Oana Ciherean
Project Manager
Oana is a product and engineering lead with 15+ years of experience launching and scaling tech solutions that improve lives worldwide. She has directed a product for telecom apps used by millions, led platform development for two million K-12 students, and architected healthcare systems scaled in 40+ countries. A member of Toptal's top 3% and a multilingual, multicultural team builder, Oana founded the award-winning startup Dalia's Book, named Best Social Impact Startup twice.
Project Highlights
Expertise
API ArchitectureAgile Project ManagementCertified ScrumMaster (CSM)Engineering ManagementMobile AppsTechnical Project ManagementWeb ArchitectureWeb PlatformsEducation
Select Certifications
Work Experience
Technical Consultant | Project and Product Manager
Toptal
- Managed software development projects in different stages for Toptal clients, overseeing project roadmap, architecture, and engineering practices.
- Created custom agile development processes for enterprise and startup clients from real estate, legal, healthcare, education, and telecom.
- Coached client teams in implementing agile practices in their companies.
- Identified quality attributes of the systems to be built and coordinated quality assurance activities.
- Consulted clients on and created documentation for product and technical requirements.
- Coordinated project discovery phases and estimations; created plans, resource allocations, budgets, and project roadmaps.
- Designed software and solution architectures for web-based and mobile systems.
- Performed management and technical quality audits of existing projects, identified root causes of problems, and created project recovery or improvement plans.
CEO/CTO
Dalia's Book
- Designed the technical solution of the company's education platform as an integration between WordPress web technologies and G Suite apps.
- Built the organization from the ground up, defining business and go-to-market strategies and managing daily operations. The company was a finalist twice for "Best Social Impact Startup" at the Central European Startup Awards.
- Managed the company's product release plan, testing technical solutions through prototypes and MVPs.
- Defined a new model of a hybrid nonprofit and for-profit organizational structure, customizing Porter's Value chain—team, roles, and responsibilities. Hired a diverse team: tech, marketing, fundraising, and programs.
- Created a framework for tracking impact based on the OKR framework.
Game Producer
Evozon Game Studio
- Managed the game roadmap across the entire software lifecycle: prototyping, production, alpha, and beta testing, and update releases, setting market-relevant milestones.
- Released two award-winning casual mobile games featured by Apple.
- Designed a new agile process as a mix of Scrum, Kanban, and the classic Game Production Process and shortened the production cycle from two and a half years to 10 months.
- Created internal processes for product documentation, demos, reviews, and alpha and beta testing.
- Performed marketing benchmark analysis for mobile games strategy to define a go-to-market plan for new games.
- Coordinated two teams of ten members each: developers, 2D and 3D artists, and marketers.
Engineering Manager
Nagarro (former iQuest Technologies)
- Designed the architecture of multiple 3-tier enterprise systems powered by search and business rules engines with the .NET Framework, ASP.NET, Solr, SQL Server, REST API, and Azure Service Bus. The systems were deployed in more than 40 countries.
- Coordinated three teams ranging from eight to 12 people of software engineers, QA testers, UI/UX designers, and third-level support.
- Created and coordinated processes to enforce deliverable quality: code reviews, audits, architecture reviews, source control, deployments, and environments.
- Designed the automated testing architecture for back-end services.
- Constructed a development process as a mix of a V-model waterfall process and agile Scrum methods.
- Created processes for product and technical documentation following high regulatory standards needed in healthcare. The documentation included product requirements, software architecture, quality, and traceability.
- Decreased system infrastructure and maintenance costs by a factor of five by designing the software architecture of web systems deployed in more than 40 countries worldwide.
- Coordinated estimation activities, and managed the budget, project release roadmap, and development.
- Mentored seven software engineers, created development plans, and performed annual performance evaluations.
- Conducted technical interviews and improved the interview process.
Career Management Lead
Nagarro (former iQuest Technologies)
- Defined career tracks, role descriptions, and KPIs for software and third-level support engineers in a department of 130 people.
- Defined performance KPIs and metrics and drove the bi-annual assessment review sessions.
- Identified root causes for client problems due to missing critical engineering skills and created a framework for learning and development that was implemented in the entire department.
- Created and implemented a department-wide professional development strategy that increased employee satisfaction and decreased turnover.
- Mentored a group of 30 technical career managers to align to the needs of the employees and improve performance.
- Drove the department-level change of performance management processes and alignment with other departments.
- Created interview guidelines, promotion criteria, and onboarding and offboarding processes.
- Took ownership of performance management KPIs and metrics as part of a leadership team for the Microsoft solutions department, of 130 engineers.
- Reviewed and contributed to career tracks and role descriptions of management and quality assurance departments.
.NET Engineering Lead
UMT CG Software
- Coordinated eight software developers for the first release of UMT 360 (UMT 360 Enterprise Portfolio Management system was previously part of Microsoft Project Portfolio Management (PPM) Solutions).
- Created processes for source control, unit testing, issue tracking, code reviews, and deployments.
- Created development schedules, tracked progress, and created reports.
- Validated and provided information for test cases and plans.
- Designed and developed SharePoint, Workflow Foundation, and OLAP components.
Project History
Engineering Restructuring for a Telecommunications Enterprise
Designed the team structure, career tracks, and role descriptions to enable the software engineering department of an enterprise company to scale its operations.
I created new career tracks, role descriptions, technical KPIs, and a performance assessment framework for individual contributors and people managers: software engineers, test engineers, DevOps, engineering managers, and project managers.
My role also involved analyzing and improving the company's software delivery processes and creating a new agile SDLC.
Technical Program Manager for a Telecom's New Line of Business and Migration
Planned and coordinated the delivery of an enterprise program to launch the software infrastructure for a new line of business and migrate 2 million customers from a legacy system.
Enterprise Document Search Platform for Healthcare | Roche Gmbh
Delivered five releases of a web enterprise product over four years for healthcare users in over 40 countries worldwide.
• Designed a web platform architecture for users in 40 countries that decreased the infrastructure and maintenance costs by 5x.
• Coordinated a team of software engineers, software testers, and UI/UX designers in activities like wireframing, prototyping, engineering, unit, system, and automated testing.
• Customized the client's V-model waterfall process with Agile methods for engineering flexibility. Organized Scrum demos and daily standup meetings.
• Created product release map and time and material contracts and monitored the costs.
• Coordinated the product releases involving technical and user acceptance testing activities; made sure the process required documentation was in place (traceability matrixes and testing reports), and created final release reports.
• Made and monitored technical processes for code reviews, unit testing, continuous integration, and delivery.
• Established the manual and automated testing strategy.
• Mentored team members and performed yearly performance evaluations, establishing the following steps according to the project's needs.
Technologies used: .NET Framework, C#, ASP.NET MVC, JavaScript, HTML 5, Solr, REST APIs, Windows Service Bus, SQL Server, Windows Services, ETL
Enterprise On-demand Software Update Platform (Roche Gmbh)
Delivered a web-based enterprise platform for offline clients in 10+ countries in North America, South America, and Africa.
Customized the client's V-Model waterfall process with Agile methods for engineering flexibility. Organized Scrum demos and daily standup meetings.
Coordinated the product releases involving technical and user acceptance testing activities, made sure the process required documentation was in place (traceability matrixes and testing reports), and created final release reports.
Created and monitored technical processes for code reviews, unit testing, continuous integration, and delivery.
Mentored team members and performed yearly performance evaluations, establishing the following steps according to the project's needs.
Technologies used: .NET Framework, C#, ASP.NET MVC, JavaScript, HTML5, SQL Server, Windows Services, ETL
Enterprise Portal Front-end Migration
Created the technical migration plan and structure for a portal front end from Ruby on Rails to React.
E-Learning Platform Extension (edraak.org)
https://www.edraak.orgDelivered a new component for the edraak.org MOOC platform that adds language learning support to the online courses.
Supervised the development team of UI/UX designers and engineers that delivered a new component for language learning support, written in React and Node.js on the platform.
Edraak is a massive open online course platform supported by the Queen Rania Foundation in Jordan.
Internal Document Management Tool on Atlassian
Created Agile processes, managed the front-end engineering team, and provided technical guidance on architecture.
The project started from scratch, and I was tasked with creating the initial timeline, budget, recruiting the team, and documenting the product and technical requirements. I also provided technical guidance to the team on architecting the system and finding solutions to complex issues that appear when developing web applications.
UMT 360 Version 1
https://www.umt360.comLed software engineering for the first version of UMT 360, previously a part of Microsoft Project and Portfolio Server.
Designed the architecture of software components, workflows, and data analysis modules for a financial management web platform.
Documented and analyzed requirements, transformed them into technical tasks, and performed backlog grooming and prioritization.
Created development processes for code review, source control, and bug and issue tracking.
Technologies used: Microsoft SharePoint, Microsoft Server, JavaScript, C#, .NET Framework, SQL Server, SQL Analysis Services, OLAP Cubes, Workflow Foundation
Jira Migration
Consulted the Toptal core team in implementing their product and engineering processes using Jira and Confluence.
In my role as a Jira subject matter expert, I helped the Toptal core team implement their internal product and engineering processes using Jira and Confluence from the Atlassian suite. I acted as an SME and Jira/Confluence administrator and consulted the teams on how to migrate their data from old tools.
Agile Coach for Medical/Legal Startup
Coached the project manager of medlex.ai in how to organize the development of their product using agile practices.
Disco Dave
Contributed to the creation of Disco Dave, which was featured by Apple and received the "Best Kids and Family Game" award at Casual Connect, TelAviv, 2016.
Disco Dave was featured by Apple and received the "Best Kids and Family Game" award at Casual Connect, TelAviv, 2016.
Created the entire game roadmap, decided on the major milestones, and coordinated the production activities, from the prototype, alpha, and beta testing sessions to the main release and then subsequent update releases.
Established KPIs, defined art and game development processes as a mix of Kanban and Scrum, and created project documentation templates, reducing, as a result, the production process in the studio from 2.5 years to 10 months. The game was the studio's first that broke even, reducing the loss that the studio had had with the previous titles.
The game was developed in Unity 3D and released worldwide on iOS, Android, Windows Phone, and Fire OS, and in local stores in China and Japan.
Super Pet Hero
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LioWmqg21bYOversaw the creation of Super Pet Hero, a mobile game that received the "Best Mobile Game" award at Casual Connect in 2017, Berlin.
Super Pet Hero is a mobile game that received the "Best Mobile Game" award at Casual Connect in 2017, Berlin.
Created the entire game roadmap, decided on the major milestones, and coordinated the production activities, from the prototype, alpha, and beta testing sessions to the main release and the subsequent update releases.
Established KPIs, defined art and game development processes as a mix of Kanban and Scrum, and created project documentation templates, reducing, as a result, the production process in the studio from 2.5 years to 1 year.
The game was developed in Unity 3D and released worldwide on iOS, Android, Windows Phone, and in local stores from China.
Dalia's Book
http://carteadaliei.roFounded a technology non-profit named the Best Social Impact Startup in Romania at the Central European Startup Awards, 2018.
I also created concepts, benchmarks, roadmaps and managed the planning and implementation of digital projects and prototypes such as mobile educational games and educational web platforms, in diverse and versatile teams of two to ten members with different backgrounds like marketers, UI/UX designers, software developers, educators, and business developers.
I built two nationwide education programs implemented in over 30 schools in urban and rural Romania in just three years.
Finally, I coordinated a remote team of five to ten people and over 50 volunteers in six cities in Romania to implement both software projects and educational programs.
Senior Software Engineer for MicroLoan Platform
Designed and developed APIs and back end for a microloan platform owned by AMPCreditTech in Southeast Asia.
Project Manager/Consultant for EdTech Startup
Scoped an MVP and created a delivery roadmap for a graph database Word Engine.
Project Rescue for a Real Estate Startup
Audited a failed software project and created a rescue plan.
Consultant for a Failing Land Management Project
Supported the company founders in replacing a software development agency for a failing project.
MVP Launch for an AI-Gaming-EdTech
Created strategic product roadmap, schedule and team plan for launching an MVP.
The most challenging activity was to contribute to creating an algorithm based on space repetition to ensure learning objectives were met.
My activities included: strategy review, synchronizing with sales and marketing, OKR review, project management process review, Jira cleanup and setup, technical architecture review and guidelines for improvement, graph data model review and guidelines, feature prioritization, release roadmap, project scheduling, and creating role descriptions for missing team members.
I also managed the implementation of work with an engineering team of three developers, synchronized dependencies with two other teams, and collected feature requirements from users.
Education
MBA in Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and Strategy
NYU Stern - New York, NY, USA
Master's Degree in Computer Science
Technical University of Cluj Napoca - Cluj Napoca, Romania
Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science
Technical University of Cluj Napoca - Cluj Napoca, Romania
Certifications
PMP Certification Training
PM Access
Design of Serious Games
University of Tallinn
Evolutionary Project Management
Gilb Academy
Certified Scrum Master
Scrum Alliance