Daniel Suszczynski - Engineering Leader &...

Q: Where is Daniel based?

Daniel is based in Berlin, Germany .

Q: What languages does Daniel speak?

Daniel speaks the following languages: Polish (Native), English (Advanced), German (Intermediate) .

Q: How many years of experience does Daniel have?

Daniel has at least 7994 years of experience. During this time, Daniel has worked in at least 7 different roles and for 3 different companies . The average length of individual experience is 1142 years . Note that Daniel may not have shared all experience and actually has more experience.

Q: What is Daniel's latest experience?

Daniel's most recent position is Engineering Leader & AI-Assisted Developer at Independent · Building with AI .

Q: What companies has Daniel worked for in recent years?

In recent years, Daniel has worked for Independent · Building with AI , FinCompare , and Smava .

Q: Which industries is Daniel most experienced in?

Daniel is most experienced in industries like Information Technology , Banking and Finance , and Retail .

Q: Which business areas is Daniel most experienced in?

Daniel is most experienced in business areas like Information Technology , Product Development , and Strategy . Daniel also has some experience in Project Management and Human Resources .

Q: Which industries has Daniel worked in recently?

Daniel has recently worked in industries like Information Technology and Banking and Finance .

Q: Which business areas has Daniel worked in recently?

Daniel has recently worked in business areas like Information Technology , Product Development , and Strategy .

Recommended expert

Berlin, Germany

Experience

Jun 2025 - Dec 9999

7974 years 7 months

Berlin, Germany

Engineering Leader & AI-Assisted Developer

Independent · Building with AI

Building a full-stack e-commerce product using AI-assisted development, deliberately returning to hands-on engineering to validate how AI changes software development workflows and team dynamics.
Exploring VP Technology, Head of Engineering, and Director of Engineering opportunities where hands-on AI experience meets organisational scaling expertise.
Open to advisory conversations on AI-augmented engineering teams, technology strategy, platform architecture, and organizational design.
No registered business. No commercial activity.

May 2023 - May 2025

2 years 1 month

Berlin, Germany

Head of Technology (Interim CTO)

FinCompare

Owned technology strategy and execution for a fintech platform serving SME financing, reporting directly to CEO/COO.
Successfully led the transformation of the technology organisation by implementing modern operational models, including Team Topologies and Domain-Driven Design (DDD).
Directly supported revenue growth and partner satisfaction through improvements in matching, data foundations, and platform reliability.
Developed technical strategy in alignment with product vision and strategy, accelerating business outcomes.
Implemented ownership and autonomy within the technology department, improving performance.
Introduced Event Storming and a ubiquitous language to streamline communication between technical and business teams, shifting focus to outcome and business value.
Leveraged Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) to align teams around customer-centric outcomes, driving performance improvements and company results.
Managed a cross-functional technology department of over 30 professionals covering software engineering, cloud infrastructure (AWS), data warehousing, IT security, and support.
Optimised lean product development processes and fostered a culture of technical excellence, collaboration, creativity, and mentorship through growth plans and a career ladder framework.
Introduced a comprehensive data warehouse to emphasise data-driven decision-making.
Reduced technical legacy by migrating from a monolith to a clean, event-driven architecture, improving scalability and maintainability.
Spearheaded quality improvements by implementing test automation, modern CI/CD, and Agile practices, achieving top industry standards measured by four DORA metrics within seven months.
Bolstered IT security practices, advancing compliance toward ISMS certification and ISO-27001 compliance.

Jan 2021 - Apr 2023

2 years 4 months

Berlin, Germany

Director of Software Engineering

Smava

Owned the Banking and Matching domain of the smava platform, leading six cross-functional teams of over 35 engineers, product, and data professionals.
Managed the complex data migration from an on-premises platform to a cloud-based system, ensuring stability and security despite headcount reductions.
Architected a new microservices-based platform, transforming monolithic applications into agile, domain-specific services.
Managed Post-Merger Integration by migrating to a unified platform while maintaining legacy system performance.
Played a key role in the Cloud Migration (AWS) project and served as interim Technical Product Owner for DevOps and Platform teams.
Built and led the Cloud Center of Excellence (CCOE) team to drive the mobilisation phase and hired staff and senior backend engineers, engineering managers, and DevOps/platform engineers.

Oct 2016 - Dec 2020

4 years 3 months

Berlin, Germany

Head of Software Engineering

Smava

Introduced Domain-Driven Design (DDD) at smava, achieving full autonomy for the core domain from product and technology perspectives.
Developed and managed recruitment processes to attract top technical talent at all seniority levels, significantly enhancing the tech department.
Implemented machine learning in applications and customer flows through collaboration with the data science department.
Led the Backend Foundation group of over 60 engineers, converting technical ideas into actionable OKRs.
Developed JIRA analysis tools to improve outsourced team management, metric tracking, and project planning.
Mentored and led four cross-functional teams, architected a new microservice-oriented platform, and refactored a monolithic application to enhance efficiency.
Ensured product and feature delivery on time and within budget by establishing effective processes and workflows.

Oct 2015 - Sep 2016

1 year

Berlin, Germany

Technical Lead / Technical Product Owner

Smava

Mentored and led two cross-functional teams, transforming them from lowest performers to most productive within four months by improving processes, knowledge sharing, and morale.
Enhanced code quality, test coverage, and monitoring for both software and hardware systems.
Reduced bank API integration time by 60% through process optimisation.
Led external API integrations, collaborating with technical teams, product managers, and the business analytics team.
Ensured adherence to ETA and Kanban WIP limits.
Developed and maintained the core bank brokerage platform and authored technical concepts for new features.
Participated in recruiting for the engineering department.

Mar 2014 - Sep 2015

1 year 7 months

Berlin, Germany

Senior Software Engineer

Smava

Developed an innovative rule engine service that improved collaboration with the business analytics department, reducing the time to implement new scoring models by about 70%.
Integrated third-party systems into the platform and supported front-end developers with data-handling mechanisms.
Collaborated with product managers and architects to implement key requirements and drive overall platform efficiency.

Sep 2005 - Feb 2014

8 years 6 months

Full Stack Software Engineer

Worked across multiple companies in Germany and Poland delivering web platforms, e-commerce systems, and internal business applications using Java, PHP, and JavaScript.

Industry Experience

See where this freelancer has spent most of their professional time.

Experienced in Information Technology, Banking and Finance, and Retail.

Information Technology

Banking and Finance

Retail

Business Area Experience

See which departments and functions this freelancer has contributed to most.

Experienced in Information Technology, Product Development, Strategy, Project Management, and Human Resources.

Information Technology

Product Development

Strategy

Project Management

Human Resources

Summary

Engineering leader with 20+ years of experience building and scaling technology organisations in fintech and SaaS. Proven track record of leading platform modernisation, organisational transformation, and post-merger integrations, turning high technical debt environments into scalable, high-performing product organisations. Now combining deep leadership experience with hands-on AI-assisted development to understand first-hand how AI is changing the way engineering teams build software.

Skills

Ai-assisted Development
Ai Adoption Strategy
Technology & Org Strategy
Platform Modernisation
Domain-driven Design
Event-driven Architecture
Cloud Transformation (Aws)
Organisational Design
Building Autonomous Teams
Hiring & Talent Development
Okrs
Lean Product Development
Post-merger Integration
Information Security & Compliance (Isms / Iso27001)
Data-driven Decision Making
Aws
Java
Kotlin
Go
Python
Typescript
Spring Boot
Event-driven Systems
Microservices
Postgresql
Kubernetes
Terraform
Ci/cd
Ai-assisted Development Tools

Languages

Polish

Native

English

Advanced

German

Intermediate

Education

Oct 2006 - Jun 2009

Wroclaw University of Technology

Master of Science in Computer Science, Faculty of Software Engineering · Computer Science · Wrocław, Poland

Oct 2002 - Jun 2006

University of Applied Science in Nysa

Bachelor of Science in Computer Science, Institute of Computer Science · Computer Science · Nysa, Poland

Certifications & licenses

Oracle Certified Associate, Java SE 7 Programmer

Statistics

Experience

Total positions 7

Experience in Information Technology 7985 y

Avg length 1142 y

Longest experience 7974 y 6 m

Global Experience

Countries worked in 1 (Germany)

Primary country Germany

Expertise

Recent roles Engineering Leader & AI-Assisted Developer, Head of Technology (Interim CTO), Director of Software Engineering

Main industries Information Technology, Banking and Finance, Retail

Main business areas Information Technology, Product Development, Strategy

Qualifications

Highest degree Master

Certifications earned 1

Profile

Created

March 2026

Need a freelancer? Find your match in seconds.

Try FRATCH GPT

Frequently asked questions

Do you have questions? Here you can find further information.

Where is Daniel based?

Daniel is based in Berlin, Germany.

What languages does Daniel speak?

Daniel speaks the following languages: Polish (Native), English (Advanced), German (Intermediate).

How many years of experience does Daniel have?

Daniel has at least 7994 years of experience. During this time, Daniel has worked in at least 7 different roles and for 3 different companies. The average length of individual experience is 1142 years. Note that Daniel may not have shared all experience and actually has more experience.

What roles would Daniel be best suited for?

Based on recent experience, Daniel would be well-suited for roles such as: Engineering Leader & AI-Assisted Developer, Head of Technology (Interim CTO), Director of Software Engineering.

What is Daniel's latest experience?

Daniel's most recent position is Engineering Leader & AI-Assisted Developer at Independent · Building with AI.

What companies has Daniel worked for in recent years?

In recent years, Daniel has worked for Independent · Building with AI, FinCompare, and Smava.

Which industries is Daniel most experienced in?

Daniel is most experienced in industries like Information Technology, Banking and Finance, and Retail.

Which business areas is Daniel most experienced in?

Daniel is most experienced in business areas like Information Technology, Product Development, and Strategy. Daniel also has some experience in Project Management and Human Resources.

Which industries has Daniel worked in recently?

Daniel has recently worked in industries like Information Technology and Banking and Finance.

Which business areas has Daniel worked in recently?

Daniel has recently worked in business areas like Information Technology, Product Development, and Strategy.

What is Daniel's education?

Daniel holds a Master in Computer Science from Wroclaw University of Technology and a Bachelor in Computer Science from University of Applied Science in Nysa.

Does Daniel have any certificates?

Daniel has 1 certificate: Oracle Certified Associate, Java SE 7 Programmer.

What is the availability of Daniel?

Daniel will be available full-time from March 2026.

What is the rate of Daniel?

Daniel's rate depends on the specific project requirements. Please use the Meet button on the profile to schedule a meeting and discuss the details.