Casandra Popescu, Project Manager in Bucharest, Romania
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Casandra Popescu

Verified Expert  in Project Management

Bio

Casandra is a goal-oriented manager with over eight years of experience in the technology industry, closely working with development teams to build innovative products using Agile principles. She believes in facing new challenges with great responsibility, curiosity, and ambition while coaching and motivating teams to do the same.

Project Highlights

Social Gaming
Managed about 20 people distributed in three teams to deliver new features for a mobile and web-based social game.
Portfolio and Process Management Platform in the Financial Sector
Oversaw delivery activities for a platform running daily debiting processes while working for the financial private funding sector in the US.
Healthcare Application
Held multiple roles within a team working on an application integrating IoT into the healthcare sector.

Expertise

  • Agile Delivery
  • Agile Leadership
  • Agile Project Management
  • IT Business Analysis
  • Jira
  • People Management
  • Scrum Master
  • Software Consulting

Work Experience

Group Manager

2020 - 2022
Playtika
  • Implemented R&D department initiatives and defined processes that support continuous improvement of engineering and project management practices like project planning cross-department framework, project status KPIs, reporting, etc.
  • Acted as a direct manager and delivery owner for up to three agile teams working in an international environment. Promoted a culture of quality by referring to best practices, knowledge sharing, and cross-department collaboration.
  • Ensured product stability, quality, and business KPIs were defined, met, or improved inside a group by working closely with teams and product owners.
  • Coached technical professionals and team leads working as part of a cross-functional team, fostered a feedback culture, set goals for career development, and ran individual performance management processes.

Project Manager

2016 - 2020
Zitec COM SRL
  • Focused on managing project resources and scope in an agile environment to deliver custom solutions provided to three US clients in the financial sector.
  • Managed a business analysis and initial product discovery phase for customers across multiple industries.
  • Created and maintained project-related documentation from the initial analysis phase to delivery, including statements of work (SOW), roadmaps, Gantt charts, budget tracking, RACI matrix, risk logs, user stories, user flows, and wireframes.
  • Conducted Agile training sessions for new team members in the organization.

Software Testing Consultant

2014 - 2016
Qualitance
  • Joined the team as a QA consultant but rapidly took on different responsibilities inside the team, such as a scrum master, proxy product owner, or delivery owner, depending on project and client needs.
  • Focused on assessing quality and acceptance criteria completion for mobile applications, from collaborative social platforms to educational apps or healthcare systems developed for various startups worldwide that use IoT.
  • Used rapid prototyping and design thinking techniques with clients, stakeholders, and developers to help build project requirements.
  • Provided training sessions on software testing best practices and processes during the company's internships.

Programmer

2013 - 2014
Visionware Romania
  • Configured Microsoft SharePoint and Microsoft Dynamics CRM solutions for a Romanian tourism company.
  • Gathered customer requirements and created relevant project documentation.
  • Performed customer training sessions on provided platforms and offered post-release support.

Project History

Social Gaming

Managed about 20 people distributed in three teams to deliver new features for a mobile and web-based social game.

While working on this project, I:

• Created project plans by involving and aligning relevant technical and business stakeholders.
• Managed and prioritized team tasks while balancing business goals with the team's needs.
• Tracked development KPIs to review and improve team performance.
• Tracked mobile game performance KPIs and proposed improvements to processes.

Portfolio and Process Management Platform in the Financial Sector

Oversaw delivery activities for a platform running daily debiting processes while working for the financial private funding sector in the US.

I managed a team of five developers and QAs to deliver functionalities for a financial portfolio management platform. Also, I acted as the primary contact person for new client requirements analysis, documentation, and translation to development artifacts. Finally, I budgeted and scoped completion tracking.

Healthcare Application

Held multiple roles within a team working on an application integrating IoT into the healthcare sector.

While working on this project, I coordinated team activities for different project phases, translated requirements into artifacts used by a development team, and acted as the primary testing consultant for a mobile hybrid application and web platform.

Fintech Startup

Acted as a primary liaison between business and technical stakeholders for a new product on the market that won Startup of the Year at the Central European Startup Awards (CESA).

While working on this project, I coordinated new product release activities from initial discovery to delivery by collaborating with business and technical stakeholders. Also, I defined a product delivery scope for a presentation website and web application for client portfolio management and managed a team, facilitating activities in an agile environment.

Education

2014 - 2016

Master's Degree in Databases for Business Support

Faculty of Cybernetics, Statistics, and Informatics - Bucharest, Romania

2011 - 2014

Bachelor's Degree in Economic Informatics

Faculty of Cybernetics, Statistics and Informatics - Bucharest, Romania

Skills

Tools

Jira, Draw.io, Asana, Confluence, EazyBI, UX Tools, Balsamiq Mockups

Paradigms

Agile Project Management, Agile Delivery, Agile Leadership, Scrum, Rapid Prototyping

Industry Expertise

Financial Services

Other

Project Tracking, Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC), IT Business Analysis, Scrum Master, Software Consulting, Team Management, People Management, IT Project Management, Project Management, Project Planning, Gantt Chart, Project Coordination, Project Timelines, Technical Project Management, Minimum Viable Product (MVP), Engineering Management, Process Improvement, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), Microsoft Office, QA Testing, Test Management, Manual Software Testing, Agile Product Delivery, Business Analysis, Agile Software Testing, Product Discovery, Startups

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