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Directed engineering pods responsible for core Fitbit health features, including Sleep, Activity, and the adoption of AI-driven coaching. Grew the organization from 26 to 55 engineers while driving strategy and execution for features impacting millions of users. Leadership & Team Scaling: Directed day-to-day engineering operations, performance management, and hiring for a multi-disciplinary team of 55+ engineers at its peak. Mentored and developed engineering talent, fostering a culture of high performance and innovation. Strategic Planning & Execution: Collaborated with cross-functional directors to define the multi-year strategic roadmap for health features. Ensured all software releases met Google's rigorous quality bar and business objectives. Technical & Architectural Oversight: Served as the final authority on technical architecture, guiding teams in designing scalable and robust systems across mobile (iOS/Android), backend, and device firmware. Cross-Functional Integration: Led complex initiatives that spanned the full technology stack, bridging hardware engineers (optical sensors), algorithm developers, and mobile application teams to deliver seamless user experiences. AI Innovation: Championed the group's AI strategy, leading the collaboration between engineers and AI scientists to conceptualize and launch the new AI Sleep Coaching experience within the Fitbit app. Key Roles & Progression: EM Lead, Sleep & AI Coaching POD | [July 2024 – Present] Pod Lead, Health Features (Sleep, Activity, Nutrition, etc.) | [2023 – July 2024] Engineering Manager, Sleep & Wearables Startup | [2021 – 2022] Engineering Manager, Sleep Engineering | [2021 – 2023]
Senior Engineering Manager, Sleep Team | Fitbit | 2020 – 2021 (Fitbit was acquired by Google in 2021) Directed a 15-person cross-functional engineering team (iOS, Android, Backend) responsible for the end-to-end Sleep product area. Successfully delivered multiple flagship features to a global user base of over 200 million, coordinating with hardware and device teams to ensure seamless software integration. Owned the complete product and technical roadmap for the Sleep domain, collaborating closely with Product and UX leaders to define vision, prioritize features, and refine user experience. Governed the technical architecture for all Sleep features, providing final approval to ensure all solutions were scalable, compliant, and maintained a high standard of quality. Championed Agile methodologies to improve team velocity and predictability, while leading all aspects of team growth, including hiring, scaling, and performance management. Played a key role in raising the engineering bar at the company-wide level by serving as an influential member of both the Fitbit Interviewer Group and the Hiring Committee.
Directing a 130+ person engineering organization across two international delivery centers (Romania, Ukraine) for Playtika's flagship, genre-defining title, consistently ranked #1 in its category. Strategic & Organizational Leadership: Own all strategic and operational aspects of the R&D organization, encompassing the technology roadmap, cross-functional project delivery, and talent management for a rapidly growing, multi-site team. Technical Excellence at Scale: Drive the technical strategy to solve complex challenges in a high-concurrency, high-load environment, pushing cutting-edge technologies to their limits to ensure peak performance for millions of active users. Process & Delivery Optimization: Champion and scale Agile Scrum methodologies across the entire R&D organization, structuring engineering into autonomous, cross-disciplinary teams (~8 people each) to maximize efficiency and ownership. People & Culture Development: Lead all people management functions for the 130+ person department, including hiring, career development, and performance management, fostering a culture of technical excellence and continuous improvement.
Pioneered the launch of Playtika's Bucharest R&D hub as its founding employee, architecting and scaling the site from the ground up to over 200 R&D professionals in just 12 months. Owned all engineering and operational functions to build a world-class delivery center. Organizational Architecture & Scaling: Designed and implemented the site's complete operational framework, including a high-velocity recruitment pipeline, HR policies, career development paths, performance review cycles, and compensation structures to support rapid, high-quality growth. Studio Formation & Delivery Enablement: Spearheaded the formation of 6 fully autonomous game studios for Playtika's largest titles. Successfully managed the complex knowledge transfer and transition of key deliverables from Ukrainian sites to establish a fully productive Romanian R&D center. Employer Branding & Market Presence: Drove the employer branding strategy in a new market, establishing Playtika's presence at key industry conferences and IT events to attract top-tier talent and build significant brand awareness from zero. Headcount & Financial Management: Assumed full ownership of the site's headcount, budget, attrition management, and salary guidelines, balancing aggressive growth targets with sustainable delivery and operational excellence.
Managed the development and delivery of multiple digital products for key accounts in the financial and payments sector. Provided leadership across approximately 5 agile SCRUM teams, ensuring technical excellence and successful project execution. Team Leadership & Development: Led, coached, and scaled 5 SCRUM teams, overseeing the entire talent lifecycle from recruitment and interviewing to hands-on mentoring, career development, and performance management. Technical & Delivery Excellence: Drove technical strategy and architectural decisions for multiple products. Established and enforced software development best practices to ensure the delivery of scalable, high-quality solutions. DevOps & Process Improvement: Championed the adoption of modern DevOps culture, empowering teams to build and maintain a robust CI/CD pipeline using cloud services to accelerate delivery and improve quality. Client & Stakeholder Management: Acted as a key technical partner for major financial and payments clients, collaborating closely with product managers and customers to translate business requirements into actionable technical roadmaps.
Promoted to a senior, people-focused leadership position, responsible for a large team that included both individual contributors and other People Managers (Line Managers). Focused exclusively on career development, performance, and well-being. Strategic Career Development & Coaching: Drove talent development by architecting and executing personalized Career Development Plans for each team member, aligning their professional aspirations with the company's business objectives through continuous coaching and feedback. Performance & Compensation Management: Led the end-to-end performance management cycle, conducting bi-annual reviews and making key decisions on promotions, role changes, and salary adjustments based on comprehensive 360-degree feedback and performance metrics. Resource & Opportunity Management: Strategically managed team allocation and project rotations, matching individuals with high-impact internal opportunities to maximize both employee growth and business value delivery. Leadership Development & Assessment: Contributed to scaling the company's leadership capabilities by serving as an official assessor in the People Manager assessment center, responsible for interviewing and evaluating candidates for management roles across the organization.
Served in a hybrid leadership role, directing a cross-functional team of 20+ engineers while also acting as the project's principal Design Lead (Architect). Provided leadership to other Development Leads within the project. Technical Leadership & Architecture: Defined the complete technical vision for the project, authoring both high-level and low-level design documents. Guided development teams to ensure architectural integrity and acted as the platform's subject matter expert (SME) in strategic planning sessions. Team & Delivery Management: Managed the end-to-end delivery and day-to-day operations for the 20+ person team. Drove all agile ceremonies (sprint planning, refinement, estimation) and was responsible for staffing, onboarding, and team composition to meet project demands. Release & Project Oversight: Functioned as the Release Manager, orchestrating all software deployments through a CI/CD pipeline from development to production. Stepped in as the acting Project Manager for a significant period, demonstrating versatility in project oversight and stakeholder communication.