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08:00–09:15

Arrival & Coffee

09:15

Talk

Welcome to StaffPlus New York 2025

A welcome from the hosts.

09:45

Talk

Distinguished EngineerPrincipal EngineerStaff Engineer

Mind the gap: Navigating the staff+ performance cliff

Explore why new Staff+ leaders often feel lost and how to rebuild confidence, clarity, and impact after the transition.

10:10

Talk

Distinguished EngineerPrincipal EngineerStaff Engineer

Overcoming “us vs. them” thinking

Why us vs. them thinking arises, how to spot it, and how – and why – to bridge the divide.

10:20

Talk

Distinguished EngineerPrincipal EngineerStaff Engineer

Scaling AI for high-stakes, real-time payments

What does it take to run real-time AI in Stripe’s core payment flow? This is the story of scaling ML in a latency-critical system used by billions and built by multiple engineering orgs.

10:50–11:40

Morning Break

11:40

Talk

Distinguished EngineerPrincipal EngineerStaff Engineer

Marcy Lab’s 90-day lift-off playbook: Building high-impact, durable engineers

From classroom to commit: How a one-year, industry-co-designed fellowship equips engineers to ship in the AI era and the simple onboarding patterns partner teams use to turn early talent into durable performers.

11:50

Talk

Distinguished EngineerPrincipal EngineerStaff Engineer

Coherent impact: The art of strategy

Explore how to turn short-term chaos into long-term impact through practical strategies for resilient, grounded engineering leadership.

12:20

Talk

Distinguished EngineerPrincipal EngineerStaff Engineer

Scaling systems, scaling influence: Lessons from distributed architecture

Scaling systems and scaling influence share the same principles. Learn how distributed systems thinking can help you become a more effective technical leader at scale.

12:30

Talk

Distinguished EngineerPrincipal EngineerStaff Engineer

The silent infrastructure crisis: AI bots and the future of web performance

A technical deep dive into AI bot traffic’s infrastructure, security, and performance impacts, backed by Fastly’s large-scale 2025 analysis.

12:40

Talk

Distinguished EngineerPrincipal EngineerStaff Engineer

Anti-Misalignment: Nobody knows what “alignment” is

Most “alignment” efforts just react to misalignment. This talk reframes alignment as group flow, explores why misalignment is so viscerally felt, and shares practical tools to move from reactive coordination to proactive clarity and autonomy.

13:10–14:40

Lunch

14:40

Talk

Distinguished EngineerPrincipal EngineerStaff Engineer

You can big bang!

Explore when rewriting code from scratch actually works and how to plan a successful, high-impact system redesign.

15:10

Talk

Distinguished EngineerPrincipal EngineerStaff Engineer

Leading a team through 0-1 product development

In this talk we will discuss tips for leading an engineering team through developing a new product fast, especially when there are a lot of unknowns. In this talk we will discuss tips for leading an engineering team through developing a new product fast, especially when there are a lot of unknowns.

15:20

Talk

Distinguished EngineerPrincipal EngineerStaff Engineer

Building braver: How to take bigger risks in your roadmap

Discover why engineering teams avoid bold bets and how leaders can build confidence to pursue transformative high impact projects.

15:30

Talk

Distinguished EngineerPrincipal EngineerStaff Engineer

Lessons from the other side: What your VP is actually thinking

Learn how to build a partnership with your VP by sharing unfiltered reality and gaining the context you need.

16:00–16:45

Afternoon Break

16:45

Talk

Distinguished EngineerPrincipal EngineerStaff Engineer

The altitude slider: Knowing when to dive into code vs. drive the strategy

Practical cues and rituals that help senior ICs oscillate between architectural vision and hands-on execution.

17:15

Talk

Distinguished EngineerPrincipal EngineerStaff Engineer

Are we arguing or are we architecting?

Guiding technology decisions at scale is daunting for senior ICs. Spirited debates often feel like conflict, but they’re crucial. Learn to turn these clashes into collaborative, well-informed decisions. Are we arguing or architecting?

17:25

Talk

Distinguished EngineerPrincipal EngineerStaff Engineer

Engineering excellence: New product development in medical devices

Lessons from leading a seven-year development of a NextGen SPECT/CT scanner, focusing on innovation, compliance, and team leadership.

17:50

Talk

End of day wrap-up

Closing thoughts from the hosts.

18:00–19:30

Networking Mixer

10:50

Office Hours

Meet the speakers

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

11:00
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.

12:00

Director+ Drop In

Director+ Networking Coffee

Meet other senior leaders and grow your peer network

11:45
12:00

Table Talks

How do you know where to focus your attention as a staff+ leader?

Join facilitated conversations and dive into key issues facing engineering teams

12:00

Speed Coaching

Speed coaching

Watch or participate in free 1:1 coaching with Fiona Siseman

12:00

Table Talks

How do you embed observability into your engineering culture?

Join facilitated conversations and dive into key issues facing engineering teams

12:00

Solution Swap

I have a mix of junior and senior engineers – how do I adjust my management style to fit their needs?

Trade tactics for tackling everyday challenges.

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

12:30
12:00

Table Talks

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

Join facilitated conversations and dive into key issues facing engineering teams

12:00

Speed Coaching

Speed coaching

Watch or participate in free 1:1 coaching with Fiona Siseman

12:00

Table Talks

How can you facilitate valuable post-incident reviews?

Join facilitated conversations and dive into key issues facing engineering teams

12:00

Solution Swap

I have to work closely with my product management peer – how do I make that relationship work?

Trade tactics for tackling everyday challenges.

13:15
12:00

Office Hours

Meet the speakers

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

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

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.

13:30
12:00

Industry Interest Groups

Meet leaders from the Banking and Financial Services domain

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

12:00

Table Talks

How can you measure developer productivity without damaging morale?

Join facilitated conversations and dive into key issues facing engineering teams

13:45

Voltron Quest

Voltron Quest

Inspired by Lara Hogan’s Manager Voltron, meet other leaders to build your peer network at StaffPlus New York.

14:00
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

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.

14:30

Speed Coaching

Speed coaching

Watch or participate in free 1:1 coaching with Fabian Camargo

14:45
12:00

Table Talks

How to mentor effectively?

Join facilitated conversations and dive into key issues facing engineering teams

12:00

Table Talks

How can developer teams increase productivity while raising the security bar?

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

15:00

Solution Swap

I want to be able to influence direction outside of my direct team – how can I do that?

Trade tactics for tackling everyday challenges.

15:15

Speed Coaching

Speed coaching

Watch or participate in free 1:1 coaching with Fabian Camargo

15:30
12:00

Table Talks

How do you influence decisions effectively as a staff+ leader?

Join facilitated conversations and dive into key issues facing engineering teams

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.

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.

16:00

Office Hours

Meet the speakers

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

16:15
12:00

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

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.

18:00

Office Hours

Meet the speakers

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

11:45

Workshop

Beyond the hype: Measuring the real impact of AI-assisted engineering

Learn how to move beyond surface-level AI metrics to measure its true impact on engineering performance. In this hands-on workshop, you’ll apply a practical AI Measurement Framework, uncover meaningful insights on developer experience, team effectiveness, and business results, and leave with actionable strategies for maximizing AI’s value.

14:30
12:00

Workshop

Making your Staff+ impact visible

Practical workshop equipping Staff+ engineers with tools to showcase achievements, amplify influence, strengthen reputation, and gain recognition across organizations.

12:00

Workshop

Team building in the age of AI

AI is transforming how engineering teams work—and how leaders lead. In this interactive workshop, you’ll build your team’s AI charter, rethink your role as a leader, and learn how to grow the high-value human skills your team needs to thrive in an AI-powered world.

16:45

Workshop

Building a metrics-driven team

Drawing on insights from Accelerate, Jez Humble explores how to use data to drive improvement across your engineering teams. You’ll learn the key metrics that predict success, the principles behind them, and how to create a transparent, aligned, and high-performing organisation.

11:00

Demo stage

Live demo: CircleCI – Meet Chunk: Your agent to ship at AI speed with confidence

Explore solutions for your technical issues.

11:15

Demo stage

Live demo: Incident

Explore solutions for your technical issues.

11:30

Demo stage

Live demo: Tailscale – How to connect to anything, anywhere with Tailscale

Explore solutions for your technical issues.

13:05

Demo stage

Live demo: DX – How to measure AI’s impact on developer productivity with DX

Explore solutions for your technical issues.

13:20

Demo stage

Live demo: Harness – From toil to triumph: Real-world journeys to platform-driven software delivery

Explore solutions for your technical issues.

13:35

Demo stage

Live demo: Postman

Explore solutions for your technical issues.

13:50

Demo stage

Live demo: Sonar – How SonarQube fuels AI-enabled development and builds trust into every line of code

Explore solutions for your technical issues.

14:05

Demo stage

Live demo: Honeycomb – From chaos to clarity: Fast, full-fidelity debugging without the guesswork

Explore solutions for your technical issues.

14:20

Demo stage

Live demo: Outsystems – Generate enterprise apps in minutes with AI-powered mentor and agent workbench

Explore solutions for your technical issues.

16:10

Engineering in Action

Engineering in Action with Revelo

Learn how real engineering teams turn ideas into practice.

08:00–09:20

Arrival & Coffee

09:20

Talk

Welcome to StaffPlus New York 2025

A welcome from the hosts.

09:30

Talk

Reimagining the image pipeline at Squarespace

This talk explores the evolution of Squarespace’s image pipeline—why change was needed, how the architecture adapted for scale and flexibility, and the unique challenges faced along the way.

10:00

Talk

Distinguished EngineerPrincipal EngineerStaff Engineer

Un-becoming the bottleneck

The biggest obstacle to team growth is often Staff+ engineers themselves. Breaking this pattern requires more than just “org-wide impact” it calls for deep, deliberate focus on growing 2-3 key engineers around you.

10:10

Talk

Distinguished EngineerPrincipal EngineerStaff Engineer

How I learned to stop worrying and love distributed systems: 25 years of lessons learned

Explore practical methods for continuous delivery, solving common challenges to enable faster, more reliable software releases for your team.

10:40–11:20

Morning Break

11:20

Talk

Distinguished EngineerPrincipal EngineerStaff Engineer

Building Figma

Explore how a small, scrappy team at Figma turned a big product vision into a major launch through smart execution.

11:50

Talk

Distinguished EngineerPrincipal EngineerStaff Engineer

AI won’t fix developer productivity (unless you fix context first)

Discover how context engineering unlocks real developer productivity, making AI tools effective by connecting decisions, history, and code.

12:20

Talk

Distinguished EngineerPrincipal EngineerStaff Engineer

AI-accelerated migrations at scale

Learn how Airbnb has been using AI and self-serve tools to enable seamless, large-scale migrations, and some of the hurdles we’ve faced to get there.

12:30–14:00

Lunch

14:00

Talk

Distinguished EngineerPrincipal EngineerStaff Engineer

The magic of crisis

Discover how Staff+ engineers can use moments of crisis to drive lasting technical change and strengthen organizational systems.

14:30

Talk

Distinguished EngineerPrincipal EngineerStaff Engineer

Scaling LinkedIn’s search infrastructure: Key decisions and engineering challenges

Explore the key engineering decisions and challenges behind scaling LinkedIn’s search infrastructure to support billions of daily queries.

14:55

Talk

Distinguished EngineerPrincipal EngineerStaff Engineer

Compiler makeover: How technical debt created happier developers

Tired of endless patches and quick fixes to your developer tools? So were we. Learn how we at WSO2 turned our outdated Ballerina compiler into a driver of innovation, community growth, and happier developers.

15:05

Talk

Distinguished EngineerPrincipal EngineerStaff Engineer

How to lead when you just don’t know the tech

How to lead successfully in unfamiliar technical domains by embracing uncertainty, empowering teams, and still delivering results—even when you’re not the expert.

15:30–16:10

Afternoon Break

16:10

Talk

Distinguished EngineerPrincipal EngineerStaff Engineer

The lean architect: Experimenting your way to better decisions

Discover how hypothesis-driven architecture helps Staff+ engineers make better decisions early, reduce risk, and build resilient systems.

16:40

Talk

Distinguished EngineerPrincipal EngineerStaff Engineer

Citation needed

A reflective talk on questioning “requirements,” exposing assumptions, and reducing costly missteps through honesty, clarity, and adaptability.

16:50

Talk

Distinguished EngineerPrincipal EngineerStaff Engineer

Guiding mentees on the path to distinguished engineering

Discover how to mentor engineers toward Distinguished roles by developing technical excellence, strategic impact, and organizational influence.

17:15

Talk

End of day wrap-up

Closing thoughts from the hosts.

11:00
12:00

Office Hours

Meet the speakers

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

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.

11:45
12:00

Table Talks

How do you impact the technical standards of your org as a staff+ leader?

Join facilitated conversations and dive into key issues facing engineering teams

12:00

Speed Coaching

Speed coaching

Watch or participate in free 1:1 coaching with Fiona Siseman

12:00

Table Talks

How can I create the conditions for remote and international teams to thrive?

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

  • Manager, Software Development and Engineering Comcast
  • SVP Customer Engineering & Country Managing Director, Canada Pythian
12:00

Solution Swap

I am now regularly in meetings with non-engineering stakeholders – how do I communicate technical ideas and decisions effectively?

Trade tactics for tackling everyday challenges.

12:00

Table Talks

How can AI practically deliver value to engineering teams?

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

12:30
12:00

Table Talks

How do you work effectively on cross-team projects as a staff+ leader?

Join facilitated conversations and dive into key issues facing engineering teams

12:00

Speed Coaching

Speed coaching

Watch or participate in free 1:1 coaching with Fiona Siseman

12:00

Table Talks

How can I address automation anxiety in my engineering teams?

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

12:00

Solution Swap

People keep telling me I need an engineering strategy – how do I do this?

Trade tactics for tackling everyday challenges.

12:00

Table Talks

How can I effectively prevent LLMs from creating hidden technical debt?

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

12:50

Office Hours

Meet the speakers

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

13:15
12:00

Industry Interest Groups

Meet leaders from the Media and Entertainment domain

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

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.

12:00

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.

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

14:00
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

12:00

Community Representation Groups

Connecting Latinx leaders

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

14:30
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.

12:00

Speed Coaching

Speed coaching

Watch or participate in free 1:1 coaching with Fabian Camargo

12:00

Table Talks

How can you enable collaboration across your whole developer org?

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

12:00

Table Talks

How do you effectively evaluate what LLMs to use in your SDLC?

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

15:00

Solution Swap

My company lives in ambiguity with frequently changing direction – how do I lead effectively through this?

Trade tactics for tackling everyday challenges.

15:15
12:00

Table Talks

How do you make technical decisions that balance benefits and tradeoffs?

Join facilitated conversations and dive into key issues facing engineering teams

12:00

Speed Coaching

Speed coaching

Watch or participate in free 1:1 coaching with Fabian Camargo

12:00

Table Talks

How can you minimize context-switching and keep your developers focused?

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

15:45

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.

15:50

Office Hours

Meet the speakers

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

16:00

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

12:00
12:00

Workshop

Making your Staff+ impact visible

Practical workshop equipping Staff+ engineers with tools to showcase achievements, amplify influence, strengthen reputation, and gain recognition across organizations.

12:00

Workshop

Beyond the hype: Measuring the real impact of AI-assisted engineering

Learn how to move beyond surface-level AI metrics to measure its true impact on engineering performance. In this hands-on workshop, you’ll apply a practical AI Measurement Framework, uncover meaningful insights on developer experience, team effectiveness, and business results, and leave with actionable strategies for maximizing AI’s value.

14:30
12:00

Workshop

Team building in the age of AI

AI is transforming how engineering teams work—and how leaders lead. In this interactive workshop, you’ll build your team’s AI charter, rethink your role as a leader, and learn how to grow the high-value human skills your team needs to thrive in an AI-powered world.

12:00

Workshop

Building a metrics-driven team

Drawing on insights from Accelerate, Jez Humble explores how to use data to drive improvement across your engineering teams. You’ll learn the key metrics that predict success, the principles behind them, and how to create a transparent, aligned, and high-performing organisation.

11:10

Demo stage

Live demo: Infobip – APIs that talk back

Explore solutions for your technical issues.

11:25

Demo stage

Live demo: Retool

Explore solutions for your technical issues.

11:40

Demo stage

Live demo: Stytch

Explore solutions for your technical issues.

13:15

Engineering in Action

Engineering in Action with Augment Code

Sponsored by Learn how real engineering teams turn ideas into practice.

14:15

Demo stage

Live demo: Unblocked – Instantly find answers from code, docs, discussions and more

Explore solutions for your technical issues.

14:30

Demo stage

Live demo: Draftt – Manage software end-of-life before it manages you

Explore solutions for your technical issues.