AI-Native Engineering: From Coding to Orchestration with Robert Gonzalez

Robert Gonzalez, VP of Engineering at SugarAI shares how he's transforming a 115-person engineering org into an AI-native operation, from building Scrum Master agents to rethinking how engineering value is measured. He also makes the case that in the age of AI, your product's durable moat isn't the UI, it's the context layer underneath it.

Main Topics Covered:

• A self-taught career path from webmaster to VP of Engineering, and the value of saying yes to risky projects
• Leading a globally distributed engineering org across four continents using the "golden window" for collaboration
• Why AI acceleration in engineering just moves the bottleneck, and why the whole business needs to keep pace
• Building AI agents to automate Scrum Master duties, sprint metrics, and backward-looking estimation analysis
• Why the context layer, not the UI, is the durable moat for SaaS companies in the AI era

Links & Resources:

• Connect with Robert Gonzalez: LinkedIn
• Connect with Stephen Koza: LinkedIn
• Connect with EverOps: Website | LinkedIn