Michael Pereira — Director, Software Engineering | AEM Expert

About me

A little bit
about me.

I'm a software engineering leader based in Cambridge, Ontario. By day I'm Director of Software Engineering within MarTech at Sun Life, leading teams that build at scale on Adobe Experience Manager and the broader Adobe ecosystem.

At heart I'm still a developer — I love getting hands-on, especially with AI and agentic systems. When I'm away from a screen you'll find me on the pickleball court, hanging out with friends, or catching a good movie.

⚡ Currently leading at Sun Life

Bringing Agentic AI
to enterprise engineering.

I'm actively rolling out Agentic AI practices across my engineering team at Sun Life — moving beyond simple AI-assisted coding toward autonomous, multi-step AI agents that meaningfully accelerate how we design, build, and ship software at scale. This isn't experimentation. It's becoming part of how we work every day.

🤖

Agentic Workflows

Autonomous AI agents for development tasks

👥

Team Enablement

Upskilling engineers on AI-first practices

🏗️

AI-Augmented Delivery

Integrating AI into the SDLC end-to-end

🔬

Hands-On Builder

Prototyping and shipping real AI tooling

What I work with

Skills & Tools

🏔️

Adobe AEM

🎨

Adobe Experience Cloud

🌐

Akamai

☕

Java

🟨

JavaScript

🌍

HTML / CSS

🤖

Agentic AI

✨

Gen AI

🔁

SAFe Agile

👥

Eng Leadership

Where I've worked

Experience

2023 — Present

Director, Software Engineering

Sun Life · Full-time

Promoted to Director of Software Engineering in June 2026, after leading the MarTech software engineering practice as Manager from 2023. Responsible for engineering strategy, team development, and delivery across Adobe Experience Manager and the broader Adobe Experience Cloud platform. Championing AI adoption and agentic engineering patterns across the organization.

2021 — 2023

Chapter Manager, MarTech

Canadian Tire Corporation · Full-time

Led the MarTech engineering chapter, aligning cross-functional teams around marketing technology delivery and best practices. Bridged the gap between marketing strategy and technical execution across the Adobe ecosystem.

2006 — 2020

Director, Digital Operations

BlackBerry · 14 years

Spent 14 years at BlackBerry in progressively senior roles culminating as Director, Digital Operations. Contributed to award-winning web and mobile products, and earned a Gold Star CEO Award in 2015 for outstanding impact. Worked across the full stack on globally scaled consumer and enterprise platforms.

Credentials

Certifications

Adobe Certified Expert — AEM

Adobe

March 2025

Certified SAFe® 6 Agilist

Scaled Agile

June 2023

Certified SAFe® 5 Agilist

Scaled Agile

March 2023

🔐

(ISC)² Candidate

ISC² · June 2023

🔁

Cert Prep: Scrum Master

LinkedIn Learning · April 2021

⚙️

DevOps Foundations

LinkedIn Learning · April 2021

🌩️

Cloud Architecture: Core Concepts

LinkedIn Learning · December 2020

🏛️

Enterprise Architecture Foundations

LinkedIn Learning · December 2020

🧩

Microservices Foundations

LinkedIn Learning · December 2020

📣

Google Digital Marketing Fundamentals

Google · December 2020

👔

Lead Like a Boss

LinkedIn Learning · April 2021

Writing

Engineering Thoughts
& Insights

I write about AEM, Adobe Experience Cloud, Agentic AI, and engineering leadership — practical insights drawn from real projects, not theory. No filler, no SEO padding.

AEM Adobe Architecture

How to Use AEM Modernization Tools to Convert Static Templates to Editable Templates

AEM's Modernization Tools give you a structured, repeatable way to migrate pages from static templates to editable templates without rebuilding from scratch. Here's how to use them effectively — including how to handle the edge cases the default converter won't cover.

April 22, 2026· 7 min read

Adobe AI

Adobe Summit 2026: What I'm Looking Forward to in Las Vegas

Adobe Summit starts next week and I'm heading back to Las Vegas for the fourth time. Here's what's on my radar — agentic AI, enterprise tooling, and the people I'm looking forward to connecting with.

April 17, 2026· 5 min read

AI Engineering Leadership

Rethinking Build Estimates in the Age of AI: What Enterprises Get Wrong

How enterprise engineering teams should evolve build estimates with AI in the development practice — without over-promising to business partners.

April 6, 2026· 7 min read