Charl Erasmus
Verified Expert in Project Management
Project Manager
Wil, Switzerland
Toptal member since September 23, 2021
Charl is an experienced program manager with a deep understanding of the software development lifecycle. He has a proven track record of leading large-scale Waterfall projects in enterprise settings and managing Agile teams across various industries. Charl's unique approach bridges the gap between senior management and Agile teams, ensuring transparency and progress tracking while empowering teams to deliver their best work in dynamic environments.
Project Highlights
Expertise
- Agile Project Management
- Certified ScrumMaster (CSM)
- IT Project Management
- Project Management
- Project Management Professional (PMP)
- Scrum Coaching
- Scrum Master
- Technical Project Management
Work Experience
Technical Program Manager
PepsiCo Global - PepsiCo IT Services - Fieldglass
- Developed and maintained detailed project plans, schedules, and resource allocation. Coordinated with stakeholders to define project scope, objectives, and deliverables.
- Demonstrated deep understanding of mobile app development technologies and methodologies. Provided technical guidance to the development team and ensured adherence to best practices.
- Collaborated closely with cross-functional teams to allocate resources effectively. Monitored and managed project budgets, ensuring optimal resource utilization. Identified opportunities for process improvement and efficiency gains.
- Enforced quality standards for app development projects. Conducted regular reviews and assessments to ensure the delivery of high-quality products. Collaborated with testing and QA teams to implement effective testing strategies.
- Ensured effective communication and collaboration among team members.
- Maintained open and transparent communication with project stakeholders. Provided regular project status updates, progress reports, and milestone achievements. Facilitated meetings, workshops, and presentations as needed.
- Identified and assessed potential project risks; developed and implemented risk mitigation strategies. Ensured timely resolution of issues to minimize impact on project timelines.
- Ensured timely resolution of issues to minimize impact on project timelines.
IT Project Manager
Epcido A/S
- Conducted an IT and process landscape assessment across relevant departments.
- Performed a gap analysis of current systems versus future needs.
- Evaluated potential platforms like Microsoft Project, Jira, Asana, Monday.com, and custom Power Platform solutions.
- Delivered a recommendation report with a roadmap for implementation and integration into our Microsoft environment.
- Analyzed and processed all tools between departments.
- Documented and established a foundation for a knowledge base to translate information.
- Ensured integration of new systems with Business Central.
- Coordinated with stakeholders to gather requirements and insights.
Senior Project Manager
Syngenta - Data and AI Technology
- Set priorities in a fast-moving environment with limited clarity.
- Succeeded in identifying and managing project risks, blockers, and inter-team dependencies.
- Collaborated with the enablement team to ensure timely progress.
- Communicated updates and aligned stakeholders across business and technical teams.
IT Service Owner
Private Bank
- Transformed a disorganized service into a stable, high-performance operation, achieving zero downtime and 100% customer satisfaction.
- Implemented Oracle APEX, seamlessly integrating it with other systems to enable efficient reporting and custom workflows, significantly improving the efficiency of back-office teams.
- Developed and deployed critical integration services that empowered key governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) decisions across the entire bank.
- Designed and implemented a complex HR interface using Java Spring Boot, enhancing functionality and user experience.
- Mentored and guided both my team and members of other teams, fostering professional growth and cross-team collaboration.
- Established mature customer support processes, leading to improved service delivery and client satisfaction.
- Developed and implemented effective vendor management processes, optimizing vendor relationships and performance.
- Led all migration and integration projects, consistently achieving a 100% success rate in implementation.
- Managed the GRC service for the entire bank, overseeing all technical, ITIL, and communication aspects to ensure seamless operations.
- Directed the technical management and migration of the MetricStream GRC application, ensuring a smooth transition and ongoing system stability.
Senior Project Manager
Werkt LLC
- Served as the primary client liaison, cultivating and maintaining robust relationships to ensure client satisfaction and long-term partnership.
- Developed and implemented structured project frameworks, facilitating the smooth execution and successful delivery of enterprise website projects.
- Utilized my extensive senior experience in managing enterprise web projects to expertly capture and convey complex technical requirements.
- Led cross-functional collaboration with designers, writers, developers, and QA teams, ensuring cohesive project execution and alignment with client goals.
- Authored detailed project and product requirement documents, providing clear direction and maintaining alignment with client objectives throughout the development process.
- Expertly managed intricate project timelines, identifying critical milestones and preemptively addressing potential bottlenecks.
- Oversaw comprehensive project communications, end-to-end task management, and diligent project tracking, ensuring transparency and progress at all stages.
- Proactively resolved issues, maintaining project momentum and ensuring on-time delivery.
Senior Operations Manager
Trillium Beverages Pvt. Ltd.
- Managed to streamline the operational process and create a lean/agile approach.
- Coached all teams in the company on Jira/Confluence, which has significantly improved the company's performance.
- Implemented the SAFe framework, executive coaching of senior management, and business development of new products.
Service Delivery Consultant
Quartal Financial Solutions
- Collaborated with internal and external stakeholders to translate business requirements into cutting-edge IT solutions.
- Led the full software development lifecycle, including requirements gathering, architectural design, project management, testing, and release management.
- Managed vendor relationships to ensure timely and efficient project delivery.
- Conducted comprehensive market research to inform product development strategies and customer-specific solutions.
- Architected and implemented key products, including server automation, Jira automation, security monitoring, and cloud solutions for both internal systems and client-facing applications.
Technical Consultant
Quartal Financial Solutions
- Led the successful implementation and upgrade of company products, ensuring seamless integration and enhanced functionality.
- Translated user requirements into tailored technology solutions, driving improved system performance and user satisfaction.
- Designed, developed, and tested robust ETL solutions using Talend, optimizing data integration processes.
- Developed a proof of concept for a continuous testing framework, laying the foundation for more efficient and reliable testing practices.
- Implemented comprehensive monitoring processes for the test environment, and provided training to teams to ensure effective utilization.
- Mentored and coached team members, fostering a collaborative environment and supporting their professional growth.
Senior Professional Services Consultant
An Online Freelance Agency
- Designed and implemented end-to-end processes for the client's adoption of Jira; designed custom Agile processes, led the configuration of Jira, trained client staff to extract information, and monitored systems’ performance.
- Evaluated and created a proof of concept of automated testing to improve test coverage of the systems development.
- Managed the Digital Samba and Waiting Room Solutions (WRS) teams to ensure the development of the solution was compliant with the functional specifications.
Business Analyst | Project Manager
Telerik
- Strategized and designed the Sitefinity CMS roadmap in close collaboration with the product team, aligning it with business goals and user needs.
- Led dual roles as scrum master and product manager, driving the successful deployment of a comprehensive internal system redesign and the launch of a new online development platform.
- Managed client relationships and vendor communications, ensuring seamless coordination across internal teams to meet project objectives as part of the Account Management function.
- Conducted business analysis to gather requirements, perform market research, and collaborate effectively with UX, development, and QA teams to ensure the delivery of high-quality products.
- Evaluated and optimized existing business processes, identifying key areas for improvement and implementing targeted solutions that enhanced operational efficiency.
Operations Manager
Internovus
- Conducted a feasibility analysis for an Israeli company to evaluate potential operations in Bulgaria.
- Determined that the proposed operational structure was not viable—after an assessment—leading to the strategic decision to terminate the project.
- Gave recommendations, which served as a basis for company management to restructure their approach following my departure.
Project Manager
Skrill
- Served as a project management team member; played a key role in managing all company projects, with a primary focus on technology-related implementations.
- Served as a scrum master and technical advisor. Led the successful implementation of the data warehouse system, providing both strategic guidance and hands-on technical expertise.
- Demonstrated cross-functional collaboration by coordinating with product owners and technical team leads to streamline processes and oversee technical implementations.
- Worked as a SQL training facilitator and empowered the business team by delivering comprehensive SQL training for enhanced reporting capabilities.
- Served as a product team contributor; spearheaded the design and implementation of a new payment gateway, ensuring seamless integration and functionality.
- Acted as an impact analysis leader; conducted a thorough impact analysis for a Salesforce implementation, identifying key risks and opportunities to guide decision-making.
Deputy IT Manager
Societe Generale
- Evaluated change management requests and designed architectural solutions in close collaboration with technical teams, ensuring alignment with organizational goals.
- Partnered with the security officer and external auditors to maintain and enhance system security, meeting compliance standards.
- Optimized system performance while ensuring seamless business continuity for the bank, resulting in improved efficiency without service disruptions.
- Led and managed teams of up to 50 IT professionals, overseeing daily support operations and driving consistent delivery of high-quality service.
Information Technology Production Manager
Societe Generale
- Oversaw the operation and optimization of all production systems.
- Served as a steering committee member and contributed to strategic decision-making by evaluating risk, change management, and communication strategies.
- Worked as a product management lead (SPOC) and led the core banking system upgrade, ensuring alignment with the head office in Paris.
- Spearheaded the redesign of core system integration with the credit card system, and revamped the data warehouse and reporting system.
- Managed the upgrade of enterprise storage infrastructure for all production systems.
- Handled security coordination by collaborating with the security officer to address and resolve all security concerns.
Project History
Project Renaissance
Managed all technical projects and served as a single point of contact. Completed the project with a small overhang.
Acted as an information technology production manager managing the production systems. As a member of the steering committee, I participated in meetings to evaluate risk, change, and communication management. I also served as an SPOC for product management for the core banking system upgrade and aligning local systems with the head office in Paris.
I redesigned the core system integration with the credit card system, as well as the data warehouse and reporting system. I also managed the upgrade of the new enterprise storage device for all production systems and coordinated all security concerns with the security officer.
Apigee Implementation
Managed the implementation of the Apigee gateway as part of replacing an existing payment gateway.
Skrill replaced their payment processing gateway with a new gateway developed in-house. Apigee was implemented to serve as an API management tool for the new gateway. I managed the project successfully from initiation to final production implementation.
Data Warehouse Implementation
Implemented Scrum processes, which led to a successful data warehouse implementation and assisted in strategically changing the business.
Skrill required a new data warehouse to analyze user patterns and gather information to align business processes with the strategic goals set by senior management.
The database already provided useful information early in the project and assisted in the healthy growth of the company.
My solid Oracle database knowledge also helped train the team to understand the principles of data warehouse design on an Oracle database.
Telerik Online Platform
Formed part of the project team that launched the new Telerik online platform.
Formed part of the product team, which planned, designed, and implemented the new Telerik online development platform.
My roles ranged from scrum master for the developer teams who needed to adjust the current codebase, to project manager of the CRM redesign project to being part of the product team that managed the website’s redesign to launch the new online platform.
Continuous Delivery for Cloud Solution
Implemented a new end-to-end continuous delivery process to deploy the company software as a cloud solution.
Quartal Financial Solutions implemented a new end-to-end continuous delivery process, which delivered the current client and server solutions at the time as a new cloud service solution.
Created the new team, designed the processes to consider the uniqueness of the bespoke solutions for each customer, designed the architecture of the processes, and managed each new project of implementing the software for the clients.
I managed to successfully deploy the software for four clients within the first 12 months.
Certifications
Project Management Professional (PMP)
PMI
Certified SAFe 6 Scrum Master
Scaled Agile, Inc.
ITIL V2011 Foundation
Axelos
Certified Scrum Master
Agile Alliance
Oracle 9i Database Administrator Certified Associate
Oracle University
OCP Forms 6i
Oracle University
Oracle Certified Professional Developer 2000 Build Forms
Oracle University
Skills
Tools
Oracle Forms, Jira, Trello, Project Management & Work Tracking Tools, Zoom, SQL, Microsoft Excel, Atlassian Suite, Confluence, Talend ETL, Asana, Slack, Google Sheets, GitHub, Miro, GitLab, Figma, Jenkins, Microsoft Project, Microsoft PowerPoint, Wrike, Zapier, Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations
Paradigms
Scrum, Agile, Agile Project Management, Agile Product Management, Agile Software Development, Requirements Analysis, Kanban, Agile Leadership, Testing, Change Management, Lean Project Management, Organizational Analysis, Database Design, Lean, Implementation Project Management, Agile Delivery, Acceptance Testing, Business Continuity Planning (BCP), Management, Waterfall Delivery, DevOps, Marketplace Platforms, UX Design, AI Project Management, Penetration Testing, B2C, User Acceptance Testing (UAT), Mobile App Design, Azure DevOps
Platforms
Oracle, Linux, Windows, WordPress, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Amazon Web Services (AWS), Azure, Azure IaaS, Microsoft Dynamics 365
Industry Expertise
Technology, Software, Digital Marketing, Architecture, Healthcare, Financial Services, Banking & Finance
Other
Project Management, Certified ScrumMaster (CSM), Oracle DBA, Oracle PL/SQL, IT Operations Management (ITOM), Cloud, Software Development, Scrum Coaching, Scrum Master, IT Projects, IT Project Management, Project Planning, Waterfall Methodology, Stakeholder Management, Strategic Planning, Estimation & Planning, Feature Backlog Prioritization, Sprint Planning, User Stories, Estimations, Project Estimation, Project Timelines, Sprints, Timelines, Agile Coaching, Startups, Technical Project Management, Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC), Software Development Management, Scope of Work (SOW), Enterprise Software, Relational Databases, Planning, Communication, Client Delivery Management, Delivery Management, User Requirements, System Requirements, Requirements, Technical Requirements, Vendor Management, RACI, Hybrid Project Management, Certified Project Manager, Certified Scrum Professional, Data Transformation, Client Success, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), Process Transformation, Meetings, Project Coordination, Status Updates, Scope Management, Agile Transformation, Consulting, Lean Startups, Distributed Team Management, Cross-functional Collaboration, Custom Solutions, Data Integration, Consumer Privacy, REST APIs, Digital Solutions, Analytics, System Integration, Organizational Structure, Operations Tools, Process Flows, Dashboards, Training, Technology Trends, Technical Analysis, Computer Science, Engineering, Advisory, Developer Relations, Digital Transformation, Progress Reporting, Organization, Complex Problem Solving, Project Scoping, Process Design, Workflow, Feature Planning, Project Review, Monitoring, Project Delivery, Project Tracking, Data Products, Enterprise Architecture, Project Discovery, Risk Assessment, Enterprise Application Architecture, Best Practices, Small Business, Remote Work Consulting, Large-scale Projects, Databases, Business Requirements, Requirements & Specifications, Roadmaps, Reporting, Business Delivery Management, Communication Strategy, Business Process Flow (BPF), Process Documentation, System Migration, Data Feeds, Warehouse Management, Process Improvement Project Management, Coaching, Mentorship, Microsoft Office, Financial Management, Portfolio Management, Data Analytics, Business & Digital Transformation, System Implementation, Process Improvement, Project Reporting, Stakeholder Engagement, Third-party Management, GAP Analysis, Product Comparison, Functional Requirements, Vendor Selection, Integration, Data Migration, Discovery, Database Migration, Release Management, Delivery, Program Management, Technical Product Management, Software Project Management, Agile Program Management, Software Integration, Project Management & Delivery, Backlog Management, Impact Analysis, Customer Support, Cross-functional Team Leadership, Operational Efficiency Improvement, Deployment, New Product Rollout, Documentation, Enterprise SaaS, Dependency Management, Technical Program Management, Migration, Technical Leadership, Sprint Ceremonies, API Platforms, API Applications, Implementation, MySQL, Backlog Grooming, Vendors & Suppliers, Enterprise Project Management, IT Governance, Web Hosting, Digital Services, Agile Product Management, Backlog Grooming, Sprint Planning, Web, Business Continuity, BCP Testing, IT Strategy, Software Implementation, Program Increment Planning, Waterfall, Partnership Strategies, Data, Data Management, Master Data Management (MDM), Database Architecture, Automation, IT Deployments, Ownership, Data Security, IT Infrastructure, Milestones, Production, Strategic Initiatives, Content Management Systems (CMS), Web Platforms, IT Systems Architecture, Product Delivery, Fintech, ITIL V3 Foundation Certified, Build Processes, Jira Administrator, Windows PowerShell, Server Administration, Operations, IT Management, Jira Administration, Web Security, Financial Systems, Core Banking Systems, Investment Banking Technology, Project Management Professional (PMP), Software as a Service (SaaS), Product Roadmaps, Staffing, Scripting, Minimum Viable Product (MVP), SaaS, Leadership, Business Analysis, Solution Architecture, Discovery Workshops, Project Management Office (PMO), Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Marketing Technology (MarTech), APIs, Process Mapping, System Architecture, Technical Hiring, Interviewing, Project Budget Management, Agile DevOps, Technical Reports, Process Optimization, Budgeting, HTML, Risk Analysis, Risk Management, Project Design, Business Process Analysis, Business Process Management (BPM), Healthcare IT, Functional Specifications, CTO, Proof of Concept (POC), Feature Prioritization, Data Analysis, Data Science, Training & Training Content Development, Chief Operations Officer (COO), Data Visualization, Web Applications, User Experience (UX), Compliance, Global Operations, Technology Strategy & Architecture, Intranets, Executive Presentations, Gantt Chart, Early-stage Startups, JSON, PMO Development, Digital Project Management, User Journeys, API Integration, User Interface (UI), Data Privacy, Team Leadership, Web Development, Regulations, Workshop Facilitation, Websites, Statement of Work, Objectives & Key Results (OKRs), Resource Management, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Business Processes, Quality Assurance (QA), SAFe 6, Web Technologies, Request for Proposal (RFP), JavaScript, Python, Healthcare Services, Healthcare Software, Feature Prioritization, Product Management, Technical Product Management, Payroll & Benefits, UI Design, AI Prompts, Cloud Infrastructure, AI Agents, AI Integration, Headless CMS, Jira REST API, Agile Product Delivery, Server Management, Online Banking, Private Banking, Investment Banking, Product Management, Software System Architecture Development, Product Owner, Product Ownership, Scrum Product Owner, IT Business Analysis, IT Product Management, Product Development, Web Project Management, Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG), Project Management Operations, Operations Management, Consumer Branding, Strategy, Event Tracking, Mobile App Development, Node.js, React, Java, Agency, Mobile Applications, Web & Mobile Applications, Discovery Management, Business Development, General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), .NET, Systems, GRC, Projects, ITIL, Relationship Management, PHP, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Agentic AI, Microsoft Planner, Enterprise Project Manager, Infrastructure, Dynamics CRM 365, Business Process Improvement (BPI), IT Consulting, Large Language Models (LLMs), Notion, AI Architecture
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