Stefan Antal

Hi, my name is Stefan. I am a techie, nerd, and manager at the same time. My social talents enabled me to lead great teams, big things and learn a lot about people. On the other hand, I never made up my mind if I like managing more than coding. This is why I stay involved with both to this day. You can have a conversation with me about AWS architectures or how to lead a company merger and I am equally comfortable. This website is a high-level summary of what I have recently done professionally. I look forward to sharing much more and encourage you to get in touch with me.

What I Do

Leading teams

Leading one or multiple teams is a very intimate and rewarding process. I focus on building real relationships that often expand outside of workplace matters. I've done that with multi-national, cross-functional, and diverse teams in English or German.

Client Work / Pitches

I lead / support / do the process from RFIs, RFPs, Scope of Work, to delivering projects for/with clients. One of my main qualities here is the ability to start on blank paper. It rarely is the final solution, but it always kicks-off a discussion.

Leading Offices / Departments / Companies

Leading a larger group of people requires a balance between approachability, vision, and numbers. Especially in positions like these, I like to stay relevant for all employees by showing my technical capabilities and by following my values openly. For every company, I develop guard rails and leave plenty of room for managers.

Hands-on building of backend systems

I feel comfortable building and designing backend systems. My strongest language is Java with the Spring framework. I prefer working in cloud environments (e.g., AWS) and with the support of continuous integration pipelines like GitLab.

My Values

Honesty & direct communication

As probably everybody, I find it unpleasant to deliver bad news. However, it is part of every good relationship. I will probably be the most honest and direct person you have ever worked with (with an eye for cultural differences). My way ensures that every feedback connects to an action and learning can happen. That is also true for good news.

Building relationships

To many of my employees/colleagues, I hold a deep relationship. Never for any other reason than the honest interest in people and their lives. In this way, I'm able to help and connect on a different level and create a different kind of dedication. I also share many details about my way of thinking.

Focus on people, numbers will follow

Financials and numbers, in general, are not my highest priority. By focussing on people, their strengths & needs, I'm able to understand challenges and create better solutions. In all of the cases, this led to a better long-term outcome.

Serve as a multiplier

I encourage people to find the time to teach skills instead of fixing everything themselves. I hold my actions against this standard, as well. Management positions are only justified if a multiplying factor is part of the equation. Additionally, I only find my work successful if we all are successful.

Testimonials

Clients

Résumé

Summary

Education

10/2009 - 06/2013
University of Applied Sciences, Munich

Information Systems and Business Administration, BSc

Experience (last 3 positions)

04/2022 - current
Alloy Technologies

Director, Engineering (Head of Vancouver office)

I am responsible for all five engineering teams of Alloy and lead the operational excellence of the engineering department, as a whole, with direct reports varying from 5 - 11 people.

Additionally, I was elevated to the executive team of Alloy to play a role in all company decisions.

My tasks include:

  • Recruitment of all engineering roles
  • People and performance management for all engineering team leads
  • Responsible for the office as part of Alloy's senior management onsite representation
  • Driving key technical projects ranging from more secure authentication for Alloy's data pipeline to building new integrations and features with state-of-the-art technology
  • General operational delivery
  • Support of SOC 2 certification
  • The occasional implementation here and there (e.g., integration into Google Cloud Marketplace)
09/2019 - 12/2021
SinnerSchrader

Executive Director Product Engineering, Authorized Signatory (procuration)

As part of a three-person executive leadership team, I was tasked in running the Munich office of SinnerSchrader. The office employs 50 – 60 talents in
cross-functional teams consisting of Product Engineers, Product Designers, and Product & Client Managers. However, I mostly focused on the Product
Engineers as that was my field. Together, we have built web products like car configurators, portals, and e-commerce shops.

My tasks included:

  • Overall responsibility in terms of technical and disciplinary management of the 25-member Product Engineering team of the SinnerSchrader Studio Munich
  • Design of the technology portfolio of the local product engineering team
  • Responsibility for the SinnerSchrader Studio Munich with around 60 employees from all disciplines and up to 10 active customer relationships
  • Management of the studio's customer relationships in the technology/product engineering dimension as well as the business success of the projects with these customers
  • Participation in the acquisition of new customers and winning new projects with existing customers
  • Participation in the overarching design of the Product Engineering division at SinnerSchrader
  • Active participation in the recruiting of software developers at all levels
  • Designing and organizing the local selection and hiring processes in the Product Engineering division
  • Participation in the organization-wide Leadership Team of SinnerSchrader
12/2017 - 08/2019
SinnerSchrader

Technical Director

I was the team lead (direct supervisor) of one of the engineering teams consisting of 5-6 people. On top of that, I was (technical) responsible for 1-2 projects and their technical excellence. The members of my team worked across different projects and in different project teams.

My tasks included:
• In-depth managing of individual employee situations
• Salary, vacation, and contract negotiations as well as performance reviews of my team
• Leading, supervising and hiring a team of developers
• Influencing in the sense of good architectural decisions taking into account technical goals and our clients' wishes
• Definition and iteration of the development process
• Participation in all phases of the software lifecycle, including working with product managers to define product specifications
• Review of code and control of contributions throughout the process
• Proactive search for and minimizing pain points in project infrastructure and code base
• Taking over personnel responsibility, coaching and further development of the team

Misc

Last code in production

SaaS integration into Google Cloud Marketplace – 2023

Last talk I gave

“How bees helped me to better understand our company” – 2020

Last tinker project I did

Temperature measuring device for a server rack with Google Data Studio integration to win an argument with IT ops – 2019

Largest deal I was part of

Termination of a contract with a client due to an unhealthy work relationship with our employees. Around 5 million € revenue – 2021

Largest pitch I was part of

Global roll-out and development of a new tool chain (e.g., CRM, DAM, websites, internal tools) for the automotive industry. Volume: around 400 million € across 5 years - 2020

Contact

Get in Touch

hello@stefanantal.com

Vancouver, BC, Canada