Anup Zach Cherian
Verified Expert in Project Management
Project Manager
Kochi, Kerala, India
Toptal member since June 25, 2019
With PMP and Agile certifications and 24 years of experience in IT project delivery and IT office management, Anup is the man for most project management needs. His technical background includes BI, analytics, and data warehousing, with 12 years of hands-on experience. Over the last decade, Anup has managed projects for organizations ranging from startups to large enterprises across various industries.
Project Highlights
Education Highlights
Certification Highlights
Expertise
- Agile
- Analytics
- Business Intelligence (BI)
- Jira
- Project Management
- Project Management Professional (PMP)
- Scrum
- Waterfall Delivery
Work Experience
Business Analyst & Scrum Master
Syngenta - Syngenta AG
- Worked in the AI Foundry group that managed AI initiatives across the company.
- Collaborated with product teams to define product goals and manage the product backlog, supporting AI-related solution definition.
- Gathered and documented business requirements, translating business problems into technical user stories, and clarified scope, assumptions, and acceptance criteria. Built Jira epics and stories and collaborated with stakeholders and delivery teams.
- Served as a scrum master for two teams, planning and conducting all scrum ceremonies, maintaining artifacts, and managing a third team using Scrumban.
- Coached teams on Scrum, built a hybrid approach based on Scrum principles, and facilitated its adoption.
Senior IT Delivery Manager
Qubryx
- Led end-to-end delivery across oil and gas client accounts, ensuring on-time, on-budget execution while improving delivery predictability and client satisfaction.
- Owned company-wide project portfolio governance, overseeing prioritization, capacity planning, scope, risk management, and delivery health across multiple concurrent initiatives.
- Led delivery of a GenAI product initiative, coordinating product, engineering, and data teams from concept, scope analysis, development, and testing, ensuring alignment with business objectives and delivery timelines.
- Collaborated with the business team to elicit requirements from end users of the GenAI product. Built and managed the product backlog with regular grooming sessions.
- Used Smartsheet to track initiatives, activities, resources, risks, dependencies, and delivery milestones, with reporting views tailored to project teams and management.
- Built Smartsheet dashboards that provided consolidated visibility into portfolio and workstream status, key milestones, risks, and actions.
Delivery Manager
o9 Solutions
- Managed multiple fixed-price projects worth $1 million for o9 Solutions—a world leader in supply chain implementations—by leading geographically spread teams to implement o9's proprietary solutions for their end clients in Europe, the USA, and China.
- Saved clients $100,000 in cost efficiencies, including speed of planning and reduction in manual efforts. Brought in almost 50% of improved efficiency of the daily source-to-end data load processes.
- Managed the scope, budget, schedule, stakeholders, risk, communication, and documentation.
- Designed Smartsheet interconnected sheets to track implementation activities, requirements, deliverables, resources, dependencies, risks, and release-related activities.
- Created Smartsheet reporting views for stakeholder groups, allowing delivery teams and leadership to see relevant information. Built Dashboards to monitor project health, milestones, workstream status, and outstanding actions.
- Built Smartsheet automated workflows to manage task assignments, due-date reminders, status changes, and escalation of delayed or blocked activities.
Program/Project Manager & Scrum Master
Zipari
- Oversaw five external projects for healthcare clients spread throughout the USA, using Zipari's healthcare products. Used Jira to track and address defects, analyze requirements, manage change requests, and handle administrative tasks. It overlapped with US time zones.
- Co-managed a program for the annual enrollment period (AEP) that included around 15 clients. Worked with the project managers from each project. Implemented lessons learned from the previous year's AEP.
- Managed tasks for the Zipari client support team using Jira Kanban.
- Used Smartsheet sheets to track projects, tasks, milestones, resources, risks, issues, and dependencies.
- Created Smartsheet reporting views that consolidated information across workstreams and built dashboards for management to monitor delivery status, upcoming milestones, resource requirements, and outstanding risks.
- Automated Smartsheet workflows that were used for status notifications, reminders, task ownership, and escalation of items requiring attention.
Project Manager
Naico
- Led multiple scrum teams to deliver a multi-phase implementation of a responsive web app for a healthcare startup, from product discovery through MVP, through post-delivery support. Worked with the client to analyze and refine their requirements.
- Founded and led the robotic process automation (RPA) practice. Automated a manual internal payroll process and reduced efforts by 75%.
- Led a scrum team to deliver an MVP for a TikTok-like application for a popular TikTok user with a million followers. Worked with the user to analyze and refine his requirements.
- Coached the PMO team in adopting proper Scrum processes and advanced Jira features. Created documentation on creating custom Jira workflows.
- Coached and mentored inmates at Persevere, a US-based NGO/NPO that helps justice-involved individuals reintegrate with and become productive members of society, on IT, programming, and testing concepts and processes.
- Served as a product manager and led a 10-member team to build an internal employee rewards mobile app. Also managed the product backlog.
- Created and maintained documents regarding project management (PMP, risk register, change control register, etc.), functional requirements, requirements traceability matrix, architecture, high-level technical specifications, and HIPAA compliance.
Project Delivery Head
CogniCor
- Led a team of 50+ members to deliver large-scale, complex artificial intelligence solutions using Scrum methodology to international and national customers in the banking, insurance, and IT support domains.
- Collaborated in technology directions and identified growth areas while increasing annual revenues more than two-fold.
- Developed a comprehensive strategy to manage agile program delivery, organizational adoption, talent development, and leadership effectiveness.
- Collaborated with a diverse set of stakeholders (business units, functional groups, consultants, vendors, external agencies) on matters relating to systems for establishing, implementing, and improving proprietary product solutions.
- Implemented open-source tools to manage project performance—resulting in huge savings.
- Created and managed documentation for project management, FAQs, and quick references for end users.
- Worked with specific clients to analyze and refine their requirements.
Director of Operations
eVero
- Handled the end-to-end delivery of web and mobile (Android, iOS) projects to support the in-house suite of products using agile methodologies.
- Led a team of 30+ members consisting of developers and testers.
- Provided level-two post-production support during extended business hours. Coached resources to do effective support.
- Conducted training in Jira for agile project management and post-production support. Provided documentation in this area.
- Identified and documented inefficiencies and suggested solutions and best practices for various processes.
Project Manager
UNI-B Solutions
- Built the Indian entity of a US-based IT product startup from the ground up for its PaaS solution (Unity platform).
- Delivered key projects using Agile methodologies in aviation, construction, education, and energy industries.
- Identified and documented technical approaches for various business scenarios and challenges.
- Trained resources on Agile and Scrum methodologies.
- Provided business analysis, technical directions, solutions, and troubleshooting assistance.
Project Manager
Nielsen
- Led a 10-member BI team to deliver reporting and dashboard solutions to internal and external clients.
- Managed the scope, schedule, quality, cost, resources, and risk, and documented these areas. Worked with clients on analyzing and refining their requirements.
- Participated in architecture and solution design. Provided technical expertise and mentoring to team members.
- Established and implemented operating procedures, monitored and evaluated operational effectiveness, and maintained reporting standards. Created documentation for these areas.
Project Manager
Guidehouse
- Managed a 4-member BI team and its projects to deliver multiple BI reporting solutions and aggregated data sets for internal and external clients.
- Analyzed requirements and developed the technical solutions.
- Streamlined processes for submission of new requirements, bugs, development, testing, and UAT.
- Set up and implemented Pentaho, a leading open-source BI and ETL tool, from scratch. Created documentation on installation and technical specifications.
Lead Developer
BlackBerry
- Managed a 6-member business intelligence team to provide reporting solutions integrated with RIM's SAP end-user environment.
- Created and managed estimates for scope, time, and effort. Analyzed and refined requirements.
- Provided technical expertise for the development, migration, and upgrade of reports, dashboards, and user support.
Lead Developer
BMC
- Led onsite and offshore teams to develop reports for the client's global professional services group using Scrum methodology.
- Elicited and analyzed functional requirements and created technical specification documentation.
- Provided technical expertise and user and customer support.
Lead Consultant
Goldman Sachs (Contract)
- Managed business intelligence projects to deliver reporting solutions for business-critical applications.
- Used Waterfall methodology to manage the entire SDLC. Worked with end clients to analyze and refine requirements.
- Provided technical expertise for report development and testing, migrations, application security, user administration, and monitoring batch process/ETL jobs.
- Provided training, documentation, and 24/7 support for reports and applications.
BI Developer and Business Analyst
Chase
- Fulfilled developer contract roles with various clients (JP Morgan Chase, Biogen Idec, Fair Isaac, Comcast, ADP, Medtronic, and Intelsat).
- Worked on various business intelligence, analytics, data warehousing, and database tools.
- Worked as a business analyst, conducted training, and wrote documentation.
- Provided call center support for BI reports and analytics.
Project History
Person-Centered Intelligence System (P-CIS)
Led a team of 20+ members (developers, testers, architects, and IT support) to deliver a multi-phase implementation of a web-based HIPAA-compliant application in the healthcare domain, starting from product ideation until end-client delivery.
• Managed a team of developers, testers, architects, and IT support to deliver a multi-phase implementation of a web-based application that works as an ERP in the mental healthcare services domain. Led the entire journey starting from product ideation until end-client delivery.
• Started from scratch, conducted project discovery, built wireframes, wrote functional and technical requirements, and owned product design (technical and UI), HIPAA compliance, development, and testing (functional, performance, security, alpha, beta), and user support.
• Provided regular reports to senior stakeholders on matters of burndown, cost, and schedule.
CogniCor | Emma Chatbot
Delivered an AI-based chatbot that saved OCBC multimillions.
• Managed a team of 10+ developers, testers, and DevOps.
• Delivered multiple Agile releases of an AI-based chatbot with various groups within the OCBC Bank, Singapore.
Technologies: Python, Java, NLP, Machine Learning, Open Project, Bugzilla
CogniCor | MyRA Chatbot
Delivered an AI-based chatbot with a huge ROI by reducing the number of support agents and decreasing resolution time.
• Managed a team of 10+ developers, testers, and DevOps.
• Delivered multiple agile releases of an AI-based chatbot with various insurance groups (two-wheeler, four-wheeler, health) within ICICI Lombard.
Technologies: Python, Java, NLP, Machine Learning, Open Project, Bugzilla
eVero | Digital Agency
Saved clients millions of US dollars by making them go paperless and providing real-time analytics.
• Managed a team of over 20 developers, testers, and DevOps.
• Delivered the desktop and mobile versions of the in-house product to multiple clients.
Technologies used include ASP.NET, iOS, Android, SQL Server, and Jira.
UNiB | UNiTY
Saved the client $100,000 by automating their entire workflow.
• Managed a team of developers, testers, and DevOps in the delivery of several releases of the UNiTY platform for Arista Aviation.
• Implemented Scrum methodology and trained the client in using this from scratch.
Technologies: Java, Redis, MongoDB, Jira
Nielsen | Various Business Intelligence Projects
Successfully implemented 100% of BI projects on schedule.
• Managed a team of 18 developers and testers in the delivery of multiple BI reports for internal and external clients.
• Liaised closely with a data warehousing team to build schemas with BI requirements in mind.
• Implemented a more than two-year-long and multimillion-dollar project in migrating all BusinessObjects reports to MicroStrategy.
Technologies: BusinessObjects, MicroStrategy, Informatica, HP Quality Center
o9 Supply Planning
Saved an EU client $100,000 in cost efficiencies, including speed of planning and reduction in manual efforts. Brought in almost 50% of improved efficiency of the daily source-to-end data load processes.
Managed multiple fixed-price projects worth $1 million for o9 Solutions—a world leader in supply chain implementations—by leading geographically spread teams to implement o9 proprietary solutions for their end clients in Europe, the USA, and China.
Pipe Intel
• The client had numerous disparate data silos. They had to be merged and analyzed.
• The data was disconnected, and it could not be analyzed as a whole.
• There was no uniformity in the data storage across the databases, so data engineering and data science were needed.
• Used data engineering (medallion architecture) to merge the various data sets in AWS.
• Pipe Intel was a GenAI platform that was built to allow users to prompt for data analysis. Analysis was provided as text and charts.
• Data sources were merged and engineered into AWS, using medallion architecture.
• Started the analysis of the engineered data.
• The GenAI platform was built over several iterations.
• Impact is not determined yet.
Education
Advanced Program in Leadership for Business Excellence in Leadership for Business Excellence
Indian Institute of Management - Lucknow, India
Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science
Sacred Heart University - Fairfield, CT, USA
Certifications
Certified International Supply Chain Manager
IPSCMI
Agile Hybrid Project Pro
Project Management Institute (PMI)
Project Management Professional (PMP)
Project Management Institute (PMI)
Skills
Tools
Google Docs, Jira, ETL, SQL, Microsoft Project, Balsamiq Mockups, Confluence, Atlassian, Google Sheets, Project Management & Work Tracking Tools, RAID Log, Slack, Trello, Salesforce, Atlassian Suite, Asana, Office 365, Zoom, Claude
Paradigms
Requirements Analysis, Agile Project Management, Agile Delivery, Waterfall Delivery, Agile, HIPAA Compliance, Scrum, Agile Software Development, Change Management, Team Development, Implementation Project Management, Agile Leadership, Azure DevOps, Testing, Kanban, User Acceptance Testing (UAT), DevOps, AI Project Management
Platforms
Azure, Windows, iOS, Android, SharePoint, Unix, Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Industry Expertise
Healthcare, Call Centers, State Government, Pharmaceuticals, Nonprofits, Insurance Technology (Insurtech), Insurance, Banking & Finance, Aviation, Logistics
Other
Project Delivery, Presentations, Requirements & Specifications, Backlog Management, Project Budget Management, Project Timelines, Client Management, Project Planning, Cost Estimation, Resource Allocation, Risk Management, Data Analytics, Estimation & Planning, Digital Project Management, Planning, Communication, Project Scheduling, Waterfall Methodology, Milestones, Project Management Operations, Data Visualization, Project Management Professional (PMP), Business Intelligence (BI), Project Management, IT Projects, IT Project Management, Project Coordination, Software Project Management, Task Management, Projects, Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC), Scrum Coaching, Project Discovery, Team Management, BI Reports, Stakeholder Management, Stakeholder Engagement, Business Requirements, Technical Requirements, Budgeting, Scheduling, Budget Management, Project Estimation, Risk Analysis, Use Cases, Process Improvement, Risk, Documentation, Minimum Viable Product (MVP), Discovery Workshops, Estimations, Technical Project Management, Operations, Reports, Web App Deployment, Web App Development, Backlog Grooming, Feature Backlog Prioritization, Product Management, Websites, Mobile Apps, Wireframe to Product, Remote Team Leadership, Web Applications, Roadmaps, Project Scoping, Scrum Master, Cross-functional Collaboration, Web Project Management, Forecasting, Training & Training Content Development, Data Warehouse Design, Microsoft 365, Business Analysis, Data Warehousing, Databases, Training, SAP BusinessObjects (BO), IT Support, Startups, Analytics, Software Development, Sprints, Gantt Chart, Cross-cultural Communication, Executive Presentations, Issue Tracking, IT Deployments, Lessons Learned, Delivery Management, User Stories, Data Analysis, Delivery, Team Building, Jira Administrator, Coaching, Agile Sprints, Sprint Planning, Agile Coaching, Progress Reporting, Project Tracking, Sprint Ceremonies, Sprint Retrospectives, Stakeholder Analysis, Status Updates, People Management, Software as a Service (SaaS), Business Intelligence (BI) Platforms, Dashboards, Web & Mobile Applications, Business Processes, Collaboration, PMO, Project Management Office (PMO), Project Leadership, Smartsheet, Financials, Resource Loading, Product Requirements Documentation (PRD), Project Reporting, Resource Management, Microsoft Office, Requirements, Distributed Team Management, Jira Administration, RAID, Team Coordination, Cross-functional Team Leadership, Jira Query Language (JQL), Quality Assurance (QA), Angular, .NET, Tech Sales, MicroStrategy, QA Testing, Manual QA, Website QA, Robotic Process Automation (RPA), Customer Support, Customer Service, Resourcing, Mentorship & Coaching, Data Quality, Quality Management, Discovery, Web Platforms, Mobile, Wireframing, IT Services, Development, Technical Leadership, Team Leadership, Data Marts, Database Modeling, Web, Health IT, Writing & Editing, Technical Support, Technical Architecture, Videos, New Product Development, New Products, Finance, Payroll & Benefits, Charity, Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs), Fintech, Mobile Banking, Back-end Architecture, Healthcare IT, Machine Learning, Vendor Management, .NET Core, Compliance, Conflict Resolution, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Program Management, Best Practices, IT Program Management, Business to Consumer (B2C), Process Control, SaaS, Supply Chain, SAP Supply Chain Management (SCM), Teams, ClickUp, Hybrid Project Management, MongoDB, Data Extraction, French, Prototyping, Microsoft Project Online, Automation, Data, Agile DevOps, Certified Project Manager, Microsoft Teams, Healthcare Services, Healthcare Software, Oil & Gas Project Management, Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI), Capacity Planning, Manufacturing, Service-level Agreements (SLAs), Mobile Applications, Scrumban, AI Agents, Agentic AI Systems, OpenAI, Gemini, Process Optimization, Product Delivery, Agile Product Delivery, AI Integration, Large Language Models (LLMs), Supply Chain Operations, Stakeholder Communication, PMO Processes, PMO Frameworks, Chatbots, Agentic AI, CRM, Data Engineering, Cloud, Application Monitoring, Microsoft Copilot
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