22-25 April 2026 
Slava Oks
Slava Oks is a Distinguished Engineer and CTO for Databases at Microsoft and VP of SQL Engineering, where he leads innovation across Azure Databases family of products. A visionary architect advancing large-scale databases and system runtimes, Slava has shaped many of Microsoft’s most advanced data platform capabilities. He is currently driving a transformation of engineering teams into one of the largest AI-enabled engineering organizations, applying AI to push the boundaries of productivity and quality in massive codebases. His leadership consistently delivers advances in performance, reliability, and cloud-native data systems.
Sessions for 2026
An Inside look at how Microsoft builds SQL features
Come learn a behind the scenes look at how Microsoft builds features and capabilities for SQL. This session will go deep into how Microsoft uses AI technology from design to code to deployment including fun examples of how we debug our own product. This is an advanced session, but you will walk away with tips and techniques to apply to your use of SQL.
Ask us anything - Panel session with SQL LT
Building on previous sessions at SQLBits, this Ask the SQL Leadership Team creates space for direct questions, candid discussion, and real feedback. Join this open panel to dive into product strategy, how SQL is built, and share your unfiltered feedback directly with the people shaping the platform.