Sylvain Kalache is a technologist and strategic communicator with two decades of experience at the intersection of engineering, public relations, and developer advocacy. He specializes in leading initiatives that bridge technical innovation with impactful storytelling and community engagement.
Currently, Sylvain leads AI Labs at Rootly, an initiative that aims to augment reliability engineering in the era of AI. Under his leadership, the lab has developed open-source prototypes, tools, and research collaborations, sponsored by organizations like Anthropic, Google DeepMind, and Google Cloud.
Previously, Sylvain co-founded Holberton School to scale the training of highly skilled software engineers while promoting inclusivity. The school’s innovative approach attracted partnerships with tech luminaries, including LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner, Yahoo! founder Jerry Yang, and Docker founder Solomon Hykes, as well as entertainment icons such as Grammy Award-winning artist NE-YO and actress Priyanka Chopra. Graduates have gone on to work at top-tier companies including Apple, Nvidia, and Meta.
In his earlier career, Sylvain served as a Senior Site Reliability Engineer at LinkedIn, where he co-designed a patented self-healing infrastructure system. He also built and maintained an infrastructure that displayed 3 billion slides per month.
Beyond his technical and entrepreneurial ventures, Sylvain has a track record of building communities and thought leadership. He founded while42, the world’s largest network of French engineers, boasting 3,000 members across 40 cities. He has also contributed articles to prominent tech publications, including TechCrunch, The New Stack, and VentureBeat.
