Engineering for the Agentic Era: How Braze's CTO Led a Rapid AI Transformation
Introduction
In the rapidly evolving landscape of customer engagement, Braze has emerged as a leader by not only adapting to change but also driving it. At the helm of its engineering organization is Jon Hyman, co-founder and CTO, who has guided the company through nearly 15 years of growth. Recently, Hyman shared insights into how Braze transformed its engineering team into an AI-first powerhouse in just a few months—a move that positions the company for the agentic era, where autonomous agents and intelligent systems redefine customer interactions. This article explores the key strategies, leadership principles, and cultural shifts that enabled this rapid transformation.
The Journey of a Co-founder CTO
Building an Engineering Culture Over 15 Years
Since Braze's founding, Hyman has prioritized a culture of innovation and ownership. He emphasizes that engineering excellence is not just about writing clean code but about fostering an environment where teams feel empowered to experiment and learn from failures. Over the years, Braze scaled its engineering team from a handful of developers to hundreds, all while maintaining a tight feedback loop with product and customer success. This foundation proved critical when the company decided to pivot toward an AI-centric approach.
Navigating Growth Without Losing Agility
As Braze grew, Hyman faced the classic challenge of preserving startup agility within a larger organization. He implemented decentralized decision-making and cross-functional squads to keep teams nimble. Regular hackathons and innovation sprints became a staple, allowing engineers to explore emerging technologies like machine learning and natural language processing even before the official AI push. This proactive culture laid the groundwork for the seismic shift ahead.
The Pivot to an AI-First Organization
From Months of Planning to Rapid Execution
When Braze decided to become an AI-first company, Hyman knew that speed was essential. Rather than spending months on lengthy roadmaps, the leadership team set a bold goal: transform the engineering organization in three months. This required fast-paced experimentation and a willingness to deprioritize nonessential projects. Key initiatives included integrating AI models into the core product, retraining teams on machine learning pipelines, and creating an internal platform for rapid AI model deployment.
Leveraging Agentic Capabilities
The shift wasn't just about adopting new tools—it was about rethinking the very architecture of Braze's platform. Hyman and his team focused on building agentic capabilities that allow the system to act autonomously on behalf of customers. For example, AI-driven personalization now adapts in real time, and automated decision-making handles routine tasks. These rapid changes were possible because of the earlier investment in a modular, microservices-based infrastructure.
Key Leadership Lessons for the Agentic Era
Embracing Change and Continuous Learning
Hyman underscores that leaders must model curiosity and a willingness to learn. He personally dove into AI courses and encouraged his leadership team to do the same. This top-down commitment signaled that the transformation wasn't a one-time project but a permanent cultural shift. He also advocates for blameless postmortems to normalize failure during experimentation—a crucial mindset when venturing into uncharted agentic territory.
Empowering Teams to Experiment
One of the most powerful moves Hyman made was to give teams autonomy over their AI-related projects. He created innovation pods that could rapidly prototype new features without waiting for central approvals. This decentralized approach accelerated learning and surfaced unexpected use cases for AI in customer engagement. Teams were encouraged to share their findings through internal demos, creating a virtuous cycle of knowledge sharing.
Conclusion: What's Next for Braze's Engineering?
Braze's rapid shift to an AI-first engineering organization serves as a blueprint for other companies navigating the agentic era. By combining a strong cultural foundation with bold, time-boxed execution, Jon Hyman proved that even a 15-year-old company can reinvent itself in months. The next frontier for Braze includes deeper integration of autonomous agents that proactively optimize customer journeys, as well as continued investment in agentic capabilities. For engineering leaders, the message is clear: the future belongs to those who can pivot fast and embrace AI not as a tool, but as a core part of their organizational DNA.