Engineering & Leadership Excellence in the Age of AI
About Topic
The rise of intelligent systems is reshaping what it means to build, scale, and lead in technology. Engineering leaders today must deliver at unprecedented speed while ensuring every layer—architecture, data, and human decision-making—remains trustworthy. Charu unpacks how the craft of engineering is evolving as AI becomes an active participant in design, testing, and delivery. She discusses how to lead teams that balance experimentation with discipline, translate complexity into clarity, and build systems that improve with every release. The session offers a forward look at how excellence in 2026 will be defined not just by performance, but by responsibility, resilience, and the ability to lead through constant change.
Key Takeaways
1. Innovation creates noise, making obvious truths harder to see.
2. Question if a problem really needs GenAI or if existing tools suffice.
3. Understand GenAI’s true value beyond the hype.
4. Old and new solutions should complement, not replace, each other.
5. A real-world case study shows how GenAI can be used effectively.
6. Clarity comes from cutting through illusions and embracing simplicity.
About Speaker
Charu Srinivasan leads the Azure Core Engineering organization for Compute and Cloud Native technologies at Microsoft, India Development Centre (IDC). She has been at the forefront of advancements in cloud computing, database replication, disaster recovery, and hybrid cloud management efforts, which help customers across industries build stronger and safer businesses on Microsoft Cloud. Her work emphasizes privacy, data security, and trustworthy computing, positioning Microsoft’s Zero Trust platform as a leader in safeguarding data in an increasingly AI-first landscape. Charu is a passionate advocate for making technology, especially AI, accessible to everyone.
As the site leader for the Cloud and AI IDC organization, she leads several organization-wide initiatives such as innovation excellence, diversity and inclusion, and building the next generation of leaders. She is a Board member on the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) National Committee on Technology. Charu is passionate about socio-economic change in India through education and is deeply involved with budget schools in India to deliver high-quality, affordable education.
Charu Srinivasan holds a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from Anna University and a master’s degree in Computer Science from the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Topic details coming soon..
Other Speakers at QonfX 2025
San Francisco
Atomic Talk Title: 7 Highly Valuable Approaches for REST API Testing
It is a long established fact that a reader will be distracted by the readable content of a page when looking at its layout. The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has
It is a long established fact that a reader will be distracted by the readable conte
will be distracted by the readable content.
Ajay Balamurugadas
Exploratory Testing
Functional Testing
San Francisco
Atomic Talk Title: 7 Highly Valuable Approaches for REST API Testing
It is a long established fact that a reader will be distracted by the readable content of a page when looking at its layout. The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has
It is a long established fact that a reader will be distracted by the readable conte
will be distracted by the readable content.
Ajay Balamurugadas
Exploratory Testing
Functional Testing
San Francisco
Atomic Talk Title: 7 Highly Valuable Approaches for REST API Testing
It is a long established fact that a reader will be distracted by the readable content of a page when looking at its layout. The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has
It is a long established fact that a reader will be distracted by the readable conte
will be distracted by the readable content.
Ajay Balamurugadas
Exploratory Testing
Functional Testing
San Francisco
Atomic Talk Title: 7 Highly Valuable Approaches for REST API Testing
It is a long established fact that a reader will be distracted by the readable content of a page when looking at its layout. The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has
It is a long established fact that a reader will be distracted by the readable conte
will be distracted by the readable content.
Ajay Balamurugadas
Exploratory Testing
Functional Testing