Danilo Sato, head of data and AI, UK and Europe, Thoughtworks

What has been your path to power?

I come from a software engineering background and got my Master’s degree studying the impact of metrics on agile development methodologies. That is how I found Thoughtworks, one of the agile pioneers in our industry and what attracted me to join in 2008.

Being here for the past 14 years, I have had the chance to work with clients in the UK, Europe, North America and Brazil across many industries, such as retail and consumer product goods, financial services, healthcare, telecoms, media, and automotive. I’ve been involved with coaching, architecture, consulting, training and delivered many projects, growing from leading teams to leading our larger accounts.

I had a year of ups and downs in 2014: I lost my father, but I also had the chance to move back to Brazil for six months and join our office of the chief technology officer. During that year, I published my book, DevOps in Practice []https://pragprog.com/titles/d-devops/devops-in-practice/, and we put together Thoughtworks’ technology strategy. One of the key initiatives was to bring data into our DNA and our chief technology officer, Rebecca Parsons, asked me to lead the initiative.

From 2015 onwards, I shifted my focus to data and machine learning, helping build our internal community, growing our capabilities and creating the channels to facilitate networking and knowledge sharing across the globe. When Thoughtworks decided to bring more structure to our external offerings in 2020, my role as the head of data and AI services for the UK was expanded to include Europe as well.