Braze CTO Jon Hyman Reveals How He Engineered an AI-First Transformation in Months, Not Years
In a breaking development for the enterprise software industry, Braze co-founder and CTO Jon Hyman has disclosed that the company’s engineering organization underwent a complete transformation into an AI-first team in just a few months—a shift that typically takes years for most organizations.
“We essentially rewired our engineering culture and toolchain around artificial intelligence in under a quarter,” Hyman said in an exclusive interview. “It wasn’t incremental. It was a deliberate, urgent pivot to embrace the agentic era.”
Background
Braze, a customer engagement platform, has grown from a startup to a publicly traded company over nearly 15 years. Hyman has led its engineering organization through that entire trajectory, managing teams that scaled from a handful of engineers to hundreds.
Until recently, Braze’s engineering approach was traditional: human-driven code reviews, manual testing, and waterfall-like sprints. But the rapid rise of large language models and autonomous agents forced a strategic reassessment.
The AI-First Pivot
Hyman shared that the transformation began with a mandate to integrate AI into every step of the software development lifecycle—not just as a productivity tool, but as a core component of how Braze builds and ships products.
“We deployed AI-assisted code writing, automated test generation, and intelligent bug triaging across all teams within weeks,” Hyman explained. “Engineers now write less boilerplate and spend more time solving complex customer problems.”
The shift also included retraining engineers on prompt engineering and agent orchestration, with a focus on building systems that can collaborate with AI agents autonomously.
What This Means
Braze’s rapid transformation signals a new norm for technology companies: the ability to pivot engineering cultures quickly in response to AI breakthroughs. Other CTOs may feel pressure to accelerate their own AI adoption or risk falling behind.
“The market won’t wait for years-long digital transformations,” Hyman warned. “If you’re not rethinking your engineering stack for agents today, you’re already behind.”
Industry analysts agree. According to a recent report from Gartner, enterprises that reorganize engineering teams around AI capabilities can achieve 30-40% faster feature delivery. Braze’s case could serve as a blueprint for others.
- Key Takeaway: Braze transformed its engineering to be AI-first in months by retraining staff, deploying AI tools chain-wide, and shifting culture.
- Impact: Faster development cycles, improved code quality, and a competitive edge in the agentic era.
- Quote: “Engineers now spend more time on high-level design and less on rote tasks,” Hyman said.
Hyman emphasized that this is not a one-time change. The engineering team now continuously evaluates new AI models and agent frameworks, iterating their workflow monthly.
“We have a dedicated AI engineering squad that experiments with the latest models and decides internally which to adopt,” he noted. “This keeps our entire organization on the cutting edge.”
The broader implication is a shift in what it means to be an engineer. Braze now hires for “AI fluency” as a core skill, alongside traditional software expertise.
- Hire for AI collaboration skills
- Automate everything that can be automated
- Let humans focus on architecture and strategy
This article was updated to reflect new insights from Braze’s CTO.
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