With AI evolving at lightning speed, a hot topic at TD TechCon 2026 was envisioning the future, especially when it comes to technology and talent development. It’s something that participants of a panel entitled “The Tech Workforce of 2030” considered, along with TD executives and attendees throughout the conference. Here’s what they’re considering when it comes to tech talent in the future.
Launching New Platforms To Keep Up With The Pace of Technology
The ability to work quickly and efficiently will become a necessity for future tech teams. We learned this when we sat down with Besa Gonthier, Associate Vice President of TD AI Platform Technology Delivery, for a quick one-on-one interview during TD TechCon 2026.
Gonthier experienced this need for speed when she led the development of an agentic AI platform that would allow certain mortgage approvals that qualify to happen in hours, not days. Impressively, Gonthier executed the project in less than half a year. “It was a first in the bank,” she explains. “Within six months, it went from requirements elicitation start to production, which is a huge feat. It worked incredibly well once we got it into production and it’s been scaling ahead of schedule.”
The agentic AI project that Gonthier pulled off demonstrates a need among tech workforces of the future—the ability to work quickly and efficiently in order to build functions that capitalize on the latest innovations in AI and technology.
Cross-Functional Teams Merge Tech with Marketing, Product, Risk and More
The mortgage approval agentic AI project showed what was possible when multiple teams work together towards a common goal. It’s another peek into how the bank could see more inter-team collaboration in the future.
Vlad Shpilsky, Head of Global Technology & Solutions, saw the mortgage approval project as a proof of concept. “We brought cross-functional teams together,” he says. “They had a sense of mission. We worked across Layer 6, the Bank’s award-winning AI research and development centre, product, risk and technology. Six months later, we delivered. And we’re looking forward to doing it over and over and over again. We have the team, we have the talent, we have the alignment and we have the mission.”
Ushering In a New Generation of Engineers
As important as it is to have an eye on the future, we must also look to the past. This is because senior engineers, with knowledge of important older platforms like the mainframe, are retiring soon and newer, junior engineers are less familiar with how to operate in the mainframe environment.
This is something that Vaughn Marshall, a Product Manager at Broadcom Software, has been thinking about. He’s responsible for Endevor and Endevor Bridge for Git, a tool that helps bring a more modern face to mainframe software development by allowing younger engineers to use newer interfaces they’re more familiar with, like GitHub, to complete the same tasks. “That means that if you’re an engineer who wants to use GitHub, you use GitHub,” Marshall explains. “If you’re an engineer who wants to use native interfaces, you do that instead.” The Bank’s investment in making traditional platforms, like the mainframe, approachable for newer engineers shows that they’re thinking ahead to ensure that their teams are supported before the generational transition of engineers happens.
A Commitment To Building In-House Talent
Great platforms can’t be built without great tech talent, both through external hires and fostering those within the company. During TechCon’s opening remarks, Shpilsky committed to making outsized investments in AI, especially when it comes to hiring and supporting the most skilled tech workers. It affirms the company’s position as a place to develop and grow a fulfilling tech career. “We’ve been investing tremendously over the years to build in-house talent,” he says.
As TD’s technology teams head into the future, Shpilsky is keen to maintain the Bank’s reputation as an excellent place to work. “We’re working to make sure that we have an environment that attracts the best talent,” he says. “We want to support people to be the best versions of themselves every single day.”