The Future of Engineering Leadership
AI is reshaping engineering faster than any shift we’ve seen before. Teams are adopting new technologies, learning new tools and iterating faster than ever before. Both engineers and leaders are being challenged to adapt in real time. Success will come from inspiring agility, empowering teams to deliver outsized impact, and creating clarity amidst constant change. The future of engineering leadership is about leading organizations through this rapid, seemingly never ending, change cycle.
We will dig into the tough questions: How do you upskill yourself and your teams to stay ahead of AI? How do you encourage tool adoption? And what distinctly human skills - empathy, judgment, and trust-building - will matter most in the future? The next era of engineering leadership belongs to those who can build cultures of trust, resilience, and excellence.
Raji Arasu
CHIEF TECHNOLOGY OFFICER AUTODESK
Raji Arasu is Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer at Autodesk, where she drives the company’s technology strategy and platform initiatives that power Autodesk’s industry clouds. She leads cross-industry capabilities—including Data, AI, Trust, and other shared platform services—and oversees research which includes development of AI foundation models that are transforming 3D design and make. Raji also leads Autodesk’s ecosystem strategy, which includes a vibrant Marketplace of third-party and partner-built apps that help customers extend and automate their workflows.
With over 30 years in technology leadership at Intuit, StubHub, and eBay, Raji has steered global teams through major platform transformations in payments, fintech, and eCommerce. She has served on public boards since 2015 and currently sits on the board of MediaAlpha, as well as the advisory board of the CTO Forum.
A passionate advocate for diversity in tech and STEM education, Raji holds a degree in Computer Engineering from Savitribai Phule Pune University, India.
Maria Yuin
VP OF ENGINEERING
SALESFORCE
Kathleen Vignos has spent 25+ years working at tech companies and startups in Silicon Valley. She currently serves as VPE in the Card Tech organization at Capital One, leading large-scale transformation projects across web, mobile, and ML/AI over two different business domains responsible for more than $1B in revenue.
Previously in her 6 years at Twitter, Kathleen led teams working on promoted tweet ML review, tweet translation, abuse tooling, and infrastructure automation across on-prem, Google Cloud, and AWS environments. She also personally trained 150+ Twitter engineering managers in hiring and leadership programs. Prior to Twitter, Kathleen led the engineering department at WIRED through complete site and infrastructure redesign and was tech lead for projects like Apple News. She holds a BS in Engineering from UCLA and an MS in Engineering from the University of Michigan.
Outside of work, Kathleen loves travel and all outdoor activities including hiking, camping, kayaking, pickleball, and distance running.
Maria Yuin
VP OF ENGINEERING
SALESFORCE