Tech Talks by Thoughtworks

***Please register via this link to secure your spot***

Beyond vector search: Building reliable RAG for complex questions
with Pratiksha Parsewar, Senior Consultant, Thoughtworks and Teng Lei, Principal Data Scientist, Thoughtworks

Vector search is a useful starting point for RAG, but it breaks down when applications need to answer questions that span multiple documents, sources or relationships. At that point, simply tuning embeddings or increasing the number of retrieved chunks often isn’t enough. Engineers need to understand how different retrieval architectures address different failure modes—and how to know whether they actually improve results.

This session takes a practical, engineering-focused look at moving beyond naive RAG, covering approaches such as hybrid, multi-stage and graph-based retrieval, alongside a rigorous framework for evaluating them.

You’ll learn:

• Where basic vector RAG breaks down and how to identify its failure modes
• How to choose between different retrieval architectures based on the problem you're solving
• How multi-hop and graph-based retrieval can improve answers to complex questions
• How to evaluate retrieval and end-to-end answer quality systematically
• What to consider when moving more complex RAG pipelines into production

Who should attend: Software engineers, AI architects and data practitioners who are building RAG applications and want practical techniques for designing, comparing and evaluating retrieval architectures beyond basic vector search.

About the speaker
Pratiksha Parsewar is a Senior Application Developer and Agentic AI Engineer with 9+ years of experience across fintech, global banking, high-concurrency super apps, multi-agent AI architectures, and scalable microservices.

Teng Lei is a Principal Data Scientist and regional AI leader with 15+ years of experience across consulting, banking, AI engineering, analytics strategy, and enterprise transformation.

Agenda
6:30 pm Registration and networking
7:00 pm Beyond vector search: Building reliable RAG for complex questions
7:45 pm Q&A and networking
8:30 pm Event closes

Event Details
📅 Date: Wednesday, September 2, 2026
🕡 Time: 6:30 - 8:30pm (Talk starts at 7pm)
📍Venue: Thoughtworks Singapore office, 18 Cross Street, #12-01 18 Cross, Singapore 048423
🍕 Light refreshments and beverages will be provided

***Please register via this link to secure your spot***

We hope to see you there!

*Disclaimer: Photographs, videos or recordings may be taken and used by Thoughtworks at this tech talk. Thoughtworks may use these photos, videos or recordings in public transmissions such as in media accounts, digital platforms, brochures, websites and other publication materials. If you have any concerns with being photographed, filmed or recorded, please let the onsite photographer, videographer or event organizer know. For further information, please refer to Thoughtworks' Privacy Policy listed in our website: www.thoughtworks.com

XConf is a ticketed event. Get your tickets today: https://tinyurl.com/euwytfxp (Early bird ticket sale ends Aug 31!)

Built by technologists, for technologists, XConf APAC brings together engineers, architects, technology leaders and the wider tech community for a day of practical insights, thought-provoking discussions and real-world experiences.

Event details

*Date: Friday, October 2, 2026

• Time: 9:00 am - 5:00 pm (Registration starts at 8:30am)
  *Venue: Ballroom 1, Level 3, The Westin Singapore, 12 Marina View, Asia Square Tower 2, Singapore 018961

Agenda
This year's sessions explore how engineering teams are designing, building and scaling meaningful solutions with AI. Highlights include:
Agents don't fail, they guess: Designing contracts for multi-agent pipelines
Learn practical patterns for building reliable multi-agent systems.

The AI Native Squad: How small teams deliver faster with AI
Discover how AI is reshaping team workflows and software delivery.

First Responder: Agentic incident triage
See how agentic AI can accelerate incident response in production.

AI is a scout, not an engineer
Rethink the role of AI in engineering and decision-making.

Making chatbots sweat: Testing AI conversations at scale
Learn how you can use AI to test AI, and how it catches failures before real people do.

From dead-on-arrival to alive: How AI resurrects the humble ADR
Discover how AI can transform ADRs into living guidance that keeps systems and teams aligned.

Keeping sight of the customer in AI-first delivery
Explore practical ways to keep humans at the centre of AI-first product design.

Beyond GPUs: Building the engineering platform for the AI factory
Explore the engineering principles behind reliable, scalable AI infrastructure.

Check out the full agenda and get your tickets here: https://tinyurl.com/euwytfxp

Disclaimer
Photographs, videos or recordings may be taken and used by Thoughtworks at this event. Thoughtworks may use these photos, videos or recordings in public transmissions such as in media accounts, digital platforms, brochures, websites and other publication materials. If you have any concerns with being photographed, filmed or recorded, please let the onsite photographer, videographer or event organizer know. For further information, please refer to Thoughtworks' Privacy Policy listed in our website: www.thoughtworks.com