Adrian Hupka
Verified Expert in Project Management
Project Manager
Munich, Bavaria, Germany
Toptal member since September 6, 2022
Adrian is a Munich-based project manager with significant international experience. Besides building a software engineering organization from zero to over 120, he developed his skills by taking on the responsibilities of a CIO in a pan-European IT business and enriched them with his international experience in the US. Applications and services ranging from autonomous driving to electric vehicles and electromobility are only some of his many noteworthy professional achievements.
Project Highlights
Expertise
- CIO
- Cloud Architecture
- Electric Vehicles
- Organizational Development
- Product Management
- Program Management
- Solution Architecture
- Technical Leadership
Work Experience
CEO
CodeAlpha Inc. (Stealth Startup)
- Devised a venture scale idea and solution approach in the developer tools and productivity space, preparing to fundraise and tap into venture capital from Europe and the USA.
- Built a network in the San Francisco and Palo Alto founders community, leveraging the invite-only On Deck Founders program.
- Created a network of top engineers, convincing them to leave their well-paying jobs and unite in pursuing the product vision.
Acting Chief Information Officer (CIO) | Head of IT & Software Engineering
Elli - A Volkswagen Group Brand
- Built the company and engineering team from the ground up, leading over 120 people in 18 engineering teams, including Elli's technical product managers, designers, and back-end, web, and mobile engineers.
- Led the development and operations of the Volkswagen brands' charging services portfolio for their B2B, B2C, and B2E customers.
- Managed many products for a small organization and multiple large-scale enterprises as first customers, with a short time to market, resulting in a massively positive impact on the e-mobility ecosystem.
- Oversaw the due diligence activities for several acquisition candidates, focusing on technical due diligence.
- Aligned C-level executives and VPs on goal setting and Elli's product strategy by acting as a coach in regular workshops since early 2019. Designed and implemented Elli's department-spanning delivery process, "Elli Heartbeat."
- Launched Elli's charging station operation platform, operating over 50 thousand continuously connected stations, becoming Europe's eighth-largest station operator after 12 months.
- Directed all internal IT activities related to the employee workplace and production engineering.
- Established 24/7 operation services (1h/6h), on-call from the engineering teams.
Technical Program Manager
BMW
- Led multiple projects, including a large-scale in-car software project.
- Oversaw planning, continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD), quality assurance, and release management.
- Developed and implemented key processes and practices leading a team of 85.
Program Manager | Cloud Solution Architect
BMW
- Headed the software development team for BMW's enterprise charging services for electric vehicles after obtaining sponsorship for the project in the previous year.
- Architected the cloud application leveraging Microsoft Azure's scalable IaaS and PaaS solutions.
- Directed the product delivery leading three teams of six engineers each.
Development Specialist
BMW
- Directed the BMW ChargeForward program development and operation in San Francisco, California.
- Improved the company's B2B and B2C vehicle-to-grid (V2G) strategy, collaborating with internal and external stakeholders.
- Brought BMW's first V2G product to market in the Netherlands.
Software Engineer | Master's Thesis
BMW
- Developed a hierarchical path planning architecture capable of high-quality driving maneuvers in confined spaces.
- Delivered the complete maneuver and path planning software stack for self-driving and self-parking BMW i3 for the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2015.
- Authored a scientific peer-reviewed publication, generating extensive media coverage compared to competitors.
Software Engineering Intern | Robotics Research
BMW of North America
- Built advanced path-planning algorithms to navigate vehicles through unstructured environments.
- Maintained and operated the BMW test vehicles fleet.
- Upgraded hardware and calibrated sensors with light detection and ranging (LiDAR) and camera.
Software Engineering Intern | Robotics Research
BMW
- Created algorithms for indoor localization in a multi-level parking infrastructure and increased its accuracy by 300%.
- Improved the computation time of the used localization algorithm by 400%.
- Earned a place in the Fastlane program, BMW's 18-month program dedicated to students with exceptional technical skills and leadership potential.
Project History
Volkswagen Electromobility Services Portfolio
https://www.elli.eco/de/startseiteDirected the development and operations of the Volkswagen brands' charging services portfolio for their B2B, B2C, and B2E customers, scaling it up from zero to over 100,000 users within less than a year.
BMW ChargeForward Program, San Francisco
https://www.bmwchargeforward.com/Led the development and operations of the BMW ChargeForward program in the San Francisco Bay area.
Delivery Processes in Scaling Organizations
Established performant delivery processes spanning multiple organizational units, including two groups of more than 100 and 200.
At Elli, I led the design and rollout of the department-spanning delivery process involving over 200 employees. My responsibilities included coaching C-level executives and department leads in structural goal-setting (OKRs) and building a culture of continuous improvement.
At BMW, I implemented the software delivery process for the next-generation Headunit project, spanning ten teams of over 80 people, by advocating development practices, coaching engineers, and leveraging QA to implement said practices successfully.
Education
Master of Science Degree in Telecommunications
Dresden University of Technology - Dresden, Germany
Certifications
Professional Cloud Architect
Google Cloud
Skills
Tools
Jira, Google Workspace, Asana, Slack, Microsoft Excel, Office 365, Basecamp, Salesforce
Paradigms
Agile, Azure DevOps, Continuous Delivery (CD), Continuous Integration (CI), Agile Project Management, Requirements Analysis, Agile Leadership, DevOps, UX Design, B2B, B2C, Change Management
Platforms
Google Cloud Platform (GCP), Blockchain, Azure, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Android
Industry Expertise
Architecture, Automotive
Other
Project Management, Electric Vehicles, Program Management, Cloud Architecture, Organization Building, Organizational Development, Google Cloud, Technical Leadership, People Management, CIO, Hiring, Engineering, IT Program Management, Discovery, Project Planning, IT Project Management, Stakeholder Management, Project Scheduling, Team Management, Cross-functional Collaboration, Technical Project Management, System Architecture, Agile DevOps, Cloud, Scrum Master, Digital Platform Development, Computer Science, CI/CD Pipelines, Product Management, IoT Security, ISO 27001, Solution Architecture, Lean Startups, Fundraising, Financials, Strategy, Rust, TypeScript, Budgeting, IT Strategy, Procurement, Internet of Things (IoT), Risk Management, Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A), Due Diligence, Discovery Workshops, Feature Backlog Prioritization, Request for Proposal (RFP), RFPs, Web Project Management, Web Applications, User Experience (UX), Requirements & Specifications, Process Improvement, Project Tracking, Technical Analysis, SaaS, Technical Hiring, CTO, Interviewing, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), Project Budget Management, Code Review, Developer Relations, Software as a Service (SaaS), System Migration, Process Documentation, Data Analytics, Vendor Management, Technology Strategy & Architecture, Modeling, Simulations, Sensor Data, Telecom Equipment & Solutions, Digital Signal Processing, Tracking, Robotics, C++, NVIDIA CUDA, Robot Operating System (ROS), Localization, Google Apps, Strategic Planning, Less, Large-scale Projects, Platforms, Process Design, Document Management Systems (DMS), Vendor Selection, Fleet Management, Node.js, React, Advisory, Technical Reports, Business to Consumer (B2C), Budget Modeling, Supply Chain, Financial Modeling
How to Work with Toptal
Toptal matches you directly with global industry experts from our network in hours—not weeks or months.
Share your needs
Choose your talent
Start your risk-free talent trial
Top talent is in high demand.
Start hiring