Greater Perth Area
Developer Engagement Lead @ Microsoft | Tedx Speaker | Keynote Speaker | AI Developer | GAICD | MCT | Developer Relations | Technical Storyteller Michelle Sandford is a Developer Engagement Leader who writes code, builds with GitHub and Azure AI, and learns out loud. She likes sharing what’s useful (and what isn’t), and believes shipping is better than talking about it: - A community builder, connecting MVPs, user groups, universities, and developer communities into thriving ecosystems that learn together and lift each other higher. - A technical storyteller, Michelle shapes how the world talks about AI‑powered engineering and Azure innovation bringing clarity, curiosity, and creativity to every conversation. - A program strategist, designing scalable, repeatable motions that help developers grow their capability and confidence at pace with a rapidly evolving industry. - A bridge between engineering and the field making sure developers feel heard, supported, and empowered, from the first line of code to the final production push.
As a Senior Go‑to‑Market Manager for Developers building on Azure with a primary focus on GitHub Copilot, I operate at the intersection of developer advocacy, ecosystem enablement, and strategic product storytelling. My work aligns closely with modern Developer Relations principles - building trust with technical communities, elevating developer capability, and accelerating adoption of Microsoft’s AI‑first cloud. - Champion Developers Across Asia & ANZ I serve as a bridge between Microsoft’s Azure engineering vision and the real needs of developers across the region. I amplify Microsoft’s platform narrative especially around Azure AI, GitHub Copilot, and agentic development - giving developers practical, inspiring ways to use these tools. - Shape Azure’s Developer GTM Strategy I translate complex cloud capabilities into compelling, developer‑friendly programs and motions. My work supports key pillars of the Microsoft developer strategy: community events, AI‑first skilling journeys, hackathons, workshops, and multi‑segment developer activation. - Accelerate Adoption Through Experiences That Developers Love From App‑in‑a‑Day workshops to intelligent‑app hackathons, virtual training days, web shows like AI-Genius and New Breakpoint, as well as in‑person community events, I curate impactful learning pathways that meet developers where they are. - Enable Partners, Customers, and Technical Communities I empower developers in partner organisations and customer teams by giving them the right guidance, hands‑on sessions, and storytelling to adopt Azure services from data and AI to app innovation. - Elevate Microsoft’s Thought Leadership in AI & Engineering I collaborate on content, presentations, and programs showcasing cutting‑edge engineering practices including agentic workflows, multi‑agent orchestration, and Azure Functions‑powered AI scenarios.
As a Customer Success Account Manager, I served as the strategic, technical, and relationship lead for my customers, guiding them through their cloud journey to help them realise ongoing value from Microsoft solutions. I orchestrated cross‑functional experts, managed each customer’s success plan, removed blockers, and drove adoption of prioritized workloads aligned to their business outcomes. Through proactive engagement, I helped customers modernise, optimise, and innovate on Azure, ensuring operational excellence, maintaining the health of their cloud estate, and accelerating time‑to‑value. I acted as a trusted advisor, leveraging deep product knowledge and customer insight to reduce risk, enhance satisfaction, and deliver measurable impact.
I present at around 50 conferences and events each year across the world, write posts and articles, and send out thousands of tweets and other social comments. I do strategy workshops with customers and regular sessions with press and analysts. Find me on Twitter @msandfor I have Keynote talks on the following topics: •Rise of the Tech Influencer - small steps you can take to increase your reach. I've given this talk at Melbourne International Games Week (GCAP 2017), Seattle (Microsoft Ready 2018), NDC Oslo 2018 and coming up at DDDPerth 2018. •How to Level Up on Life by Thinking Outside the XBox - a talk that uses Games as the framework to talk about the life we choose to live and the opportunity we have to go great things. •How to Level Up by Thinking Outside the X(Y)Box - a talk around inclusive design and diversity and how by making stuff more accessible for those that need it, we make it better for the population as a whole. •Where Have All The Girls Gone – A diversity focused talk encouraging women and young people into the Technology Industry •This is IT – A talk for kids or teachers on the breadth of careers in the Technology Industry
Tech Outsiders is a social enterprise based in WA that is raising awareness of all the cool people we have working in Tech who are outside the industry stereotype of the “Stale, Pale Male” [Term coined by Dr Jason Fox]. The most common response we hear to the complaint that “All the Speakers at the Conference are men!” or “All the Award Nominees are male.” is that there were “No known female candidates”. It is our mission to solve that problem by highlighting all of the marvellous talent the WA Tech Industry has outside of the default. We would love you to be part of the list of profiles we are building, just visit our website for a link. There is no minimum qualification or experience level – in fact new and unknown is just as appealing to us, as our goal is to highlight talent at every level.
FutureNow was originally established as the WA Arts Industry Training Council in October 1990. In 1995 sport, recreation and racing was added to its coverage and tourism and hospitality, printing, information communications technology were added in 2009. FutureNow has drawn on the contribution of successive Boards, Industry advisory networks and training and education partners and evolved to become a leader in workforce development in the Creative, Leisure and Technology Industries. FutureNow's current Board continues to set and monitor the strategic direction and performance of the organisation.
Past previous Chair sits on the Branch Executive Committee and provides advice to the current Chair.
The ACS is a society that supports 45,000 students and professionals that share the same passion: that technology can make the world a better place. As Chairman in WA, I am instrumental in building a large and vibrant community. I create and nurture great relationships with Students & Educators, sit on advisory boards of 3 of the 5 universities and provide industry advice for TAFEs around future programs. I am a speaker, a hackathon judge, a panelist, a coach and a mentor.
Vice Chair of the ACS WA Branch Executive Committee. I have served on this Board for several years now, taking the executive duties in the role of Women's Director as well as the Vice Chair's position. I plan 8 events per year including a Gala Dinner, a Code Day and Personal Development Sessions for Female Leadership. I run a fully inclusive group where men are also welcome and try to cover topics of interest to the widest business and tech audience. https://www.acs.org.au/branches/westernaustralia.html
As Head of IT Service Operations at Programmed Group, I was responsible for building and maturing the organisation’s ICT Service & Support function across a large, multi‑industry workforce. Initially recruited to establish a new Service Desk, I expanded the team to a 14‑person ICT Support function and implemented ITIL‑aligned processes, procedures, and technical documentation that underpinned service consistency, audit readiness, and operational scalability. I developed comprehensive documentation for Incident, Problem, Change, Escalation, and Request Management, and embedded a collaborative Each‑One‑Teach‑One culture that incentivised knowledge sharing and continuous learning. Through structured documentation practices, clear workflows, and disciplined governance, I ensured the team operated efficiently across Australia, New Zealand, the UK, and Singapore, supporting thousands of users and delivering reliable, audit‑compliant service operations.