AWS re:Invent 2025 - Simplifying multicloud developer experience, feat. Macquarie (HMC323)

Simplifying Multicloud Developer Experience: Lessons from Macquarie Group

Multicloud Challenges for Developers

• Developers face numerous challenges when working in a multicloud environment:
  • Setting up and configuring different IDEs, SDKs, and containers for each cloud platform
  • Managing multiple identities, network access, and secrets across clouds
  • Integrating with various tools like Docker, CI/CD, and AI/ML platforms
  • Ensuring compliance with organizational policies and security guardrails

Macquarie Group's Multicloud Strategy

• Macquarie Group is a global financial services organization with a cloud-first strategy
• They operate in 31 countries with over 20,000 employees and a diverse set of business units
• Macquarie has adopted a multicloud approach to leverage the best-of-breed services from AWS and GCP
• Over 70% of their infrastructure and applications are hosted in public cloud

Dex: Macquarie's Developer Experience Platform

• Macquarie has built a platform called "Dex" to simplify the multicloud developer experience
• Key features of Dex:
  • Rapid onboarding of new developers by providing a consistent, pre-configured development environment
  • Shifting left the configuration and compliance controls to the local developer machine
  • Providing pre-baked templates for different application types and cloud services
  • Enabling developers to focus on business problems rather than infrastructure setup
• Dex is built on top of Microsoft's dev containers and provides a visually appealing dashboard for developers

Multicloud Service Enablement and Consumption

• On the "service builder" side, Dex provides a pre-baked template that includes tools like Kubernetes, Crossplane, Argo, and Moto
• This allows cloud engineers to enable multicloud services without conflicts in a shared development environment
• On the "service consumer" side, Dex pre-trains an AI model to generate Crossplane claims that are compliant with the enabled services

Business Impact of Dex

• Rapid onboarding of new developers, reducing the time from days/weeks to just a few hours
• Accelerated movement of developers between teams and projects, as they don't need to re-learn the setup
• Increased developer velocity by shifting left the configuration and compliance controls
• Empowering developers to focus on delivering business value rather than infrastructure management

Key Takeaways

• Macquarie's Dex platform demonstrates how a comprehensive developer experience platform can simplify multicloud development
• By providing pre-configured environments, templates, and AI-powered service consumption, Dex enables developers to be more productive and focused on business outcomes
• The platform's ability to shift left the configuration and compliance controls is a key innovation that reduces developer toil and increases velocity
• Macquarie's approach highlights the importance of people, process, and technology when addressing multicloud challenges