Publication
Powerful Conversations: How Project Managers Can Transform Teams Through Strategic Questions
https://www.toptal.com/project-managers/project-management-consultant/asking-questions
Mădălina is currently unavailable
Mădălina Marincaș
Verified Expert in Project Management
Project Manager
Cluj-Napoca, Cluj County, Romania
Toptal member since October 3, 2022
Bio
Mădălina is a program and project manager focused on applied psychology in tech and an excellent soft skills trainer and storyteller. The unique mix of technical project management experience and human behavior know-how makes her an empathic manager who gets things done. Having experience in both product and software services organizations, Mădălina is at her best when brainstorming, communicating, and solving problems.
Project Highlights
Mobile App for Personal Thermostat Wearable
Built a mobile app that controls a wearable that acts as a personal thermostat.
Operator Deposit Limit
Aligned project stakeholders to implement the requirements coming from the country's regulator.
Tournaments Implementation on Paddy Power
Launched a new entertainment type on the Paddy Power website.
Expertise
- Agile Delivery
- Business Psychology
- IT Project Management
- PRINCE2 Project Management
- Program Management
- Project Management
- Stakeholder Management
- Team Management
Work Experience
Management Consultant | Project Management Expert | Professional Coach
2024 - PRESENT
Structured Growth
- Implemented project management frameworks that increased project success rates by 90%.
- Implemented portfolio management solutions for an EMEA IT function in an international organization (including global alignment).
- Developed and delivered leadership development programs that enhanced employee engagement and retention.
- Designed and executed organizational change initiatives that resulted in improved operational efficiency.
- Collaborated with over 50 professionals around the globe in 1-on-1 coaching sessions to support them in achieving their goals.
Portfolio Manager
2024 - 2025
Vertiv
- Implemented from scratch a portfolio management solution in the EMEA IT function (over 60 projects).
- Created reporting capabilities for the portfolio (Power BI reports). Provided live information for portfolio stakeholders.
- Designed guidelines and templates for project management implementation and delivery (business case, project charter, RAID, RACI, risk management best practices).
- Created a knowledge management system for the management function and its artifacts.
- Aligned with Global IT PMO to facilitate the adoption of global processes.
- Created and structured presentation decks for leadership forums.
- Mentored project managers and provided support in adopting efficient project management solutions.
Management Consultant
2022 - 2024
Mazi Management Consulting
- Defined responsibilities of the project manager role and needed behaviors, aligning with three seniority levels. Created project management processes and best practices for client interaction. Delivered knowledge hub on project management.
- Held one-on-one management consulting sessions with managers, CTOs, and CEOs to identify action plans for their organizational, team, and management challenges.
- Conducted a project focused on sales strategy and pipeline creation/execution. Deliverables include a project plan, a documented workflow (pipeline), tooling setup, and execution monitoring.
- Increased employee engagement and skill development through training initiatives.
- Established metrics for the project success rate and implemented process optimization.
Senior Project Manager | Management Consultant
2022 - 2023
Global App Testing
- Created the seniority levels and associated responsibilities for the project management team. Defined career paths for project managers. Created organizational processes that mapped the PMs' responsibilities.
- Developed RACI matrices for departments within the operations function, including project management, customer support, and customer success, and drove process creation and standardization.
- Managed over ten key customer relationships and testing strategies during a year. Interacted with over 40 leads (startups, medium-sized companies, and corporations) in identifying testing needed. Created a yearly testing strategy for each of them.
- Established a career coaching program for employees in the organization.
Head of Project Management
2020 - 2022
Salt & Pepper
- Increased the project management team in a year and a half from one person to four by leading recruitment and onboarding efforts for these roles. Increased project management team capacity by 300%.
- Established solid project management practices and processes by creating a project lifecycle structure, a project roadmap, and tailored waterfall and agile project management company standards.
- Defined the strategy for the project management team quarterly as OKRs, aligning with the company goals.
- Initiated projects, programs, and discovery sprints by setting up the ways that work best for them.
- Delivered more than six projects with teams composed of developers, QAs, designers, BAs, POs, and other stakeholders.
Trainer
2018 - 2022
Leaders Foundation
- Delivered over ten training programs to groups of 20 – 70 people. Each program lasts a few months, and there are 4 – 8 training sessions to be delivered.
- Designed hands-on activities for the topic I was delivering, ensuring the attendees learned as much as possible.
- Held sessions on communication, personal values, team dynamics and management, leadership, vocational coaching, and project management.
Project Manager
2015 - 2020
Flutter Entertainment
- Organized ten key projects with more than 30 development teams, 25 support members, and 15 different 3rd parties across nine countries. Led the project teams through influencing and negotiating.
- Delivered cross-functional projects in payments, retail, operations, marketing, and digital gaming. Integrated Apple Pay and Google Pay as payment methods, ensuring compliance across various jurisdictions.
- Planned and created clear milestones for large initiatives, monitoring progress and managing risks and a wide variety of stakeholders and 3rd parties, from initiation to production rollout and operational support.
- Joined the team as a project management intern and grew into the role over five years until I was in charge of delivering the company's key initiatives.
- Implemented responsible gambling initiatives like the operator deposit limit and self-exclusion functionalities across brands and markets (the UK, Italy).
- Took responsibility for complex rollouts. Managed the redesign and rollout of a retail application across a vast network of 600+ locations, addressing challenges and implementing effective communication strategies.
- Worked on testing strategy alignment (compliance). Contributed to ensuring compliance by aligning testing strategies for the company and its partners.
- Worked on retail data consolidation. Managed the complex project of integrating data from multiple sources, demonstrating adaptability and problem-solving skills.
Project History
Mobile App for Personal Thermostat Wearable
Built a mobile app that controls a wearable that acts as a personal thermostat.
Managed a team of ten developers, designers, OAs, and POs to build a mobile app from scratch. It required integration with a wearable and its firmware, which added additional complexity to the testing approach and the overall development process.
Program Organization for a Sports Facilities Booking
Designed the program with four teams across three different companies.
The business strategy was aligned with implementing the design, mobile, and web applications. My role was to understand the current procedures and implement a framework that aimed to bring together all key stakeholders. This would ensure that the design system that was currently under development would respond to the specific business needs along with the mobile and web particularities.
Operator Deposit Limit
Aligned project stakeholders to implement the requirements coming from the country's regulator.
The project’s goal was to amend existing website functionalities to ensure that gambling operators respect the deposit limit requested by UKGC. The stake was to ensure that two development teams and five support teams worked together on a deadline, making all the needed changes on time so that the business was in line with the responsible gambling strategy.
Tournaments Implementation on Paddy Power
Launched a new entertainment type on the Paddy Power website.
Together with more than 15 development scrum teams, ten operational teams, one-third party, and dozens of additional stakeholders, we built a brand new infrastructure and integrated the gambling concept called tournaments. The project lasted nine months.
ApplePay Integration for a Betting Platform
Ensured that the project met regulatory compliance requirements before launching a new payment method to millions of customers.
This project aimed to introduce a new payment method—ApplePay—on the Paddy Power and Betfair websites. As part of this initiative, I coordinated the releases and the collaboration with a certifying house to ensure we were compliant to launch this functionality in multiple jurisdictions.
Integration with UK National Self-exclusion Register
Planned and coordinated the joint effort of 12 scrum teams, three operational teams, five content teams, and two third parties across six business areas and three locations to implement this extra safety measure for the site's customers.
The project team was formed of leaders in the business areas, including P&L, product management, and C-level, as well as managers of the scrum teams. I was the project manager for the team that was the catalyst of successful project delivery in line with the UK regulation, even with the project’s tight deadline.
Other Experience
Education
2018 - 2021
Bachelor of Science in Psychology
Babeș-Bolyai University - Cluj-Napoca, Romania
2011 - 2015
Graduated in Computer Science
Technical University of Cluj-Napoca - Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Certifications
OCTOBER 2023 - PRESENT
Generative AI Overview for Project Managers
Project Management Institute (PMI)
MAY 2023 - PRESENT
Coaching Specialist
HUMANCO
JANUARY 2019 - PRESENT
MSP Foundation Certificate | Programme Management
AXELOS
FEBRUARY 2018 - FEBRUARY 2021
PRINCE2 Practitioner Certification
AXELOS
AUGUST 2016 - PRESENT
PRINCE2 Foundation Certification
AXELOS
Skills
Tools
Slack, Zoom, Confluence, Office 365, Google Sheets, Project Management & Work Tracking Tools, Microsoft Excel, Excel 365, Jira, Miro, Figma, Microsoft Power BI, Canva
Paradigms
Agile Delivery, Agile Project Management, Agile, Scrum, Management, Change Management, Implementation Project Management, Testing, Agile Leadership, Agile Software Development, Kanban
Industry Expertise
Technology, Healthcare, Education Technology (Edtech), Retail & Wholesale
Platforms
Monday.com, SharePoint
Other
Project Management, IT Project Management, PRINCE2 Project Management, Stakeholder Management, Project Planning, Project Management & Delivery, Distributed Team Management, Digital Project Management, Communication, Information Technology, Complex Problem Solving, Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC), Facilitation, Release Management, Monitoring, Third-party Management, Communication Strategy, eCommerce, Agile Practices, Scheduling, Cross-functional Collaboration, Mobile Applications, Web & Mobile Applications, Training, Presentations, Public Speaking, Estimation & Planning, Budgeting, Project Timelines, Feature Backlog Prioritization, Creativity, IT Projects, Integration, Data Integration, International Projects, Software Release Management, IT Management, Agile Program Management, Email Handling, Email Management, Planning, Reporting, Interviewing, Project Budget Management, Risk Analysis, Global Project Management, Project Delivery, Key Account Management, Cross-cultural Management, Project Tracking, Project Reporting, Sprint Retrospectives, Project Coordination, Roadmaps, Senior Executive Management, Mentorship & Coaching, Leadership & Coaching, Documentation, Executive Presentations, Communication Management, Training Content, Business Transformation Project Management, Enterprise Project Management, Cross-functional Team Leadership, Microsoft 365, Program Management, Soft Skill Training, Risk Management, RAID, Psychology, Motivation, Technical Writing, Team Management, Process Improvement Project Management, Scrum Master, Business Strategy, Business Delivery Management, Healthcare Services, Operations, Organizational Structure, Process Flows, Consulting, Agile Coaching, Scrum Coaching, Startups, Client Delivery Management, Project Management Operations, Waterfall Methodology, Training & Training Content Development, Discovery Workshops, IT Program Management, Marketing Research & Analysis, Online Payments, Compliance, PCI Compliance, Internationalization, International Payments, Team Mentoring, LinkedIn Marketing, Technical Project Management, Notion, Cost Analysis, Business to Business (B2B), Coaching, Career Coaching, Executive Coaching, Business Coaching, Account Management, Sprint Planning, Sprints, Creative Thinking, Resource Management, Objectives & Key Results (OKRs), Governance, Knowledge Management, Knowledge Bases, Content Creation, Enterprise Coaching, Early-stage Startups, Diagrams, Innovation, Payment Processing, Delivery Management, Minimum Viable Product (MVP), Business Psychology, Regulatory Compliance, Apple Pay, Management Consulting, Customer Success, Customer Journey, Presales, User Experience (UX), Spanish-English Translation, Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI), Growth, User Engagement, User Research, Microsoft Lists, Portfolio Management, ServiceNow, Stakeholder Mapping, Stakeholder Engagement, Global Operations, Workshops, PMO Development, PMO Processes, PMO Frameworks, Project Management Office (PMO), PMO Maturity Assessment, Templates, Needs Analysis, Structure, EMEA, IT, Guidelines, Leadership, Workshop Facilitation, Structured Facilitation, Web Project Management, Portfolios, Complex Program Management, Risk Models, Project Initiation, Strategic Initiatives, Podcasting, Delivery, Business Cases, Performance Management, Global Team Management, Email
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