Priya VenkateshStaff SRE · Linear
"Rewriting our rate-limiter in Rust and why I'd do it again (and also, wouldn't)."
THU 10:45 · main hall OCT 14–16 · 2026 · LISBON, PT · 680 engineersThe conference for people
The conference for people
who actually ship.
SIGNAL is a 3-day, single-track engineering conference for the people who operate production systems — SREs, platform engineers, staff ICs, and the rare VP who still reads postmortems. 24 talks, 0 keynotes, 0 panels, 0 sponsors on stage. In Lisbon because the espresso is better and the flights are cheaper.
680attendees cap
24single-track talks
42%of seats already sold
★ 4.9from SIGNAL /25 (412 reviews)
◆ EARLY-BIRD ENDS IN
47days
12hrs
38min
04sec
◆ WHAT SIGNAL IS
Three days.
One track.
Zero sponsor slides.
We started SIGNAL in 2022 because we were tired of conferences where half the talks were 45-minute sales decks with a thin veneer of engineering content. So we made a rule: no sponsor talks. Ever. We run SIGNAL on ticket revenue alone, and we like it that way.
All 24 talks are picked by a committee of 9 staff+ engineers from places like Stripe, Figma, Discord, Mercury, and Railway. CFP is anonymous until the final round. We pay every speaker €1,200 + travel, regardless of seniority.
- No keynotes. The conference opens with a 25-min talk from whoever the committee liked most, then straight into the program.
- No panels. Four people mumbling into microphones is not content.
- One hallway. Single-track means everyone is at the same talk. The hallway conversations are about the talk you just saw.
- 45% repeat attendees. That number goes up every year and we're a bit proud of it.
◦ SIGNAL /25 · Lisbon Congress Center · 624 attendees · photo by Catarina Sousa
◆ 24 SPEAKERS · NINE CONFIRMED
Engineers who'll tell you
what actually happened.
Mikael LindqvistStaff Eng · Stripe (Payments Core)
"The 14-hour outage nobody saw: debugging a leap-second in production."
THU 14:15 · main hall◆ OPENING TALK
Nneka AdebayoPrincipal · Figma (Infra)
"A six-year rewrite that worked: how we replaced our primary database without downtime, in front of a live customer base."
THU 09:30 · main hall · 45 min
Dmitri ArslanovStaff Eng · Discord (Trust & Safety)
"Content moderation at 900 msgs/sec: a 3-year retrospective with numbers nobody wants to publish."
FRI 11:15 · main hall
Imogen FerreiraVP Eng · Railway
"Why we stopped using Kubernetes. And why you probably shouldn't."
FRI 15:30 · main hall
Takeshi MoriyamaStaff Eng · Mercury (Ledger)
"Money moves: the schema migrations that will get you fired if you do them wrong."
SAT 10:00 · main hall◦ 15 more speakers announced on rolling basis · full program locked by July 2026 · committee: Priya V., Mikael L., Nneka A., Saoirse Ní Ruairc, Diego Lombardi, Adaeze Onwumelu, and 3 others
◆ THREE DAYS · ONE TRACK
No choices.
No FOMO.
THU · OCT 15Opening day · 8 talks
09:00
Registration & coffeeLisbon Congress Center lobby
09:30
Opening · Nneka AdebayoSix-year rewrite · no downtime
10:45
Priya VenkateshRust rate-limiter retrospective
12:00
Long lunchCatered by Tasca da Esquina · 90 min
14:15
Mikael LindqvistThe leap-second outage
19:30
Welcome partyRibeira das Naus · all attendees
FRI · OCT 16Day 2 · 9 talks · workshop track
09:15
Saoirse Ní RuaircObservability without vendors
11:15
Dmitri ArslanovModeration at 900/sec
15:30
Imogen FerreiraWhy we stopped using Kubernetes
18:00
Lightning talks18 speakers · 5 min each · signup on the day
20:30
DinnerTime Out Market · self-organized
SAT · OCT 17Closing day · 7 talks
10:00
Takeshi MoriyamaSchema migrations for money
13:30
Hacking hoursOpen space · pair on anything · 3 hours
17:00
Closing · committee Q&ANo host, no format, just questions
19:00
Closing dinnerLX Factory rooftop · 180 seats included
◆ WHERE
Lisbon
Congress Center,
Belém.
We've used the same venue for four years running. 680-seat main hall with genuinely good acoustics, two workshop rooms, a 1,200 sqm lobby that fits everyone for lunch without feeling like a cattle yard. 14-minute walk from Belém station, €12 from the airport by taxi.
- Address Praça das Indústrias, 1, 1300-307 Lisboa
- Main hall 680 seats · single track · 4K laser projection
- Workshop rooms 2 × 80 seats · Fri afternoon
- Lobby 1,200 sqm · catering · sponsor-free
- WiFi 1 Gbps symmetrical, open, no signup
- Accessibility step-free · induction loop · live captions on all talks
◦ Lisbon Congress Center · Belém · we host all three days here, no shuttle needed
◆ TICKETS · 680 SEATS · NO DAY PASSES
Three prices,
honestly chosen.
Early-bird
$349until Jun 30 · save $150
- ✓ All 24 talks · 3 days
- ✓ All meals & coffee
- ✓ Welcome party · closing dinner
- ✓ Talk recordings (lifetime)
- ✓ Name badge with your handle, not your company
◆ 68% PICK THIS
INDIVIDUALRegular
$499from Jul 1 · until sold out
- ★ All 24 talks · 3 days
- ★ All meals & coffee
- ★ Welcome party · closing dinner
- ★ Talk recordings (lifetime)
- ★ Priority seating · front 3 rows
- ★ Reserved spot in lightning talks
- ★ Speaker dinner invite (Wed 19:00, 40 seats, first-come)
Team
$399per seat · min 4 · max 12
- ✓ Everything in Regular
- ✓ Team name on conference wall
- ✓ Reserved table at closing dinner
- ✓ Invoice with your PO & VAT
- ✓ One free swap if someone drops out
◦ Diversity scholarshipsWe reserve 40 scholarship tickets (free + $600 travel) for underrepresented engineers. Applications open March 1, close June 1. Reviewed by Nneka A. and 3 others, anonymously. Last year 210 applied, 40 accepted.
◦ Refund policyFull refund until Aug 15. Name swaps allowed until Oct 1 at no cost. No refunds after Aug 15, but you can transfer the ticket to anyone.
◆ ANSWERS
What
most people ask.
What is the talk recording policy?
All talks are recorded professionally (4K, multi-cam, external audio) and published to attendees within 6 weeks, lifetime access. Public release on YouTube happens 90 days after the event, once speakers have signed off. Speakers can opt out of public release; 3 out of 24 did last year.
Is there a code of conduct?
Yes — the full CoC is on signal.dev/coc. It's enforced by Saoirse Ní Ruairc and two external mediators (not volunteers) who are present all three days. We've had 2 incidents in 3 years; both resulted in same-day removal and full refund of the reporter's ticket.
What if my company won't expense it?
We have a template justification email at signal.dev/expense. It's worked for 80% of attendees who used it. If it doesn't work, apply for a scholarship — we don't care if you're "underrepresented" in the conventional sense; if you can't afford it, write us a note.
Will there be sponsors at all?
We have 4 sponsors who pay to underwrite meals and scholarships. They get a logo in the program and one table in the lobby for the 3 days. They cannot give talks, sponsor a talk, or host side events. This year: Sentry, Buf, Turso, and Kagi.
Is Lisbon really easy to get to?
LIS airport has direct flights from 180 cities. TAP flies from most of Europe for €60–150. From North America it's €350–550 round-trip. Trains from Madrid (10h overnight sleeper) and Porto (3h) run nightly. Our attendees last year came from 42 countries.
I want to sponsor. Can I?
Probably not — we have 4 slots and they're all taken through 2027. Email hello@tilkly.com and we'll put you on a waitlist. We prioritize developer-tools companies that attendees actually use; Priya keeps a spreadsheet.