Software Engineering Events in Manchester

We organise friendly informal networking events for people in Tech to share ideas, learn from each other, and make new connections.

Who are the events for?
People working in tech who want to connect with others in the Manchester tech community, including:

• Software engineers
• Product managers
• Data / AI professionals
• Startup founders & operators

~~~

🍕 Action Required: get 20% off food & drinks 🍹

To attend, please become a member at OkGather for only £2.99 p/m (only takes 1 minute to join) and you will also get 20% off food & drinks at the gathering (show your OkGather profile at the bar). This small membership fee means we can keep running the gatherings, cover our costs and help more people meet new people! 🥳

~~~
You’ll meet people who are:

• Working in software engineering, product, data, AI, or startups
• Building projects, products, or growing their careers in tech

-----
Why should you join?

• Learn from others working in tech
• Expand your network to help your career
• It could lead to collaborations or new opportunities
• It’s a lot of fun!

-----
✨ How it works
Secure your place and join a group of people working in and around tech.
Just arrive at the venue:

• Grab a drink, find the group, and settle in
• Ask the bar staff for the ****"****Manchester Tech Network" table booking
• Expect a friendly, welcoming group and a great atmosphere 👋

Have better conversations

• You’ll be surrounded by people interested in tech and building things
• Discussions are naturally more engaging and relevant 🤝

Build connections + opportunities

• Meet people you can stay in touch with
• Learn from others in the space
• Potentially collaborate on projects or opportunities ⚡

-----
📍 Location
We host events at relaxed venues in central Manchester:

• Easy to get to locations
• Pubs or bars with a good atmosphere
• Spaces that are ideal for conversation 🍻

Spots are limited to keep the group high quality.

If you work in tech and want to meet others in your space, you’ll get a lot from this 👋

Join us for September's PBIMCR meet-up

When: Thursday 24th of September 2026
Time: arrive for 5:30pm with talks starting from 6pm start prompt
Address: Canopius Group - 100 Barbirolli Square Manchester M2 3AB
Complimentary drinks & pizza provided by our hosts Canopius Group & sponsors Robert Walters

Leon Gordon

Session Title

Microsoft Fabric is powerful, but without the right monitoring and governance in place, it can quickly become a black box of ballooning costs, failed refreshes, and unclear ownership.

In this interactive session, we’ll break down:
The real-world governance challenges teams face in Microsoft Fabric
What Microsoft offers out-of-the-box and where it falls short
How to monitor your data estate, refreshes, and usage in a meaningful way.

Proven strategies to track, forecast costs, audit, and optimise your Fabric environment.

We’ll also showcase how you can enable data teams to:
- Score their governance maturity
- Monitor all of your capacities, refresh and workspace activity in real-time
- Get AI-powered recommendations to improve platform performance
- Make informed decisions across cost, access, and risk

Whether you’re a CTO, BI lead, platform owner, or Power BI pro, this session will equip you with practical tools and a smarter mindset to take full control of your Fabric environment.

Bonus: Live demo of governance scoring and AI-powered Fabric optimisation monitoring in action.

Vito Schittone
Title:
Advancing Your Career in Data
Vito’s session is built on his experience, learning, and skills developed over more than a decade in the industry.
He has 12 years of experience across five sectors, and within two years of graduating, while working as a Medical Laboratory Assistant, he was already leading national analytics. He drove adoption of a previously under‑used tool and delivered analytics valued in the hundreds of thousands of pounds. Over the following ten years, he progressed from Information Management Officer to Chief Technology Officer (CTO), leading SaaS development for commercial use. During this period, he automated over 7,500 working hours in under a week and built multiple enterprise‑level solutions.

Vito holds 12+ recognised Microsoft certifications with an average score of 850/1000, including Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert (MCSE): Data Management and Analytics as well as Microsoft Certified: Agentic AI Business Solutions Architect. He describes himself as a Power BI and Fabric specialist, and is the founder of Data Driven Innovations (DDI), which has grown to around 1.5k members after just three sessions.
He uses a practical, experience‑driven approach and summarises the session with his own quote:

“The advantage of learning from someone who talks the talk and walks the walk is that real‑world experience collapses the learning curve, revealing in minutes what others take years to try, and often fail, to explain.” — Vito Schittone

Topics Covered: Power BI, Microsoft Fabric, Azure Analysis Services, Azure AI, OneLake, Real-Time Data

1st time attendees what to expect:
Engaging tech talks/demos/presentations and an opportunity to network in a friendly community environment with complimentary drinks and pizza served.

PyDataMCR September Talks

THE TALKS

Empathy Data in LLM's - Part II - Lucy Stafford-Hughes

Building on her previous talk in Sept 25 on Empathy Data in LLM's, this talk explores the development of stable interaction patterns in large language models using anchoring and identity containers as a method looking at reducing hallucinations and improving response context and accuracy.

Lucy will look at observations across 2 different AI models on building stable patterns, including interaction with the latest research such as Anthropics work on emotion concepts and emotion vectors in Claude. The talk will also touch on why this matters for human-AI collaboration, and implications across future emergent behaviours.

Lucy is a consultant, writer, and AI researcher. Her areas of expertise include complex business systems, Agile ways of working, and human-AI interaction.

The meaning of lift - understanding marketing effectiveness - Josh Hayes (He/Him)

Data science is about more than just answering questions, it’s about understanding them. Often multiple stakeholders will ask the same, reasonable-sounding question, only for it to become clear that they actually all want something subtly different. The role of a data scientist in this case is to listen to the questions, understand what is actually being asked, and help the stakeholders to develop language to better communicate what they want to measure.

In this talk, Josh will talk through an example of this in marketing, discussing advertising spend, attribution modelling, and how we can measure and talk about the impact of campaigns.

Josh Hayes is a Senior Data Scientist at Autotrader, with nearly 10 years of experience across academia and industry. He holds a PhD in astrophysics, and has led teams of data scientists, analysts, and engineers at Natwest and Autotrader. Among various projects, he has led work calculating carbon emissions associated with financial lending, modelled evolution of the UK’s housing stock, and worked to improve real-time monitoring of key business metrics.

In addition to his professional work, Josh has a long history in public speaking to both technical and general audiences. He has featured at the Bluedot festival, worked as a contributor to BBC radio, and was a long-time presenter of the Jodcast astronomy podcast, alongside speaking at multiple academia and industry conferences.

LOCATION
We'll be at Autotrader, who are also kindly supplying catering. The capacity is limited to 50.
After the talks we'll all head somewhere local for some post-event socialising.

EVENT GUIDELINES
PyDataMCR is a strictly professional event, as such professional behaviour is expected.
PyDataMCR is a chapter of PyData, an educational program of NumFOCUS and thus abides by the NumFOCUS Code of Conduct: see https://pydata.org/code-of-conduct.html
Please take a moment to familiarise yourself with its contents.

ACCESSIBILITY
Toilets and venue are accessible.

SPONSORS
Thank you to NUMFocus for sponsoring Meetup and further support.
Thank you to Autotrader, Krakenflex and Horsefly Analytics for their ongoing support and sponsorship of PyDataMCR.

Strive welcomes you to 'Tech and Business Networking', an event for tenured and newcomers at Rain Bar! Event is 18+. Limited Tickets.

Strive welcomes you to 'Tech and Business Networking', Manchester's hottest networking event! We are set in the perfect central location for all to join.

Are you interested in tech and business? Want to elevate your career? Meet Consultants, Analysts of all types, Bankers, Software Engineers, Entrepreneurs, and more who are active in the space or are eager to get started.

**This will be a multi-vertical event**********

There will be professionals with backgrounds in the arts, finance, tech, real estate, healthcare, and more. Come with an open mind, and leave with connections that wouldn't be possible otherwise!

Pack some business cards and come with an open mind!

Meet your future business partners, employers, coworkers, investors, and friends. You don't want to miss this opportunity to expand your network and create a brighter future.

We will have a space for our event to check-in.

The event will go from 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM(feel free to come at any point in this timeframe).

Name tags will be provided.

Business casual dress code. Job fair attire.

Remember - it's not about who you know today, it's who you'll meet tomorrow!

We look forward to meeting you at the event!

Sincerely,

Strive Networking Team

Refund requests are permitted up to 24 hours after purchase, so long as we are not within 48 hours before the event start time. Refunds will be made in full and repaid to your method of payment. Note that we are unable to reimburse for eventbrite fees.

Disclaimer: By attending Strive Networking events you agree to photos/videos taken during the event being used to promote future events.

MCR.Leaders (the new name for Leaders Connected) is back and we can't wait to host you all on Thursday 1st October from 6pm at Castlefield Rooms (above Alberts Shed) in Manchester.

A big thanks to our sponsors Equal Experts who have very kindly offered to support MRJ on the evening

What do we have planned?

• 3 x fireside chats with technology leaders - Beccy Weeks (Chief AI Officer), Mikey Smith (Chief Product & Technology officer) & James Leech (Chief Product & Technology Officer)
• BBQ Food
• Free Bar
• Sponsor prizes
• Loads of networking opportunities.

Introducing our speakers:

Beccy Weeks: Chief AI Officer @ Citation Group
https://www.linkedin.com/in/beccyweeks1/

"I believe in purposeful innovation... technology that solves real problems and creates measurable value, not transformation theatre.

I've led technology organisations through every methodology shift of the past two decades.....AI is the most significant capability shift I've seen. But most organisations are approaching it wrong...The gains come from redesigning how decisions get made and where human judgement actually matters. I've learnt this the hard way."

Recognition:
→ National AI Awards 2025 - Winner, AI Innovation; Finalist, AI Adoption (cultural mindset shift)
→ Top 30 Software CTOs in Europe 2024 (Neon River)
→ Women in IT Awards 2018 - Finalist

---------------------

Mikey Smith: Chief Product & Technology Officer @ Simple Online Healthcare
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikeysmithuk/

Mikey is an inspiring and forward-thinking AI First technology leader with more than 20 years’ experience building software, scaling engineering organisations and leading transformation across industries including retail and financial services.

Having led technology teams of c.100 people, Mikley has a proven track record of creating high-performing engineering cultures, scaling teams effectively and delivering complex technology programmes. His leadership style is grounded in empathy and servant leadership, with a strong belief in empowering engineers, creating clarity and aligning people behind a common purpose.

More recently, Mikey has become a passionate advocate for AI-First Engineering, rethinking traditional approaches to software development and building a new product engineering function around smaller, highly effective, AI-enabled pods.

He is particularly passionate about how AI can augment engineering teams, accelerate delivery and fundamentally change the way technology organisations are structured and operate.

Despite operating at CTO and executive level, Mikey remains deeply connected to engineering. He regularly pairs with engineers, mentors teams and explores emerging technologies firsthand, ensuring he understands both the opportunities and the real-world complexities facing modern engineering teams.

A strong believer in using data to drive better decisions, Mikey combines technical depth with calm, empathetic leadership and an ability to inspire people at every level of an organisation.

---------------------

James Leech (Chief Product & Technology Officer) @ Sainsburys
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamesleechdigital/

James is a highly accomplished technology, product and AI leader with extensive board-level experience as a CTO, Managing Director and Chief Product Officer.

Today, as Director of Technology for Customer, Loyalty & Channels at Sainsbury’s, he is helping lead technology and product innovation across one of the UK’s largest retailers, spanning digital and in-store experiences, Nectar, Nectar360, MarTech and the wider customer ecosystem.

At the forefront of Sainsbury’s AI journey, James is leading the adoption of AI and Agentic AI across customer, colleague and retail technology — from AI-powered personalisation and intelligent automation to autonomous agents, exploring how emerging technology can transform customer experience, colleague productivity and commercial performance.

Throughout his career, James has built and scaled high-performing technology, product and engineering teams, led major digital transformations and turned emerging technology into measurable business value. A passionate advocate for innovation and AI-first thinking, he brings together commercial acumen, deep technology expertise and product leadership to challenge how organisations build, operate and grow.

This session is a group workshop run by Simon Kirkham.

Where to invest technically is one of the most crucial decisions we make as engineers and leaders, but most of the time it comes down to "I think this is the important bit".

There's rarely a concrete rationale, and it's hard for anyone else to scrutinise – which are two of the things that make a decision a good one.

This is a hands-on session introducing some techniques you can use to look at a system, technical or not, and see it more clearly.

We'll use Wardley Mapping and Domain Mapping to work out what's slowing you down, where your time and money are best spent, and what's best left alone entirely.

Date: Wednesday 7th October
Venue: Bonded Warehouse (M3 4AP)

5pm – doors open (network, have some pizza and grab a drink)
6pm – workshop
7:30pm – pub / home (please don’t feel bad if you need to leave early)

Pizza and drinks will be provided as usual. If you have any special dietary requirements, please let me know ahead of time.

Tech leadership conference in Manchester, United Kingdom

Law firms don’t lack tech. They lack trusted spaces to understand it. LegaltechLive® is where real conversations and decisions happen.

Most legal tech events talk at you.
LegaltechLive® Open Mic gives you the mic.

This is where law firm leaders, IT directors, COOs, COLPs, innovation teams and trusted legal technology experts come together to talk openly about the challenges firms are actually trying to solve.

The room creates the conversation.

Expect:

✔ Real challenges
✔ Practical insight
✔ Live technology demonstrations
✔ Honest, peer-level conversation
✔ Introductions to people who can help

Every Open Mic is shaped by the room, but conversations typically include:

• AI adoption and readiness
• Legal technology and integration
• Data and knowledge management
• Operations and process improvement
• Compliance, risk and cybersecurity
• Client experience
• What's actually working inside law firms

Hear what law firms are really thinking.
Real priorities, challenges and experiences.

Discover expertise that can help.
Meet people with practical experience of solving the challenges being discussed.

Build relationships that continue beyond the evening.
Because sometimes the most valuable conversation is the one you weren't expecting to have.

People often tell us:

"It doesn't feel like networking."

"You've built something different."

"People genuinely want to help."

That's intentional.

It's about bringing the right people and the right expertise together around the challenges law firms are trying to solve.

Relationships come before sales.

People first. Real talk. Real relationships. Real solutions.

LegaltechLive® — Where law firms discover trusted expertise.