Tech Teams Today

Revelo
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Tech Teams Today dives into how top engineering leaders are building, leading and scaling high-performing teams of engineers and developers in the new world of work. Get unfiltered, fresh ideas to help propel your teams and your own tech leadership career. Tech Teams Today is brought to you by Revelo, the platform used by leading US companies to find, hire and pay full-time, remote engineers based in Latin America. Learn more at www.revelo.com

  1. SVP at Solera | How AI Is Reshaping Engineering Orgs

    MAR 24

    SVP at Solera | How AI Is Reshaping Engineering Orgs

    Alicia Davis is the SVP of Engineering and Development Operations at Solera — a global enterprise operating at scale in vehicle lifecycle management — and she has takes that you won't hear from most engineering leaders. She loves reorgs. She thinks AI is going to put your agile team "on Ozempic." And she'll tell you flat out: you're not interviewing to find the best candidate. You're interviewing to filter out the ones who will do damage.This is a packed conversation on what it actually takes to lead engineering orgs through constant change — and what most leaders are getting dangerously wrong about AI adoption right now.What you'll learn: Why Alicia loves reorgs — and why she thinks AI will make them more frequent across every orgThe "two pizza team on Ozempic" theory: how AI shrinks team size while massively expanding capacityHow the job of an engineer is flipping from 80% coding / 20% decisions to the exact reverseWhy she's seeing candidates show up to interviews with AI assistants live on the call — and how she's adapted her processThe Taco Bell cautionary tale: what happens when you rush AI into production without guardrailsWhy "good brakes make the car go faster" — and how that Agile principle applies to AI adoption right nowWhat the trust gap in AI actually requires to close (hint: it's the same fundamentals as always)The contrarian hiring take: you're not interviewing for the best candidate, you're interviewing to exclude the harmful onesWhat the next generation of engineering leaders needs to do to stay ahead of disruptionAbout the guest:Alicia Davis is SVP of Engineering and Development Operations at Solera, the global leader in vehicle lifecycle management SaaS, data, and services. With deep experience leading large-scale engineering organizations through multiple technology hype cycles — cloud, DevOps, Kubernetes, and now AI — Alicia brings a pattern-recognition perspective on change that most leaders are still catching up to. About Tech Teams Today:Tech Teams Today is a podcast by Revelo where we sit down with engineering leaders to talk about how they build, scale, and lead high-performing tech teams. Real conversations. No fluff. Subscribe and never miss an episode: - YouTube: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/@revelohq⁠ - Spotify: ⁠https://open.spotify.com/show/3ymzd0MC1YjnFy7hKzzR9x?si=51f3989aa4bc4308⁠ - Apple Podcasts: ⁠https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/tech-teams-today/id1641545336⁠ Connect with us: - Revelo: ⁠https://www.revelo.com⁠ - Lucas Mendes (CEO): ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/lmzmendes/⁠ - Revelo on LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/company/revelohq/⁠

    29 min
  2. AVP Kennedy Krieger Institute | How a Healthcare Nonprofit Is Getting AI Right

    MAR 19

    AVP Kennedy Krieger Institute | How a Healthcare Nonprofit Is Getting AI Right

    What does it take to lead a 30-person digital transformation team inside one of America's most respected pediatric health nonprofits — and do it almost entirely remotely? Tara Eckert, Assistant Vice President of Digital Transformation at Kennedy Krieger Institute, joins Tech Teams Today for a candid conversation on building high-performing teams, navigating AI responsibly, and what engineering leadership actually requires in 2026. From building a PMO from scratch to her viral take on remote accountability, Tara brings a grounded, no-fluff perspective that challenges how a lot of leaders think about their teams.What you'll learn:- Why remote work performance problems are a leadership problem, not an employee problem- How Tara built a PMO that turned a scrappy data team into a full engineering org of 30 — mostly remote, many out of state- The "peer supporter" model: why she pairs battle-scarred senior devs with AI-native junior devs on every project- What the AI hiring arms race actually looks like in practice — and how she uses AI to screen AI-generated resumes- Why critical thinking, not prompt engineering, is the skill that will matter most as AI matures- How AI gave her back enough time to get her hands back into technical work — and why she thinks that makes her a better leader- The biggest mistake engineering leaders are making with AI rollouts (she admits she's making it too)- Her take on the AI trust gap: "I don't care if it was AI or Bugs Bunny that generated the code. If it passes the tests, I trust it."About the guest:Tara Eckert is the Assistant Vice President of Digital Transformation at Kennedy Krieger Institute, a world-renowned nonprofit dedicated to improving the lives of children and young adults with developmental disabilities. Over her seven years at Kennedy Krieger, she's grown her team from 4 to 30 people, built the organization's first PMO, and is now leading the charge on responsible AI adoption — including chairing the organization's Data Use and Security Committee.About Tech Teams Today:Tech Teams Today is a podcast by Revelo where we sit down with engineering leaders to talk about how they build, scale, and lead high-performing tech teams. Real conversations. No fluff.Subscribe and never miss an episode:- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@revelohq- Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3ymzd0MC1YjnFy7hKzzR9x?si=51f3989aa4bc4308- Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/tech-teams-today/id1641545336Connect with us:- Revelo: https://www.revelo.com- Lucas Mendes (CEO): https://www.linkedin.com/in/lmzmendes/- Revelo on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/revelohq/#EngineeringLeadership #DigitalTransformation #RemoteWork #AILeadership #TechTeamsToday #HealthcareIT #NonprofitTech #StaffAugmentation #CriticalThinking #AIAdoption #Copilot #TechLeadership #Revelo #KennedyKrieger

    36 min
  3. CTO at Big Brothers Big Sisters of America: Why Your Fastest Coder Isn't Your Best Engineer

    FEB 19

    CTO at Big Brothers Big Sisters of America: Why Your Fastest Coder Isn't Your Best Engineer

    What happens when a CTO brings Silicon Valley-level engineering leadership to one of America's most iconic nonprofits? Travis Gibson, CTO at Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, leads a team of 35 across internal staff and staff augmentation, and he's rethinking what it means to build high-performing tech teams. In this episode, he challenges some of the biggest assumptions in engineering leadership today.**What you'll learn:**- Why the fastest coder on your team probably isn't your best engineer, and what actually makes someone great- How AI is reshaping the CTO role beyond just being another tool in the stack- Why remote work isn't a compromise but a genuine cheat code for deep, focused engineering work- What it takes to lead a blended team of internal engineers and staff augmentation effectively- How engineering leadership at a mission-driven nonprofit differs from (and often outperforms) traditional tech companies- The leadership principles that help technical teams stay aligned when they're not in the same room**About the guest:**Travis Gibson is the Chief Technology Officer at Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, the nation's largest and most experienced youth mentoring organization. He leads a technology organization of 15 internal staff and 20 staff augmentation professionals, driving digital transformation for an organization that serves communities across the country. Travis brings a thoughtful, people-first approach to engineering leadership that challenges conventional wisdom about speed, talent, and how great teams actually work.**About Tech Teams Today:**Tech Teams Today is a podcast by Revelo where we sit down with engineering leaders to talk about how they build, scale, and lead high-performing tech teams. Real conversations. No fluff.Subscribe and never miss an episode:Connect with us:Revelo: https://www.revelo.comLucas Mendes (CEO): https://www.linkedin.com/in/lmzmendes/Revelo on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/revelohq/#EngineeringLeadership #CTO #Nonprofit #TechTeams #RemoteWork #AILeadership #StaffAugmentation #DeepWork #TechTeamsToday #BigBrothersBigSisters

    29 min
  4. CTO at Synpulse: The Engineering Culture Principle Nobody Talks About

    FEB 12

    CTO at Synpulse: The Engineering Culture Principle Nobody Talks About

    Most engineering leaders talk about AI changing how we build software. Jieke Pan, CTO at Synpulse, is more concerned about what we’re losing in the process. In this episode, he breaks down why the fundamentals of software engineering matter more now than ever, and why “always be kind” is actually a high-performance leadership principle. What you’ll learn: Why being a hands-on CTO who still writes code closes the gap between business expectations and engineering realityHow extreme programming practices like test-driven development and pair programming are more relevant than ever in the age of AIWhat “always be kind” actually means in engineering culture (hint: it’s not about being friendly)Why the middle layer of engineers is thinning out and what senior leaders need to do about itHow to hire and evaluate engineers who grew up coding with AI copilotsBest practices for leading distributed, multicultural engineering teams across time zonesAbout the guest: Jieke Pan is the CTO at Synpulse, a global management consulting and technology company. With over 20 years of experience leading digital product innovation and transformation across banking, insurance, healthcare, retail, and telco, Jieke is a hands-on technology leader who still writes production code. He’s passionate about engineering culture, extreme programming, and building high-performing teams that ship quality software. About Tech Teams Today: Tech Teams Today is a podcast by Revelo where we sit down with engineering leaders to talk about how they build, scale, and lead high-performing tech teams. Real conversations. No fluff. Subscribe and never miss an episode Connect with us:Revelo: https://www.revelo.comLucas Mendes (CEO): https://www.linkedin.com/in/lmzmendes/Revelo on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/revelohq/ #EngineeringLeadership #CTO #SoftwareEngineering #TechTeams #AIinSoftware #VibeCoding #TestDrivenDevelopment #PairProgramming #EngineeringCulture #TechTeamsToday

    1h 15m
  5. CTO at Revenue.io | Hiring, Fraud, Remote Teams & Developer Velocity

    2025-12-11

    CTO at Revenue.io | Hiring, Fraud, Remote Teams & Developer Velocity

    What happens when AI changes not only how engineers work — but how they’re hired, evaluated, and led?In this episode, Derek Knudsen, Chief Delivery Officer and Head of Engineering at Revenue.io, shares a clear, grounded view on the future of engineering teams: how to keep velocity high with smaller, surgical teams, how to navigate the explosion of hiring fraud, how to measure real ROI from AI tools, and why he believes AI represents an intellectual extinction event for companies that don’t adapt.If you lead engineers, this conversation will hit close to home.⸻What you’ll learn– Team Design: Why Revenue.io runs “small and mighty” podsLess headcount, more impact: the counterintuitive math behind smaller, deeply aligned teams.– Remote Work: Why they stayed remote even as others push RTOAnd how they collaborate across fully distributed teams with intentional in-person strategy sessions.– Hiring in 2025: How they screen for behavior, not buzzwordsWhy they shifted from skill-first hiring to attribute-first hiring — and how that improved outcomes.– Fraud in hiring: 7,000 applicants for one job & a near-miss fraud caseDeepfakes, fake paystubs, stolen identities — and what Derek learned the hard way.– AI ROI: How they measure productivity per engineerVelocity, opportunity cost, and what “2 FTE per FTE” looks like with agentic workflows.– The learning curve: Why leaders must create space to experimentAI doesn’t magically increase output; it requires dedicated time to climb the curve.– Leadership today: Empathy + modeling behavior during uncertaintyWhy leaders must “show their work” with AI to reduce fear and increase adoption.– Contrarian take:AI isn’t another wave — it’s an extinction event for individuals and organizations that don’t adapt quickly.⸻About our guestDerek Knudsen is Chief Delivery Officer and Head of Engineering at Revenue.io, where he leads distributed engineering teams focused on platform modernization, AI adoption, hiring excellence, and strategic delivery.About the showTech Teams Today is hosted by Lucas Mendes, CEO & Co-founder of Revelo — helping companies hire elite, time-zone-aligned engineers from Latin America. New episodes weekly.

    35 min
  6. VP Eng at Gong | Hiring A Players in the Age of AI

    2025-12-04

    VP Eng at Gong | Hiring A Players in the Age of AI

    When you join a 10-person startup and stay long enough to see it grow into hundreds of engineers, you don’t just watch the change — you help shape it. In this episode, Gilad Matot, VP of R&D Sales Applications at Gong, shares how he’s helped grow the org from a single office to three hubs (Israel, Dublin, New York), how he thinks about hiring A-players in the AI era, and why he still believes the real job of an engineer is to create customer value, not just write code. You’ll hear how Gong structures its R&D teams, how they keep engineers close to customers, what’s actually changed with AI, and why leadership is still 70% about people. What you’ll learn • How Gong’s R&D evolved from 10 people to ~400+ (on the way to 600) • How Gilad structures his ~80-person division across Israel, Dublin, and New York • Why every pod has a dedicated PM and is pushed to challenge product decisions • How AI is changing 0→1 prototyping, but not (yet) the 95% that comes after • Why “best engineers = best coders” is no longer true • How he hires: A-players hiring A-players, and the one question he always asks• How COVID forced him to let go of “corridor management” and trust his leaders • Why he thinks AI is overhyped and still transformative• His contrarian view on unit tests and early “customers-as-QA” days • Honest advice for ICs considering leadership (and when not to do it) About our guest Gilad Matot is VP of R&D Sales Applications at Gong, where he leads multiple product groups and an Enterprise Solutions team spanning Israel, Dublin, and New York. About the show Tech Teams Today is hosted by Lucas Mendes, CEO & Co-founder of Revelo—helping companies build elite engineering teams and improve AI models with expert data. New episodes weekly.

    33 min
  7. VP Engineering at WOW! Shares Playbook: Leading through M&A, Culture Clashes, & Deadlines

    2025-11-18

    VP Engineering at WOW! Shares Playbook: Leading through M&A, Culture Clashes, & Deadlines

    When a company doubles overnight, leadership gets real.Ryan Mitchell, VP of Engineering at WOW! Internet, TV & Phone, shares the playbook for leading through mergers, culture clashes, and impossible deadlines—without losing your team’s trust or your sanity.SummaryIn this episode, Ryan Mitchell, VP of Network Products and Service Engineering at WOW, shares insights from his extensive career in technology leadership. He discusses the importance of understanding one's value system, the challenges of leading teams through mergers, and the significance of emotional intelligence in management. Ryan also delves into the transition to agile methodologies, the journey towards becoming a data-driven organization, and the balance between reliability and innovation in the telecom industry. He emphasizes the role of AI in future network innovations and offers advice for engineers aspiring to leadership roles.TakeawaysUnderstanding your value system is crucial for leadership.Switching roles can provide growth opportunities.Letting your work speak for itself is important, but self-promotion is necessary.Time and patience are essential in driving change during mergers.Emotional intelligence is key in motivating teams, especially in hybrid settings.Transitioning to agile requires overcoming resistance and fostering transparency.Building a data-driven organization starts with improving data quality.Balancing reliability and innovation is a challenge in telecom.Security and compliance are critical in managing hybrid cloud environments.AI presents significant opportunities for innovation in the telecom industry.Chapters00:00 Navigating a Long Career in Tech Leadership02:56 Leadership Principles and Rethinking Approaches05:56 Driving Change: Mergers and Cultural Integration08:47 Emotional Intelligence in Team Management11:47 Transitioning to Agile Methodologies14:23 Building a Data-Driven Organization17:23 Balancing Reliability and Innovation in Telecom20:29 The Hybrid Cloud Journey and Cost Management23:35 Future of Engineering: AI and Talent Development29:25 Opportunities in Network Innovation and Leadership Advice

    38 min
  8. CTO of Trusted Housesitters | Remote-First Scaling, Product-Centric Hiring & AI Guardrails

    2025-11-13

    CTO of Trusted Housesitters | Remote-First Scaling, Product-Centric Hiring & AI Guardrails

    How do you scale a remote-first marketplace while AI reshapes every role on the team? In this episode, Will Ogden (CTO, TrustedHousesitters) breaks down how his org evolved from early “Spotify model” squads to three Alliances (Acquisition, Member LTV, Platform), why they hire product-centric engineers, and how AI is changing workflows—from prototypes to PRs—without compromising security or quality. Org design that scales: Alliances (Acquisition, Member LTV, Platform) and the “just-enough” coordination layer Remote-first at global scale: UK hub with distributed teams (including Brazil/Portugal) and why they won’t go back Hiring, 2025 style: Less take-home grinding, more product/commercial signal; T-shaped collaborators over lone rockstars AI in practice: Copilot for speed, Platform-level guardrails (DevSecOps, automated checks, human review) for safety New workflows: Define tests/acceptance first, then generate code; keep humans accountable for understanding Leadership now: Pick the right problems, stay close to customers, make decisions fast—and make them right Abstractions are changing; standards and guardrails matter more than ever Trust rises when you separate specs/tests from code generation Product sense beats stack purity; hire for curiosity and commercial thinking Remote works best with intentional communication and periodic in-person connection Tech is a tool—use it to augment real life, not for its own sake Will Ogden is CTO at TrustedHousesitters, where he leads engineering, product, and data across a remote-first marketplace connecting pet owners and sitters worldwide. Tech Teams Today is hosted by Lucas Mendes, CEO & Co-founder of Revelo—helping companies build elite engineering teams and improve AI systems with expert data. New episodes weekly. What you’ll learnKey takeawaysAbout our guestAbout the show

    33 min
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About

Tech Teams Today dives into how top engineering leaders are building, leading and scaling high-performing teams of engineers and developers in the new world of work. Get unfiltered, fresh ideas to help propel your teams and your own tech leadership career. Tech Teams Today is brought to you by Revelo, the platform used by leading US companies to find, hire and pay full-time, remote engineers based in Latin America. Learn more at www.revelo.com

Information

  • Creator
    Revelo
  • Years Active
    2022 - 2026
  • Episodes
    49
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Revelo
  • Show Website
    Tech Teams Today