Summary
What do engineering leaders need to know to create outsized impact with LLMs? How do they avoid accruing hidden tech debt in the process? In this session, we'll swap hard-won lessons on where LLMs shine, where they fail, and how to ship responsibly. We'll explore essential topics including model/architecture selection, evaluation strategies, safety considerations, and the strategic tradeoffs behind build vs. buy decisions. Leave with a shared vocabulary, practical playbooks, vetted tooling recommendations, and connections to peers solving the same complex problems.
Speakers
Nikrad Mahdi is a startup engineering leader, technical advisor, and executive coach. Most recently VP of Engineering at Latent, he has led engineering teams at Dropbox, Figma, Quip, Slack, Salesforce, and DeepScribe—where he spearheaded early LLM adoption, transitioning medical note generation from human-in-the-loop to fully automated. As an early employee at both Dropbox and Figma, Nikrad brings unique insights on scaling engineering organizations from startup to enterprise, helping leaders build resilient teams and healthy cultures.
on ELC Annual 2025