Jan Vrtiška

Jan’s career spans the full arc from hands-on software engineer to senior engineering manager, with deep experience at companies like Microsoft, Broadcom, HPE, and Pure Storage. At Pure Storage he pioneered Portworx Data Services — the industry’s first Database-as-a-Service for Kubernetes — and grew his team from 10 to 24 engineers while delivering cloud applications in partnership with Microsoft. He holds two patent submissions for his innovative work in distributed systems. Before Pure Storage, Jan expanded Rally Software’s development footprint to Central Europe at Broadcom, establishing engineering teams in Prague and Vienna. At Microsoft, he led release strategies for Dynamics 365 Marketing across multiple Azure regions, gaining hands-on expertise in global-scale cloud delivery. Jan is deeply committed to growing the next generation of engineering leaders. He mentors at Femme Palette, serves as an ELC Community Ambassador, and co-founded Marian’s List. He holds an MSc in Software Engineering from Czech Technical University in Prague.

15+ years of experience

Active mentor at Femme Palette, ELC Community Ambassador, and co-founder of Marian’s List. Passionate about developing engineering leaders and helping underrepresented groups in tech.

• Scaling engineering teams from small to mid-size
• Transitioning from IC to engineering management
• Building and leading distributed/remote teams
• Navigating cloud-native and Kubernetes architectures
• Driving cross-team collaboration across time zones