Mission-Critical Priorities in Quality Engineering: The Leader's Playbook

AUG 20, 202601:00 - 01:45 PM (PT)45 MINS

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Quality engineering leaders are being asked to do more than ever, ship faster with AI, test systems that are increasingly agentic and non-deterministic, prove ROI to the board, and keep mission-critical platforms running without fail. But not everything can be a priority. This panel brings together senior QE and engineering leaders to share what actually sits at the top of their playbooks: where they're investing in AI and automation, what they've deliberately deprioritized, and how they're preparing their teams and toolchains for the agentic era.

About the Panelists

Ali Karnib:

Ali Karnib is Head of Quality Engineering at Gallup and an engineering leader with over a decade of experience across software delivery, quality engineering, automation, architecture, and DevOps. He led the transformation of the QA function into a modern quality engineering practice, implementing shift-left principles and embedding quality throughout product development rather than treating it as a final checkpoint. His work spans scalable automation across UI, APIs, and event-driven systems, CI/CD pipelines, and shaping architectural decisions that enable reliable systems and efficient delivery. Ali is passionate about building strong teams, fostering shared ownership, and continuously improving how software is engineered and delivered. He is currently advancing quality engineering for the AI era, modernizing engineering toolchains and developing practical approaches to scaling quality, testing infrastructure, and engineering practices for agentic and non-deterministic systems.

Hina Saini:

Hina is a Lead Quality Engineer at TUI with 18 years of experience in quality engineering, test automation, and digital transformation. She leads the Mobile QA function, driving scalable quality practices and engineering excellence. Passionate about the role of AI in quality engineering, Hina focuses on using intelligent automation to improve testing efficiency, product reliability, and customer experience.

Akshit Lomash:

Akshit Lomash is an engineering leader with extensive experience building and growing teams in QA, quality engineering, and engineering productivity. He works with stakeholders across geographies to build a vision, roadmap, and release plan leading up to a quality software delivery. He is passionate about increasing developer productivity and making software delivery respond faster and more efficiently to business needs.

Cem Sever:

Cem Sever is a senior IT and telecommunications leader with over 25 years of expertise in Service Delivery and Acceptance, enterprise service management, and large-scale technology modernization programs. He currently serves in a senior leadership role at Vodafone Turkey, driving Service Acceptance and Testing, DevOps transformation, Automation initiatives, and large-scale technology delivery across complex, multi-vendor environments. He also has a strong background in customer interaction technologies and TV broadcasting infrastructure, with proven success in leading global-standard projects, improving operational efficiency, and managing cross-functional teams. He holds a degree in Electronics and Telecommunications Engineering and maintains multiple industry certifications including Lead Auditor for Business Continuity, ITIL, and ISO standards. He focuses on enabling innovation, accelerating time-to-market, and establishing scalable, future-ready technology ecosystems that enhance customer experience and business performance.

Kumar Gaurav Jain:

Kumar is Head of Quality for Digital at Virgin Media O2, where he leads quality strategy across the full digital estate from customer-facing journeys and eCommerce to the platforms that power them. Kumar's remit spans performance and reliability at scale, end-to-end journey assurance, and readiness for peak traffic events on complex cloud and API-driven architectures. Alongside core quality leadership, Kumar drives innovation and the adoption of AI within quality engineering, helping teams modernise how digital products are tested, assured, and shipped. Kumar partners closely with development, platform, and identity teams to balance speed of delivery with reliability at scale, and shares practitioner lessons on building quality approaches that hold up in real production environments.