TestCon Europe 2026
October 20-23
Vilnius & Online
Magdalena Rutkowska
About
Magdalena “Mags” Rutkowska has spent 20 years convincing engineers that quality is a mindset, not a department - and much of that time convincing executives that QA leaders can read a profit and loss (P&L) statement.
Currently Head of Engineering – Quality at Tango (400 million users, live streaming, and occasional chaos), she has previously built quality cultures at Talkdesk, Revinate, and various companies that no longer exist - unrelated to her involvement, she insists.
She has scaled engineering teams from 50 to 400+ while maintaining 95% retention, achieved DevOps Research and Assessment (DORA) Elite metrics, and pioneered the “Quality Evangelist” role.
Mags holds an Executive Certificate from MIT Sloan, is pursuing a Six Sigma Green Belt certification and a master’s degree in Artificial Intelligence, and volunteers as Head of Engineering for Zero Emissions World - because apparently one impossible mission was not enough.
Magdalena Rutkowska | Why Quality Leaders Make Better Executives (And Why Nobody Believes Us Yet)
Systems thinking. Risk assessment. User empathy. Cross-functional influence. Data-driven decision-making. Stakeholder communication. Building culture without authority.
These are not just QA skills - they are executive skills. Quality leaders practice them every single day.
So why does the path to Chief Technology Officer (CTO) run through development, not quality?
In this talk, Magdalena Rutkowska will explore how to reframe what quality professionals do, articulate their value beyond testing, and explain why the skills that make someone excellent at quality leadership are exactly what companies need at the top - even if they do not know it yet.