Marc-Daniel Ortega-Director of Engineering | Platform
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Experience
Director of Engineering | Platform
Veriff
- Mandated by the CPTO to restore engineering leverage and reset platform strategy across core platform capabilities.
- Led the organisational and technical realignment of platform teams (~40 engineers), redefining ownership boundaries, developer experience foundations, and platform operating models.
- Transitioned the organisation from infrastructure-centric execution to platform-as-a-product thinking, improving autonomy for product teams and reducing cross-team dependency.
- Introduced a pragmatic platform maturity framework to close feedback loops, reduce organisational friction, and improve delivery predictability.
- Partnered with executive leadership to embed long-term systems thinking and support sustainable product velocity.
Director of Engineering | Platform (Contract)
ShipMonk
- Engaged on a strategic mandate to stabilise platform delivery during a period of operational pressure across fulfilment systems.
- Streamlined operating models across four engineering teams (~25 engineers), reducing delivery toil by approximately 50% and restoring focus on high-value work.
- Reintroduced DORA metrics and SLO-based alerting to rebuild operational discipline and improve delivery transparency during peak operational periods.
- Recovered approximately 3% engineering capacity across a 70-engineer organisation through CI/CD improvements and platform simplification.
- Reduced operational dependency on central SRE teams by enabling self-service platform capabilities for product teams.
Director of Engineering | Platform
NewStore
- Led the scaling and stabilisation of a global omnichannel SaaS platform supporting international retail operations.
- Restructured five platform teams (~30 engineers), clarifying ownership, simplifying delivery models, and restoring predictable delivery.
- Reduced infrastructure costs by 40% and transaction costs by 70%, significantly improving platform unit economics.
- Rebuilt integration and extensibility foundations, accelerating systems integrator onboarding from months to weeks.
- Expanded the platform across 10+ countries under complex fiscal and hardware regulations while maintaining annual SOC 2 compliance.
Director of Engineering | Data
HelloFresh
- Mandated to transform fragmented data teams into a coherent data platform enabling data-driven decision-making at scale.
- Reorganised three data squads (~20 engineers) into a platform-oriented operating model enabling product teams to publish and consume trusted data products.
- Delivered a PII-compliant Data Mesh ecosystem enabling multi-million-dollar operational and strategic decision-making.
- Established self-service data platform capabilities improving developer experience for non-data engineering teams.
- Introduced DORA metrics and SLO-based alerting across the data ecosystem to improve delivery reliability and incident response.
Director of Engineering
Frontier Car Group (OLX)
- Brought in during a post-merger phase to stabilise engineering execution and realign product and engineering teams.
- Re-established effective agile operating models across three cross-functional teams (~30 engineers), restoring predictable delivery cadence.
- Improved DORA metrics and reduced bottlenecks between engineering, product, and operational teams.
- Accelerated integration of local teams following acquisition by OLX.
Engineering Manager
De Persgroep Nederland
- Led engineering teams responsible for the stability and evolution of Autotrack, a high-traffic automotive marketplace serving private buyers and dealers.
- Built and scaled two cross-functional teams (~15 engineers), eliminating reliance on external consultants and strengthening internal engineering capability.
- Reduced infrastructure costs by 50% while improving platform reliability from 95% to 99.5% SLA.
- Led the migration to the next generation platform (v3.0) with zero downtime, ensuring uninterrupted service for a high-volume marketplace.
- Established high-frequency delivery practices with lead time for change under one day and multiple deployments per day.
- Contributed directly to business growth by improving returning customer rates by approximately 20%.
Senior Software Engineer | Lead Engineer | CTO
Various organisations including Thales, BNP Paribas, Bouygues Telecom, Infovista, Irdeto and Eligotech
- Built deep engineering and leadership foundations across enterprise software, telecom, and SaaS environments.
- Worked with organisations including Thales, BNP Paribas, Bouygues Telecom, Infovista, Irdeto, and Eligotech, delivering complex distributed systems across regulated and large-scale production environments.
- Led architecture, platform development, and delivery of mission-critical systems spanning telecommunications infrastructure, financial systems, and enterprise software platforms.
- Co-founded and served as CTO of Coordialis, building an early SaaS platform providing AFNOR-normalised address and telephone data services for enterprise applications.
- Developed early expertise in distributed systems, large-scale production environments, and cross-team engineering coordination that later informed leadership roles in global SaaS organisations.
Engineering Manager
Hudson’s Bay Company
- Founded and delivered the Cart domain for a large retail commerce platform in under one quarter.
- Built and led a high-performing engineering team delivering multiple platform domains with rapid release cycles.
- Led the integration of Salesforce with legacy systems across five teams (~15 engineers), completing a complex cross-system migration in under nine months.
Industry experience
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Experienced in Information Technology, Banking and Finance, Telecommunication, Automotive, Retail, and Food and Beverage.
Business area experience
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Experienced in Information Technology, Product Development, Project Management, Operations, Quality Assurance, and Strategy.
Summary
Executive technology leader specialising in platform strategy, organisational design, and large-scale engineering systems.
Over three decades of experience rebuilding delivery foundations in complex technology organisations across SaaS, marketplaces, data platforms, and regulated environments.
Known for restoring engineering leverage by aligning platform architecture, team topology, and business strategy.
Regularly engaged to stabilise delivery systems, reduce structural drag, and enable sustainable product velocity.
Author of The Leadership Chronicles series exploring systems thinking, engineering craftsmanship, and durable organisational excellence in modern technology organisations.
Selected Impact
- Reduced infrastructure costs by up to 40% and transaction costs by 70% through platform modernisation.
- Rebuilt platform organisations of up to 40 engineers to restore ownership clarity and delivery leverage.
- Enabled international SaaS platform expansion across 10+ countries under complex regulatory constraints.
- Restored delivery systems under operational pressure using DORA metrics, SLO-based alerting, and platform operating models.
Thought Leadership
Author – The Leadership Chronicles
- An Evolution for a Revolution
- Gears, Triggers and Systems
- Foundations of Excellence
Published work explores systems thinking, engineering craftsmanship, and organisational design in modern technology companies.
Skills
- Executive Technology Leader | Cto | Vp Engineering
- Platform Strategy & Platform-As-A-Product
- Engineering Operating Models & Team Topologies
- Systems Leadership & Organisational Design
- Scaling Delivery Systems
- Developer Experience & Platform Ecosystems
- Cost, Reliability & Risk Management
- Data Platforms & Distributed Systems
- Executive Alignment & Technology Strategy
Languages
Education
INSA Toulouse
PhD · Applied Physics · Toulouse, France
INSA Toulouse
Engineer · Applied Physics · Toulouse, France
Statistics
Experience
Global experience
Expertise
Qualifications
Profile
Frequently asked questions
Have questions? Find more information here.
Marc-Daniel is based in La Fajolle, France.
Marc-Daniel speaks the following languages: French (Native), English (Advanced), Spanish (Advanced).
Marc-Daniel has at least 26 years of experience. During this time, Marc-Daniel has worked in at least 6 different roles and for 7 different companies. The average length of individual experience is 4 years and 8 months. Note that Marc-Daniel may not have shared all experience and actually has more experience.
Based on recent experience, Marc-Daniel would be well-suited for roles such as: Director of Engineering | Platform, Director of Engineering | Platform (Contract), Director of Engineering | Data.
Marc-Daniel's most recent position is Director of Engineering | Platform at Veriff.
In recent years, Marc-Daniel has worked for Veriff, ShipMonk, NewStore, and HelloFresh.
Marc-Daniel is most experienced in industries like Information Technology, Banking and Finance, and Telecommunication. Marc-Daniel also has some experience in Automotive, Retail, and Food and Beverage.
Marc-Daniel is most experienced in business areas like Information Technology, Product Development, and Project Management. Marc-Daniel also has some experience in Operations, Quality Assurance, and Strategy.
Marc-Daniel has recently worked in industries like Information Technology, Retail, and Food and Beverage.
Marc-Daniel has recently worked in business areas like Information Technology, Operations, and Quality Assurance.
Marc-Daniel holds a Doctorate in Applied Physics from INSA Toulouse and a Master in Applied Physics from INSA Toulouse.
The availability of Marc-Daniel needs to be confirmed.
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