The best engineering teams ship quality software quickly, but doing that consistently requires more than just speed. It requires careful attention to reliability, security, ease of maintenance, and developer experience.
The Engineering Excellence Summits were designed to create a community of engineering leaders looking to connect with others facing similar challenges, share approaches that are working, and learn what “better” can look like.
Across five summits in New York City, London, Boston, Amsterdam, and San Francisco, engineering leaders, platform teams, and developers came together to exchange practical strategies for balancing development velocity with critical technical standards - like security, reliability, and operational efficiency.
If you couldn’t make it, here’s what made these conversations so valuable – and why we’re doubling down on supporting this fast-growing community:
Real-World Stories from Engineering Leaders
The sessions focused less on theory and more on lived experience. Attendees heard firsthand how others are navigating complex challenges in scaling systems, teams, and standards. Some of the presentations and panels included:
Klaviyo: Platform Engineering in a High-Growth Environment
Klaviyo shared how their platform engineering function is helping developers work more independently without compromising quality or control. Their talk offered clear examples of how internal platforms can balance autonomy with consistency, especially during periods of rapid growth.
Teladoc: Modernizing Engineering in Healthcare
Zishan Ahmad, Senior Director of Platform Engineering at Teladoc presented a choose-your-own-adventure style overview of Teladoc’s platform engineering journey. He went over how they are using their IDP to improve outdated production readiness processes, assess service dependencies from a security perspective, and modernize their organization’s practices.
STOXX: Rebuilding from the Ground Up
Mit Saru, Senior Director of Platform Engineering at STOXX, walked through the team’s ongoing migration to GCP and the shift in operating model that came with it. His session highlighted what’s involved in modernizing legacy infrastructure - from tooling and culture to how teams define ownership.
Panel: Engineering Excellence in Practice
In a panel discussion, leaders from Shell, JPMC, Etsy, and more reflected on how they’re driving continuous improvement inside their teams. Common themes included the need for better observability, clearer ownership and standardization, and a willingness to rethink longstanding processes to meet today’s demands.
Small-Group Roundtables: Honest, Practical Conversations
Alongside the main talks, the roundtable discussions stood out as a highlight of each Summit. These sessions weren’t presentations - they were open, peer-led conversations where participants exchanged real-world lessons, tackled shared challenges, and learned directly from one another in a candid, collaborative setting.
AI in Engineering
One session explored how teams are beginning to use AI tools to support debugging, automation, and faster iteration. While interest was high, the group also acknowledged the limitations and cautioned against investing in AI for its own sake. The most common applications were reducing toil and accelerating routine tasks.
Making Service Ownership Work
Another roundtable focused on service ownership; what it should look like, and why it often fails. Participants shared different approaches to defining responsibilities and building accountability into the development process. One clear takeaway: success depends as much on culture as it does on tooling.
Other topics included improving onboarding, managing internal standards across distributed teams, and simplifying toolchains to reduce developer friction. The conversations were straightforward and grounded in real experience, not just aspirations.
Engineering Excellence Awards
The Engineering Excellence Awards celebrated emerging leaders and individual contributors that are taking their organizations to the next level of velocity and innovation. This year’s honorees included:
Simon Irwin (Rapid7) – For leading efforts to improve both developer and platform experience, and for consistently identifying ways to streamline and automate common workflows.
James Simmonds and Naresh Kumar (Shell) – For building systems that help developers make informed decisions, encouraging a data-driven culture and a focus on long-term sustainability.
Trushar Shah (Vertex) – For successfully navigating cross-functional collaboration and driving organizational change at scale.
Hari Babu (H&R Block) – For exemplifying what great engineering leadership looks like - moving fast, driving impact, and aligning technology to business goals.
Nick Raccioppi (Earnin) – For championing scalable platform practices and contributing thoughtful feedback that has shaped internal tooling and standards.
These recognitions highlight the often behind-the-scenes work that drives real improvement and to encourage others to keep pushing in that direction.
Looking Ahead
We’re grateful to everyone who joined us this year and helped make the Summits valuable, thoughtful, and collaborative.
If you’re interested in learning more about how world-class engineering teams rely on Internal Developer Portals to drive engineering excellence, join us at IDPCON: the only in-person event dedicated to Internal Developer Portals.
There will be expert led sessions, interactive roundtables, hands-on workshops, and networking opportunities.
IDPCON is on October 9, 2025 in New York City.
Learn more and register here: https://idpcon.com/
