Case study

Ticketmaster

Modernising global ticketing at scale

A global leader in live events and ticketing, Ticketmaster sought to unify its user journey and scale its engineering capability across web and mobile platforms. Wave Works was brought in to provide cross-functional, embedded teams to help modernise, stabilise and accelerate multiple digital transformation tracks.

30+

Team

18+ Months

The challenge

Ticketmaster needed to modernise checkout and event discovery across 170+ markets, scale platform reliability through global launch peaks, and accelerate delivery across web, mobile and infrastructure squads at the same time. More parallel workstreams than the in-house team could staff, on timelines hiring couldn’t meet.

What we built

Wave Works embedded 30+ specialists directly into Ticketmaster’s squads, working in shared sprint cadences and CI/CD workflows, not as a parallel vendor team.

Tech leads

Architectural governance and squad coordination

Frontend engineers

Modular React frontend, localised across 170+ markets

Backend engineers

Cart, pricing, inventory and seat-map services (Node.js / Java)

SRE / platform engineers

CI/CD, observability, incident response, and a centralised SRE function now serving every squad

QA automation engineers

End-to-end frameworks and regression coverage

Product, design and delivery

Including a Wave Works delivery lead running reporting, onboarding and agile rituals

2
Tech leads
Architectural governance and squad coordination
4
Frontend engineers
Modular React frontend, localised across 170+ markets
3
Backend engineers
Cart, pricing, inventory and seat-map services (Node.js / Java)
8
SRE / platform engineers
CI/CD, observability, incident response, and a centralised SRE function now serving every squad
2
QA automation engineers
End-to-end frameworks and regression coverage
6+
Product, design and delivery
Including a Wave Works delivery lead running reporting, onboarding and agile rituals

The squads shipped the modular React frontend globally, rebuilt the commerce APIs, established site-wide observability with real-time alerting, rolled out WCAG accessibility across all markets, and uplifted the platform’s existing AI capability across product surfaces.

The outcomes

43%

Reduction in MTTR for production incidents during peak windows

30%

Reduction in build runtimes across CI/CD pipelines

40%

QA automation uplift within six months

Zero

Critical production issues in the final three quarters

3×

Developer autonomy for production releases, with reliance on central ops down 70%

80%

Uplift in platform observability and performance tracking

Built to hand over. Proven in delivery.

The engagement closed with Ticketmaster owning the operating model: delivery rituals, production playbooks, platform knowledge, and the confidence to keep improving without Wave in the room.

“

Wave has been instrumental in helping us scale effectively. The consultants embedded into our teams integrated seamlessly and added value from day one. Their ability to align with our technical priorities and deliver impact quickly has made them a trusted partner. I would highly recommend Wave to any engineering leader looking for a high-performing extension of their own team.

Rebecca Howard

Director of Engineering

Click to cycle testimonials

01
Delivery rituals
Planning, release, and incident routines internal teams could run immediately.
02
Owned systems
Clear boundaries, accountable leads, and documentation tied to real services.
03
Knowledge transfer
Pairing and walkthroughs designed to keep capability in-house.

01
Delivery rituals
Planning, release, and incident routines internal teams could run immediately.
02
Owned systems
Clear boundaries, accountable leads, and documentation tied to real services.
03
Knowledge transfer
Pairing and walkthroughs designed to keep capability in-house.

01
Delivery rituals
Planning, release, and incident routines internal teams could run immediately.
02
Owned systems
Clear boundaries, accountable leads, and documentation tied to real services.
03
Knowledge transfer
Pairing and walkthroughs designed to keep capability in-house.

Critical work on the roadmap? Embed technical specialists in days.

Let’s discuss how our partnership will help you plan smarter, grow stronger, and deliver an impact previously thought impossible.