Abildgaard Soren

About Abildgaard Soren

Søren Abildgaard is a global technology executive with a strong track record in software engineering leadership, platform scaling, and customer-focused digital transformation. His most notable recent role is Chief Technology Officer at Avaya, a position announced in November 2023. Avaya said he would lead the company’s technology vision, innovation strategy, and investment priorities, with a particular focus on keeping the business aligned with emerging technologies. The company also described him as bringing more than two decades of experience from high-growth cloud and software organizations. ([avaya.com](https://www.avaya.com/en/about-avaya/newsroom/pr-us-231115/)) Abildgaard is closely associated with Zendesk, where he held senior engineering leadership responsibilities. Zendesk’s own leadership article identifies him as Chief Engineering Officer and describes his remit as building and scaling reliable products and developer platforms for customers of all sizes. Zendesk also emphasizes his customer-centric engineering approach and his belief that product and engineering must operate as one team to deliver simpler, more effective software experiences. ([zendesk.com](https://www.zendesk.com/newsroom/articles/engineering-product-leadership/)) Avaya’s appointment announcement provides the clearest summary of his Zendesk tenure: as Head of Engineering, he helped build out the product portfolio and platform that supported Zendesk’s rapid scale, service to thousands of customers, and growth to more than a billion dollars in revenue during his time there. The same announcement notes that he later served as Executive Vice President of Engineering at Contentful, underscoring his continued leadership in modern software infrastructure and product development. ([avaya.com](https://www.avaya.com/en/about-avaya/newsroom/pr-us-231115/)) Earlier in his career, Abildgaard held senior leadership roles in the telecom sector. Public reporting identifies him as CEO of Telia Denmark, later Chief Commercial Officer at Telia, and then CEO of T-Mobile Netherlands in 2017. These roles suggest a career path that spans commercial leadership, operational transformation, and executive accountability in complex international businesses. ([telecompaper.com](https://www.telecompaper.com/news/t-mobile-netherlands-gets-new-ceo-from-telia--1179821?utm_source=openai)) Public filings also connect him to Zendesk as an executive officer in 2021, reinforcing his profile within the U.S.-listed software market. Across the available sources, the recurring themes are scale, automation, product-platform alignment, and customer experience improvement. Where sources are less specific, the most accurate characterization is that he is a seasoned SaaS and enterprise software leader with a proven record of leading engineering organizations through growth and transformation. ([sec.gov](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1463172/000146317221000403/xslF345X03/wf-form4_163493439269274.xml))