Oana Ciherean

As the technical project manager, I managed a multidisciplinary team comprising designers, front-end and back-end developers, AI engineers, QA specialists, and a data engineer to build an innovative internal knowledge management tool. This AI-powered platform is part of the company's AI innovation initiatives and is designed to help employees efficiently access and manage information about their construction projects.

My responsibilities included leading the initial implementation phases—prototype development, beta versions, and MVP launch. I reviewed and refined system architecture to ensure scalability, designed API integrations for communication between components, and created a project roadmap to align development efforts with business objectives. Additionally, I managed releases and translated high-level business requirements into a detailed backlog for the development team, and once in a while, I wrote code.

• Guided the startup's CEO to refine the product vision for a core AI and gaming technology used in pre-K and K education for language learning, with the vision to monetize it by offering it as a service;
• Created a multi-release product roadmap starting with an MVP for the company that was struggling with too many conflicting priorities;
• Designed team staffing plan to ensure deliverability according to sales and marketing priorities and collaborated with recruitment to screen candidates;
• Contributed to creating an algorithm based on space repetition to ensure learning objectives were met;
• Managed implementation with an engineering team of three developers, synchronized dependencies with two other teams, and collected feature requirements from users;
• Reviewed architecture and introduced technical documentation practices in the company.

I conceptualized and developed an AI-powered coding tutor designed to revolutionize learning.

My role was holistic, starting with market research to ensure product-market fit. I crafted the product design, focusing on intuitive UI/UX, resulting in wireframes, mockups, and user journeys that embody clarity and engagement.

As the project's architect, I drafted the scope, devised strategic roadmaps for both immediate and long-term goals, and distilled the project backlog into actionable user stories. My technical background shone as I documented requirements and engineered a robust system design encompassing a relational database, integrated APIs (including OpenAI's GPT-4), and a web platform. The AI algorithm, my proprietary design, combines generative data from GPT-4 with a curated learning path, creating personalized educational experiences.

My hands-on development approach, coupled with thorough alpha and beta testing involving real users, ensured a user-centric product ready for market introduction.

ACCOMPLISMENTS
• Streamlined product development by defining features and planning roadmaps from conception to launch for an ecosystem of six user-facing web and mobile apps and 10+ back-end systems for a solution managing fiber and wireless internet services.
• Reduced time to market by designing hybrid agile processes over the end-to-end SDLC and leading seven cross-functional remote teams of 50+ managers, UI/UX designers, and engineers (QA and DevOps engineers).
• Mapped and designed business process automations along the customer journey, from first interaction with WordPress websites, to conversion and retention through back-end processing that supported Sales and Marketing team members in upsales.
• Increased team efficiency through standardization of documentation for user requirements, backlog, system design, and product release notes, adopted at the department level.
• Developed a staffing plan for multiple engineering teams.
• Created a program timeline integrating multiple project streams.
• Transitioned to a healthy workload balance by empowering five entry-level managers through mentorship.

WORK DONE
• Achieved leadership growth through new career paths and performance rubrics for design, engineering, testing, DevOps, support, and project management for individual contributors and people managers.
• Facilitated transition by creating an iterative change management plan and advised on the implementation.
• Designed a custom performance management strategy to foster cultural change in engineering.

• Designed a web platform architecture for users in 40 countries that decreased the infrastructure and maintenance costs by 5x;
• Coordinated a team of software engineers, software testers, and UI/UX designers in activities like wireframing, prototyping, engineering, unit, system, and automated testing;
• Customized the client's V-model waterfall process with Agile methods for engineering flexibility. Organized Scrum demos and daily standup meetings.
• Created product release map and time and material contracts and monitored the costs;
• Coordinated the product releases involving technical and user acceptance testing activities; made sure the process required documentation was in place (traceability matrixes and testing reports) and created final release reports;
• Made and monitored technical processes for code reviews, unit testing, continuous integration, and delivery;
• Designed the manual and automated testing strategy.

• Coordinated a team of 5-10 software engineers and testers to release a 3-tier enterprise web platform;
• Customized the client's V-Model waterfall process with Agile methods for engineering flexibility. Organized Scrum demos and daily standup meetings;
• Coordinated the product releases involving technical and user acceptance testing activities, making sure the process required documentation was in place (traceability matrixes and testing reports), and created final release reports;
• Created and monitored technical processes for code reviews, unit testing, continuous integration, and delivery.

• Coordinated the discovery and planning workshop with a UX/UI designer and tech lead;
• Created the product backlog, project timeline, and roadmap;
• Established team structure and allocation plan;
• Supervised the development team of five UI/UX designers and engineers that delivered a new component for language learning support, written in React and Node.js on the platform.
• Released product ahead of time and saved costs by coordinating the design and engineering of a web front-end.

WORK DONE
• Served as an agile coach and advisor for Medlex.AI, helping the project manager to plan and organize the startup's engineering efforts of building an MVP and managing a remote team using Agile Scrum.
• Coached startup founders on agile development and Jira best practices.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS
• Created an edtech nonprofit organization from the ground up, establishing the digital product strategy and roadmap, operational processes, building digital marketing and fundraising strategies, and setting and measuring KPIs.
• Devised concepts, benchmarks, and roadmaps, and managed the planning and implementation of digital projects and prototypes, such as mobile educational games and educational web platforms
• Built two nationwide education programs implemented in over 30 schools in urban and rural Romania in just three years.
• Coordinated a remote team of ten people and over 50 volunteers in six cities to implement software projects and educational programs.
• Designed end-to-end solution architecture supporting the entire customer journey, integrating WordPress lead generation components with back-end process automation supporting fundraising and operations teams.

• Led product discovery workshop with marketing, engineering, and strategy representatives;
• Designed product features based on market analysis data about patient profiles;
• Created personas, empathy maps, and user journeys;
• Designed the technical solution for mobile app and EHR system integration, containing AI features for image recognition;
• Defined and scoped product MVP;
• Supported technical vendor interviews and selection;
• Created a financial model for new product development.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS
• Audited the existing platform and WordPress technology stack and created a roadmap to streamline engineering and ensure on-time delivery.
• Created a team restructuring proposal and staffing plan to achieve the engineering goals.

• Audited engineering processes for a project suffering delays of over six months.
• Reverse-engineered the feature implementation status and created a rescue plan to bring the project back on track in three months.
• Coached the startup founders on product and engineering best practices.

• Managed the 1st phase of the migration of an enterprise web portal from a legacy Ruby on Rails architecture and implementation to React and GraphQL microservices.
• Created the structure and managed a remote team of 10 contractor engineers worldwide.

• Audited the feature completeness of a web platform for land management;
• Analyzed project and engineering management practices, consulted the company founders in new vendor selection, and supported them through the transition phase;
• Advised on legal aspects of engineering contracts and validated technology vendors;
• Coached the client's team members in using Agile Scrum to manage software projects.

• Coordinated eight software developers for the first release of UMT 360. UMT 360​ Enterprise Portfolio Management Web system was previously part of Microsoft Project Portfolio Management (PPM) solutions;
• Designed the architecture of software components, workflows, and data analysis modules for a financial management web platform;
• Documented and analyzed requirements, transformed them into technical tasks, and performed backlog grooming and prioritization;
• Created development processes for code review, source control, and bug and issue tracking.

Technologies used: Microsoft SharePoint, Microsoft Server, JavaScript, C#, .NET framework, SQL Server, SQL Analysis Services, OLAP Cubes, Workflow Foundation.

• Designed data integrations from various internal and external data sources and developed ETL components for data import;
• Implemented dashboards for data analysis in web systems, used by internal employees to monitor, identify, and troubleshoot problems for diagnosis machines.

As the CTO, I spearheaded the development of a robust system to manage analytics, HR processes, and operational automation for online courses, serving a large community of learners and educators. I designed and implemented a scalable database using PostgreSQL and Supabase, ensuring efficient data storage and retrieval.

I built an analytics dashboard to measure and enhance social impact that provided actionable insights into learner engagement and program effectiveness.

Additionally, I developed low-code HR and course management systems in WordPress and Retool, streamlining teacher and student administration, and created a suite of process automation tools to optimize course operations. Beyond technical execution, I provided strategic leadership to my team, guiding junior engineers through best practices in software development and system design. This initiative significantly improved our nonprofit’s ability to manage resources, automate repetitive tasks, and make data-driven decisions to enhance the learning experience.

• Managed a team of front-end engineers for an internal tool that provided document management and approval automation; the system was built as an extension of Atlassian Confluence and was written in React and Node.js.
• Created the initial timeline and budget, recruited the team, and documented the product and technical requirements.
• Provided technical guidance to the team on architecting the system and finding solutions to complex issues that arise when developing web applications.

Provided technical leadership to the team of five engineers (one front-end, two back-end, and two database developers) to develop a web-based microloan platform for a startup in Southeast Asia. Designed and developed APIs and back-end infrastructure on the .NET technology stack.

WORK DONE
• Helped the Toptal core team implement internal product and engineering processes using Jira and Confluence from the Atlassian suite.
• Acted as an SME and Jira and Confluence administrator. Did consultation with the teams on how to migrate data from old tools.

• Ran discovery and planning workshops with a team of five business stakeholders, UX/UI designers, full-stack and radius experts;
• Designed a multi-tenant telecom solution as a suite of web and mobile apps, CRM, SAP, and internet AAA protocol management platform to be deployed nationwide;
• Created a product roadmap from MVP to scale and rollout plan at the country level;
• Developed product backlog, generated estimates, project timeline, and established implementation staffing plan;
• Created a technical RFP for a government tender offer.

Managed a team of 10 software developers, 2D and 3D artists, game designers, testers, and marketers for 10 months to release Disco Dave, a mobile game produced under the AmusedSloth brand.

Disco Dave was featured by Apple and received the "Best Kids and Family Game" award at Casual Connect, TelAviv, 2016.

Created the entire game roadmap, decided on the major milestones, and coordinated the production activities, from the prototype, alpha, and beta testing sessions to the main release and then subsequent update releases.

Established KPIs, defined art and game development processes as a mix of Kanban and Scrum, and created project documentation templates, reducing, as a result, the production process in the studio from 2.5 years to 10 months. The game was the studio's first that broke even, reducing the loss that the studio had had with the previous titles.

The game was developed in Unity 3D and released worldwide on iOS, Android, Windows Phone, and Fire OS, and in local stores in China and Japan.

Managed a team of 10 software developers, 2D and 3D artists, game designers, testers, and marketers to release Super Pet Hero, a mobile game produced under the AmusedSloth brand.

Super Pet Hero is a mobile game that received the "Best Mobile Game" award at Casual Connect in 2017, Berlin.

Created the entire game roadmap, decided on the major milestones, and coordinated the production activities, from the prototype, alpha, and beta testing sessions to the main release and the subsequent update releases.

Established KPIs, defined art and game development processes as a mix of Kanban and Scrum, and created project documentation templates, reducing, as a result, the production process in the studio from 2.5 years to 1 year.

The game was developed in Unity 3D and released worldwide on iOS, Android, Windows Phone, and in local stores from China.