Inside Look: AI & Developer Productivity Programs in a 1,500+ Engineering Team

As AI transforms software development, engineering leaders are facing new questions: How should developer productivity teams support AI adoption? What standards and guardrails are needed? And how do you measure impact beyond simple usage metrics? In this fireside-style conversation, Ellen Jones, Customer Success Leader at DX, sits down with Kristjan Ulst, Engineering Manager at Arrive, to explore how their developer productivity program operates and evolves in the age of AI. Drawing on lessons from a 1,500+ engineer environment, we’ll discuss how the team partners across engineering, approaches standardization and enablement, evaluates emerging AI tools, and thinks about measuring outcomes. The discussion will cover practical considerations around platform engineering, developer experience, AI adoption, productivity measurement, and organizational alignment—along with lessons learned, challenges encountered, and what may be next for developer productivity teams. Whether you’re building a developer productivity function, leading platform engineering initiatives, or navigating AI adoption at scale, you’ll leave with insights from the front lines of a modern engineering organization.