Craft is their signature
Meet the 2026 Ship Award winners turning bold ideas into software that pushes the agentic frontier.
Craft shows up in the choices builders make: how they solve hard problems, which details they obsess over, and what they’re willing to tear down and rebuild. Vercel is honored to build the infrastructure that lets these builders ship their craft faster, without compromise.
The Apex
- Aaron Brown, Head of Security
- Arty Vohmincevs, VP of Engineering
The Apex award celebrates the craft behind solving the most complex engineering problems.
“We went from a dozen projects to 2,000 without security becoming the bottleneck. That’s what developer excellence looks like to us, and the Apex award told us we’re going in the right direction.”
Aaron and Arty approach engineering with a simple goal: make the secure path the fastest one. At Mercor, that means giving teams more freedom to build without losing control of access or costs.
Read their story
The Innovator
- Ryan Anderson, Head of Product Marketing
- Anna Marie Clifton, Sr. Director of Product
- Robin Salimans, Engineering
The Innovator award celebrates the craft required to redefine what’s possible.
“AI isn’t the breakthrough. The breakthrough is who gets to build. At Zapier, the people closest to the problem, whether they’re marketers, sellers, or engineers, can turn their ideas into software and ship it.”
Ryan, Anna Marie, and Robin brought product, engineering, and marketing together to help the people closest to a problem turn their ideas into useful software and ship it.
Read their story
Ship of the Year
- Kush Khosla, Technical Lead
- Rowan Cheung, Engineering
Ship of the Year recognizes engineering excellence that makes the greatest impact on the people who depend on it.
“We see a future where AI gives people a genuinely positive experience improving patient care and health for everyone, not just in the US, but internationally.”
Kush and Rowan bring peer-reviewed medical research to doctors at the point of care. Built on Vercel, the product serves 650K doctors, and the team ships changes multiple times a day.
Read their story
Global Partner of the Year
- Pablo Izcue, SVP Delivery & Technology
Global Partner of the Year celebrates the partners whose expertise is a powerful force multiplier across the Vercel ecosystem.
“Combining Vercel’s platform with Globant’s AI Pods turns projects that traditionally took months into same-week experiences, making AI ROI visible much faster.”
Pablo Izcue and the team are rethinking enterprise software delivery with AI Pods that combine specialized agents with engineers who stay accountable for what ships.
