RJ Abou Seoud
Toronto,Canada
Summary
As the Sr. Director of Engineering Operations at Invafresh, a leading provider of fresh food e-commerce solutions, I drive agile transformation and oversee the delivery of product development and digital projects, enhancing customer experience, operational efficiency, and market share. With over 14 years of experience managing complex, cross-functional programs and teams in the technology sector, I excel in agile methodologies, process improvement, data-driven decision-making, and customer relationship management (CRM). My mission is to cultivate a culture of continuous improvement and collaboration among product management and engineering teams, empowering them to deliver innovative, high-quality solutions that meet client and end-user needs. Holding multiple certifications and skilled in risk and delivery management, I ensure the effective planning, execution, and delivery of multiple product lines and platforms. I am responsible for managing the entire P&L of product development operations, providing critical oversight and financial forecasting to ensure strategic alignment and business success. Additionally, I work closely with senior leadership and stakeholders to align agile strategies with business objectives.
Overview
15
15
years of professional experience
1
1
Certification
Work History
Sr. Director, Engineering Operations
Invafresh
01.2024 - Current
- Company Overview: a leading provider of fresh food e-commerce solutions
- Led Strategic Initiatives: Directed major strategic initiatives that aligned with business goals, resulting in a increase in market penetration and new revenue streams
- Managed product P&L, providing critical oversight and forecasting for corporate initiatives, ensuring financial health and strategic alignment
- Expanded program management scope from SDLC to full PDLC, effectively coordinating Market Discovery and Go-to-Market transitions with Product, Product Marketing, and other teams
- Developed and led operational strategies, achieving a 20% increase in the success rate of data-driven initiatives, enhancing decision-making and operational efficiency
- Created and implemented enterprise-wide strategies to address complex challenges faced by the Executive Leadership Team (ELT), leveraging strategic frameworks, analytics, customer insights, and business logic
- Directed cross-functional teams in launching a new product strategy, achieving a 20% increase in market share and driving significant revenue growth
- Industry Recognitions: Received industry awards or recognitions for outstanding performance, innovation, or leadership
- Responsible for methods and practices for executing Engineering initiatives for the business, improving overall agile planning maturity across the organization
- Spearheaded Innovation Initiative: Led the introduction of cutting-edge technologies and methodologies, resulting in a 30% increase in development speed and a 15% reduction in operational costs
- A leading provider of fresh food e-commerce solutions
Director Of Agile
Upshop
03.2022 - 01.2024
- Responsible for methods and practices for executing Engineering initiatives for the business, improving overall agile planning maturity across the organization.
- Spearheaded Innovation Initiative: Led the introduction of cutting-edge technologies and methodologies, resulting in a 30% increase in development speed and a 15% reduction in operational costs.
- Champion Leading the Agile PMO COE which functions as a project management community of practice to facilitate collaboration and best practice sharing among Scrum Masters and key Agile PMO stakeholders
- Engage senior leadership and business partners to define the Agile PMO COE mission, goals and operating model, and team configuration appropriate to deliver the agreed-upon Agile PMO goals and objectives
- Built High-Performing Teams: Recruited and mentored a diverse team of engineers and product managers, leading to a 50% reduction in turnover and a significant boost in team morale.
- Builds capabilities supporting new ways of working, and the use of Agile practices across the organization and establishes Agile learning programs that help enable teams and new practitioners
- Oversee, track and communicate initiative portfolio and Agile metrics in a meaningful, simple way that leads to improvements.
- Introduced and implemented Agile practices, resulting in a 40% improvement in team collaboration and a 20% increase in product quality. This significantly boosted project success rates and customer satisfaction.
Director Program Delivery
KAR Global
01.2016 - 03.2022
- Oversaw Entire Software Development Pipeline: Managed the entire software development lifecycle, ensuring high-quality, timely, and on-budget delivery of business objectives. Introduced CI/CD practices, reducing deployment time by 30%.
- Managed Program Managers and Scrum Masters: Directly supervised Program Managers and Scrum Masters, overseeing the day-to-day workflow, recruiting, hiring, and fostering their development and growth. Implemented industry best practices, enhancing product quality and team productivity.
- Drove Product Strategy Execution: Led the execution of product strategy and roadmap delivery across cross-functional teams by empowering the delivery team and collaborating closely with senior-level colleagues. Increased program delivery efficiency by 17% in 3 months, resulting in 12% cost savings.
- Engaged with Stakeholders: Regularly engaged with stakeholders to align development efforts with business goals, improving stakeholder satisfaction by 25%.
- Introduced Best Practices: Implemented industry best practices and innovative solutions, enhancing product quality and team productivity.
- Developed Performance Metrics: Established and tracked key performance indicators (KPIs) to monitor project progress and team performance, leading to continuous improvements. Developed and executed risk management strategies, mitigating potential project risks and ensuring smooth project execution.
Senior Enterprise Program Manager
KAR Global
09.2020 - 06.2021
- Directed New Agile Release Train (ART): Structured and led the creation of a new Agile Release Train (ART) with four agile scrum teams to successfully meet GMF's RFP requirements, ensuring alignment with corporate execution goals. Boosted team efficiency and collaboration by implementing agile best practices and continuous improvement processes, resulting in a 25% increase in delivery speed.
- Led Multiple Agile Release Trains: Managed an ART comprising 13 teams across all product work streams and digital transformation initiatives. Guided teams through discovery and execution phases using an agile iterative process that promotes a true agile mindset, enabling continuous inspection and adaptation. Regularly engaged with stakeholders to ensure alignment with business goals, improving stakeholder satisfaction by 30%.
- Aligned Business and Technology Strategies: Translated business objectives into actionable work streams, aligning technology initiatives with business strategies. Developed a comprehensive multi-stream program roadmap that provides transparency across the entire program, from product runway discovery and software development planning to product launch stages. Established and tracked key performance indicators (KPIs) to monitor team performance and project progress, leading to continuous improvements and successful project delivery.
Enterprise Program Manager-RTE
KAR Global
08.2018 - 09.2020
- Directed Global Rollouts for KAR Simulcast: Led the implementation of new software, hardware, and systems across 70 auction locations for ADESA, creating a unified platform to support all Simulcast needs within the KAR family. Ensured seamless integration and adoption of new technologies, enhancing operational efficiency and user experience across multiple locations.
- Oversaw Platform Migration: Managed the comprehensive platform migration process, including version-controlled configuration management, Jenkins/Artifactory automated build and deploy processes, and the KAR standard platform in a multi-tenant environment for Java applications. Implemented best practices in continuous integration and continuous deployment (CI/CD), improving deployment speed and reliability.
Senior Project Manager
KAR Global
09.2016 - 08.2018
Program/Release Manager
Winmagic
02.2015 - 10.2016
Technical Program Manager
Buildfire
01.2015 - 01.2016
IT Project Manager
Winmagic
01.2012 - 01.2015
Technical Project Analyst
Winmagic
01.2010 - 02.2012
Education
Risk Management Certificate -
University Of Toronto
12.2015
Project Management Certificate (PMC) -
University Of Toronto
12.2014
Bachelor Of Commerce B Com - Enterprise Resource Planning
University Of Ryerson
12.2011
Skills
- Adaptability
- Agile COE
- Agile Project Management
- Agile Software Development
- Budget Planning
- Business Management
- Change Agent
- Change Management
- Communication
- Corporate Communication
- Cross Functional Collaboration
- Deployment
- Digital Transformation
- Efficiency
- Enterprise Software Delivery
- Financial Management
- Improvement
- Innovation
- Investment Management
- Management
- Optimization
- Product Delivery
- Product Management
- Program Delivery Management
- Program Management
- Project Delivery Method
- Project Management Office Management
- Project Portfolio Management
- SaaS
- Software Development
- Software Implementation
- Software Requirements Specification
- Statement Of Work
- Strategic Planning
- Strategy
- Talent Development
- Talent Management
- Transformation Leadership
- Vendor Management
- Vendor Relationship Management
- Waterfall Model
- Collaborative leadership
- Culture transformation
- Team management
- Policy development
Certification
- Leadership Essentials, 07/2023, eCornell
- Certified SAFe 4 Agilist 4.5, 09/2020, Scaled Agile, Inc.
- SAFe Release Train Engineer (RTE), 09/2019, Scaled Agile, Inc.
- SAFe 4 Certified Practitioner, 09/2017, Scaled Agile, Inc.
- Project Management Professional(PMP), 03/2017, Project Management Institute
- Bullet Proof Manager, 09/2016, Crestcom International
- Master Project Management, 08/2015, AAPM American Academy of Project Management
- Product Owner, 09/2014, Scrum Alliance
- Scrum Master, 09/2014, Scrum Alliance
- CPR Level C, 09/2013, St. John Ambulance Ontario
Awards
- 2023 Progressive Grocer GenNext Award, 10/2023, Invafresh
- Tailwind Emerging & Ascending Managers Program ("TEAM"), 03/2023, TailWind
- KAR Global MVP Employee 2020 Q2, 07/2020, KAR Global
Timeline
Sr. Director, Engineering Operations
Invafresh
01.2024 - Current
Director Of Agile
Upshop
03.2022 - 01.2024
Senior Enterprise Program Manager
KAR Global
09.2020 - 06.2021
Enterprise Program Manager-RTE
KAR Global
08.2018 - 09.2020
Senior Project Manager
KAR Global
09.2016 - 08.2018
Director Program Delivery
KAR Global
01.2016 - 03.2022
Program/Release Manager
Winmagic
02.2015 - 10.2016
Technical Program Manager
Buildfire
01.2015 - 01.2016
IT Project Manager
Winmagic
01.2012 - 01.2015
Technical Project Analyst
Winmagic
01.2010 - 02.2012
Project Management Certificate (PMC) -
University Of Toronto
Bachelor Of Commerce B Com - Enterprise Resource Planning
University Of Ryerson
Risk Management Certificate -
University Of Toronto
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