Senad Bahor, Developer in Toronto, ON, Canada
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Senad Bahor

Verified Expert  in Engineering

Software Engineer and Developer

Location
Toronto, ON, Canada
Toptal Member Since
March 10, 2023

Senad is an engineering manager and associate director of engineering with over 14 years of IT industry experience. He has led front-end teams in web and software development, CMS implementations, UI/UX, project management, and Scrum and Agile. He is also experienced in building enterprise-level SaaS while scaling and managing multiple engineering teams. Senad is a mentor and cultural ambassador with strong technical consulting professional and people leadership skills.

Portfolio

Toptal
React, Figma, Jira, GitHub, Confluence, CSS, UI Libraries, Management...
Toptal
React, Ruby, GitHub, Jira, Confluence, Management, Scrum Master...
Green River Media
Content Management Systems (CMS), C#.NET, PHP, Web Development, CRM APIs...

Experience

Availability

Part-time

Preferred Environment

Slack, Zoom, Jira, Confluence, GitHub, Google Analytics, Office 365, MacOS, Visual Studio, Windows

The most amazing...

...thing I've performed was updating business-critical features in real time for one of the most frequently visited travel ticketing systems in Europe, Eurotunnel.

Work Experience

Associate Director of Engineering

2021 - 2022
Toptal
  • Led multiple engineering teams in the growth marketing domain, focusing on client-domain projects and supporting Toptal with high-impact, product-driven marketing initiatives.
  • Planned, estimated, and implemented initiatives defined against OKRs, working closely with the PMO, director of project management, marketing strategists, VP of growth, SEO team, and brand and design team.
  • Collaborated with architects in planning and implementing system improvements to support hypergrowth, scaling systems, introducing new team topologies against existing systems, and meeting company OKRs in the engineering and technical roadmap.
Technologies: React, Figma, Jira, GitHub, Confluence, CSS, UI Libraries, Management, Remote Team Leadership, People Management, Scrum, Leadership, Director, Software Development Management, API Integration, Project Management

Engineering Manager

2019 - 2021
Toptal
  • Led the engineering team in creating high-impact, lead-capturing SMB and enterprise client initiatives for Toptals' public domain, focusing on growth marketing projects supported by the brand, sales, and SEO departments.
  • Built new engineering teams within the growth engineering domain. In four months, I created an enterprise leads team and helped increase the growth marketing (engineering) domain through recruitment by over 300%.
  • Acted as scrum master and worked closely with the PM, designers, engineers of different seniorities, architects, and SEO team within the scrum framework to deliver high-impact initiatives in short periods.
  • Engaged as a cultural ambassador and member of the cultural committee to propose and help promote people team initiatives within the engineering domain, with a monthly outreach of 400+ engineers.
  • Ensured that my team met all annual engineering OKRs by consistently achieving a 100% completion rate quarterly.
  • Coached the SEO manager to become the PM for the team, thus acting as interim PM for the duration of the first six months of my engagement, in combination with being a scrum master and engineering manager.
Technologies: React, Ruby, GitHub, Jira, Confluence, Management, Scrum Master, People Management, Engineering Management, Remote Team Leadership, Slack, UI Libraries, GraphQL, Visual Regression Testing, Agile Project Management, IT Project Management, Leadership, Software Development Management, API Integration, Project Management

Interim CTO

2018 - 2019
Green River Media
  • Monitored the development of all client custom CMS development and implementation projects across multiple engineering teams in parallel, ensuring that the projected delivery timeline was met with at least 95% accuracy.
  • Coordinated all development activities and acted as the main point of contact with project managers, account managers, the sales department, and the DevOps team.
  • Collaborated with the business analyst on determining the project scope, user and functional requirements, and risk assessment.
  • Led technical workshops with the pre-sales department to understand business problems, capture client specifications, educate clients, and provide custom solutions to clients from different industries.
Technologies: Content Management Systems (CMS), C#.NET, PHP, Web Development, CRM APIs, Management, CTO, Team Leadership, Web Project Management, UX Design, UI Design, Web Consulting, Microsoft Teams, Visual Studio, Hosting, Leadership, Software Development Management, API Integration, Project Management

Principal Consultant

2016 - 2018
Green River Media
  • Coordinated all technical pre-sales activities in the company and technical consultancy on custom enterprise-level solutions and custom solutions for a range of CMS, CRM, and ERP systems.
  • Liaised with the account managers and sales department on new prospects and led sales meetings, client consultations, workshops, and sales activities.
  • Wrote project briefs, proposals, tender documentation, and functional requirements documentation and defined project scopes for project managers. Managed project managers and a business analyst.
  • Led all UI/UX workshops for the clients to define functional requirements.
  • Managed the design team to determine custom visual solutions—including defining corporate and brand guidelines and new marketing visuals—and web design solutions and transition to mobile responsive designs.
  • Estimated the project scope, overall development efforts, and SDLC by employing a custom-built MoSCoW matrix that I've accommodated for company-specific needs.
Technologies: Umbraco, Drupal, Kentico, Sitecore, WordPress, HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript, C#.NET, Photoshop CC, Illustrator CS6, Salesforce, Trello, SaaS, Harvest, Web UX Design, Web UI Design, Bootstrap 3, Business Analysis, Microsoft Project, IT Project Management, Project Management

Team Lead (Front-end)

2013 - 2016
Green River Media
  • Monitored the team converting visual designs into custom HTML code by utilizing the latest web and markup technologies—including HTML5, CSS3, and Sass—and JavaScript frameworks and libraries, combined with responsive frameworks like Bootstrap.
  • Optimized front-end deliverables for back-end integrations. Identified critical CMS integration points and managed the integration of custom HTML code into the various CMS environments—such as Ektron, Umbraco, WordPress, and Sitecore.
  • Oversaw the design team in creating and updating visuals for clients, designing new visuals based on workshop-defined user journey wireframes, and turning them into design proposals and concepts using Photoshop and Illustrator.
  • Helped clients integrate visual requirements into mobile-responsive frameworks with Bootstrap.
  • Reviewed and approved all front-end work and design proposals for clients.
Technologies: HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript, Ektron CMS, Illustrator CS6, Photoshop CS6, WordPress, Visual Studio, Management, Front-end, Umbraco, Kentico, Team Leadership, Web Consulting, Manual Testing, Project Management

Lead Web Developer

2008 - 2013
NextVision
  • Provided custom eCommerce implementation and solutions in Magento.
  • Tracked and fixed bugs for all client solutions via custom internal bug reporting tools.
  • Built and implemented government web applications using ASP.NET.
  • Developed flash animations and banners, and HTML5 animations.
  • Engaged as a web design lead, responsible for designing all project proposals for clients across multiple industries.
Technologies: HTML5, CSS3, AngularUI, JavaScript, ASP.NET, Microsoft SQL Server, Magento

System Analyst and Designer

2008 - 2013
NextVision
  • Developed and implemented the system architecture, system design, and GUI for the in-house Windows Presentation Foundation‐based business information system.
  • Applied the project management and SDLC approach for project implementation.
  • Documented system processes and defined critical business requirements via system analysis and design methods.
Technologies: IT Project Management, Graphical User Interface (GUI), Software Design, Software Deployment, Software Development, Documentation, System Architecture, Web Project Management

Eurotunnel

https://www.eurotunnel.com/uk/
As a team lead in charge of the front-end team, I completed the visual requirements assessment for the project, aligning the team with the company brand and mobile-responsive behavior guidelines.

I monitored and reviewed the process of converting static project visual requirements into HTML using the latest web and markup technologies, JavaScript frameworks and libraries, and responsive frameworks like Bootstrap. I also managed the integration of custom HTML code into CMS Ektron, identifying critical integration points for back-end engineers while ensuring consistency across development environments.

Mersey Gateway Bridge

https://www.merseyflow.co.uk/
Paying for a toll crossing is necessary to travel over the Mersey Gateway Bridge; therefore, the first key task was ensuring the user experience was as fast and efficient as possible.

As a first step, I hosted a workshop that allowed us to understand further the key data requirements for making a toll booking. Additionally, I created a full web design solution for the client, capturing essential brand guidelines and unique user journeys via a wizard-based booking system. The solution presented the user with a sequence of dialogue boxes that led the user through a series of well-defined steps. This approach to the booking area served two purposes: capturing all the required data to make a booking and creating a fast user experience with minimal room for error. I also monitored web developers working alongside the client's internal IT team to learn more about their API and ensure that data was effectively syncing between the two platforms.

Merseyflow achieved 3,304 registrations before midnight on the first day alone, over 6,000 in the first working week, and 8,200 in the first month. Over 90% of customers chose to use the simple online booking platform instead of the call and walk-in centers, which were also available.

Firefly Learning

https://fireflylearning.com/
In the crowded edtech marketplace, Firefly understood how important it was to stand out with a clearly defined unique selling proposition. It had become evident that the previous website design wasn't helping to separate Firefly from the competition.

To overcome this, I worked alongside the Firefly team to develop a new Why Firefly area, which gives users a clear view of what separates their platform from the other edtech platforms. In under two weeks, goal conversions from the homepage increased by 24%, demonstrating that users were more engaged and that the alteration of brand messaging better resonates with the challenges that schools were facing in the education sector.

Quintessentially

https://quintessentially.com/
Quintessentially Group is a British concierge company founded in 2000. The company is headquartered in London and operates 60 offices worldwide. It is a members-only luxury lifestyle management platform providing services such as travel bookings, restaurant recommendations, and event access. The group includes 16 brand services, including travel, events, estates, and Quintessentially Foundation.

I conducted numerous consultations and workshops around requirements to ascertain the best fit for Quintessentially. Many of their future marketing plans focused on content creation, automation, and CRM integration; therefore, I proposed Kentico CMS as the perfect fit. I also provided a clear business case for Kentico, outlining how it would streamline their marketing activity and ultimately enable cost savings through reduced software integrations.

The new Kentico CMS website has provided Quintessentially with a robust, easy-to-edit CMS system that has significantly enhanced its online presence.

Languages

CSS, HTML5, CSS3, C#.NET, PHP, Ruby, JavaScript, GraphQL

Tools

Slack, Jira, Confluence, Kentico, GitHub, Microsoft Teams, Illustrator CS6, Figma, Visual Studio, Photoshop CC, Zoom, Google Analytics, Ektron CMS, Trello, Photoshop CS6, Hotjar, Microsoft Project

Paradigms

Agile, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Management, Object-oriented Programming (OOP), Manual Testing, Web UX Design, Web UI Design, Scrum, Agile Project Management, UX Design, UI Design, Hosting

Platforms

Windows, MacOS, WordPress, Umbraco, Drupal, Salesforce, Magento, Director

Other

Office 365, IT Project Management, Waterfall Methodology, Web Development, Information Systems, Scrum Master, eCommerce, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Systems Analysis, System Design, Content Management Systems (CMS), UI Libraries, CRM APIs, Front-end, Sitecore, Data Mining, Networks, IT Governance, ISO 9001, 3D Modeling, Statistics, Data Structures, Web Security, SaaS, Harvest, Graphical User Interface (GUI), Software Design, Software Deployment, Software Development, Documentation, System Architecture, APIs, UX Wireframes, Consulting, Front-end Design, Front-end Development, Remote Team Leadership, People Management, Engineering Management, Visual Regression Testing, CTO, Team Leadership, Web Project Management, Web Consulting, Business Analysis, Leadership, Software Development Management, API Integration

Libraries/APIs

React, AngularUI

Storage

Database Management Systems (DBMS), Databases, Microsoft SQL Server

Industry Expertise

Project Management

Frameworks

Bootstrap 3, ASP.NET, Bootstrap

2008 - 2012

Master's Degree in Information Systems

The University of Buckingham - Buckingham, England, UK

2004 - 2008

Bachelor's Degree in Information Systems

The University of Buckingham - Buckingham, England, UK

APRIL 2021 - APRIL 2022

Digital Marketing Certification: Technical SEO

Semrush Academy

JANUARY 2016 - PRESENT

Kentico Certified Developer

Kentico

JANUARY 2015 - PRESENT

Certified Umbraco Developer

Umbraco

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