panel brings together leaders from diverse sectors to share what’s working - and what’s not.

• Hear how platform priorities differ across finance, retail, healthcare, and manufacturing.
• Discover shared challenges around tooling, skills, and cultural adoption.
• Explore unique innovations and practices that can be borrowed cross-industry.
• Learn how different contexts shape team design, platform scope, and success metrics.

Colm Campbell

Head of Engineering
The Gym Group

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Louis Bailleul

Director of Architecture and Platform Engineering
TGS

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Noud Donders

Former Head of Platform
Ex-Maersk

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During this session, Donavan Thomson, a strategy and development leader and the Head of Product-Platforms at Utility Warehouse, will discuss how UW transitioned from a monolithic application to a modular, platform-based architecture over the last seven years. A

communications platform, initially designed to streamline customer messaging, was recently reevaluated, unlocking nearly £2 million in cost savings by digitising processes and refining analytics. This presentation will outline the importance of:

• Building close relationships with users and deeply understanding their goals.
• Partnering with key teams to create momentum and demonstrate value.
• Designing platforms that clearly separate concerns, leading to innovation.
• Experimenting strategically to validate changes and minimise risk.

Donovan Thomson

Head of Product Management - Platform
Utility Warehouse

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Platform engineering teams are increasingly responsible for enabling rapid scale while maintaining system uptime and performance. Platforms are fragile from both internal, and increasingly external, threats. How can enterprises successfully scale platform engineering reliability and securely.

• Examine scaling strategies that maintain platform reliability during high growth.
• Learn how teams are re-architecting and modularising services to support scale.
• Identify operational risks and technical debt that emerge with platform growth.
• Discover how leading enterprises are aligning reliability goals with business expansion.

Italo Vietro

Head of Engineering
Parloa

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As platform capabilities expand, so does the tension between autonomy and control. Platform Engineering leaders face fresh challenges building governance models that won’t stifle developer innovation and autonomy.

• Understand the risks of over- and under-governance in enterprise platforms.
• Learn how to apply policies that enable experimentation within boundaries while exploring frameworks like paved paths, golden templates, and policy-as-code.
• Hear how organisations are building trust while meeting compliance and consistency goals.

Simon Rohrer

Head of Enterprise Technology Architecture & Ways of Working
Saxo Bank

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Jacob Lärfors

Principal Engineer - Developer Productivity
SOK

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Benjamin Brial

Founder
Cycloid

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Exploration on AI-Driven Developer Efficiency: Tools, Trade-offs & Reporting. As AI continues reshaping the software development lifecycle, engineering leaders are under pressure to identify real outcomes. From co-pilots to agentic systems, AI promises major productivity gains - but only when applied to the right problems with the right tools. David Graca is the Principal Developer Experience Engineer at AXA, he joins us here to explore how we are looking to adopt AI in software development, balancing cost, efficiency, and developer joy.

• Unlocking and measuring the real-world productivity impact of AI tooling.
• Understanding the difference between agentic AI and co-pilots - and when to use each.
• Avoiding misuse: AI is a tool, not a solution - how to align AI capabilities to developer pain points.
• Cost considerations and operational trade-offs of integrating AI into daily development workflows.

David Graca

Developer Experience Lead Expert
AXA

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Capital One has been on a journey to transform efficiency, speed, and agility through their cloud transformation. From optimising software delivery pipelines to embracing a nimble, cloud-driven engineering model, the shift has been as much cultural as it is technical. This session shares the lessons learned along the way - and how to win hearts and minds in the process.

• Reassessing agility: how Capital One returned to its roots in lean, fast delivery.
• Optimising software pipelines within an Enterprise cloud environment.
• Building a cloud-first strategy for the business.
• Driving cultural change to bring teams along the journey.
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Tom Morton

Director of Engineering
Capital One

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Manufacturing companies are embracing digital platforms to stay competitive - but they bring a different set of challenges. Join this panel to hear how engineering leaders are translating platform best practices into industrial environments.

• Understand how platform engineering intersects with OT, edge, and factory systems.
• Explore platform strategies that work within long innovation cycles and physical constraints.
• Identify resistance points across non-technical teams and regulated processes.
• Learn how digital platforms are driving smarter production, traceability, and agility.

Jean Burellier

Principal Software Engineer
Sanofi

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Moncef Mouhouche

Digital Factory Strategy Manager
Thales Digital Factory

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Noud Donders

Former Head of Platform
Ex-Maersk

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Treating the platform as a product is more than a mindset shift - it’s a practical approach to making platforms genuinely useful for developers. Standardising tooling alone isn’t enough. Adoption comes from solving real pain points, simplifying workflows, and treating internal teams like customers. This session explores how product thinking at DKB transforms internal platforms into high-impact tools that developers actively want to use.

• How to work with platform scope and strategy and how to make them visible for users.
• How to optimize working with product discovery and feedback.
• The importance of the user interface and user experience of the platform.
• Metrics and other ways to evaluate the impact of the platform.

Stephane Di Cesare

Senior Platform Engineer, SOP Experience
DKB | Deutsche Kreditbank AG

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Engineering excellence doesn’t happen in isolation - it thrives in environments where learning is continuous, knowledge is shared, and teams are empowered to evolve. This session, Daniel Gittins, Developer Experience & Strategy Leader, explores how Ford is seeking to foster a culture of excellence by connecting engineering communities, enabling peer learning, and embracing dynamic re-teaming.

• Leveraging experimental peer learning and cross-team knowledge sharing to accelerate growth.
• Creating scalable frameworks that unite siloed teams and foster shared training and ownership of engineering standards.
• Linking DORA Metrics to Capability Building: How to use performance insights to set aspirations and guide team development.
• Dynamic Re-Teaming for Continuous Learning: Rotating engineers across teams to promote adaptability, innovation, and cultural cohesion.
• Building small, focused capabilities that collectively drive a new culture of engineering excellence.

Daniel Gittins

Developer Experience & Strategy Manager - Connected Vehicle Software
Ford

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