Rina Nakhla
Berlin
Summary
Engineering leader with 14+ years of software engineering experience and 7+ years of proven success leading cross-functional teams. Skilled at driving people growth, product delivery, and technology transformations across startups and large organizations. Known for building resilient, high-performing teams, aligning product and engineering strategies, and fostering strong stakeholder partnerships. Adept at balancing people-first leadership with data-driven decision-making to deliver scalable, market-ready solutions.
Overview
15
15
years of professional experience
Work History
Sabbatical
Growth & Learning
10.2024 - Current
- Pursued language learning (German) to support integration and broaden professional opportunities.
- Actively participated in leadership networks, workshops, and events (e.g., LeadDev) to stay current with industry best practices.
- Deepened knowledge in modern leadership and engineering management through peer groups and continuous learning.
Engineering Manager – Checkout, Pay & Ship
OLX Group
10.2021 - 10.2024
- Platform Transformation: Spearheaded the evolution of a classifieds network serving 300M+ users into a market-agnostic transactional platform, leading a cross-functional team of 17 engineers (backend, frontend, mobile).
- Strategic Program Leadership: Delivered a scalable checkout solution that accelerated new market onboarding, boosted orders by 3.4% in one market, and reduced development/support costs while achieving High Performer DORA metrics (10+ daily deployments,
- Regulatory Compliance & Business Impact: Implemented EU legislations (Omnibus, DSA, DAC7), safeguarding up to 6% of annual revenues; drove transparency measures across EU marketplaces, generating €1.9M in savings.
- Risk & Innovation Management: Proactively identified and mitigated project risks during planning phases, while fostering a culture of innovation and continuous improvement that strengthened problem-solving capabilities.
- Product & Data-Driven Optimization: Partnered with product teams to define technical vision, run experiments, and leverage data-driven decisions to optimize user experience and platform performance.
- Departmental Leadership: Served as a key decision-maker at the departmental level, streamlining cross-team decision-making processes and improving overall engineering efficiency.
- Technical Leadership: Contributed to scaling OLX’s European engineering architecture, tools, standards, and practices to enhance modularity and shareability.
- People & Culture Leadership: Coached and mentored engineers to build a strong DevOps culture; mentored new engineering managers, conducted evaluations/promotions, and created growth opportunities.
- Change & Resilience Leadership: Navigated the team through organizational challenges (layoffs, office closures) while sustaining engagement, morale, and delivery.
- Facilitation & Culture Building: Planned and facilitated multi-day engineering offsites (up to 35 participants), including budget management, team-building activities, and strategy workshops.
Engineering Manager - Interim CTO for heycar.com
heycar Group
11.2020 - 09.2021
- Led two cross-functional teams (12 engineers across Spain and Germany) to develop the market-agnostic heycar.com platform.
- Defined technical vision, architecture, and roadmap aligned with product strategy, ensuring scalable and maintainable systems.
- Mentored team members, fostering a culture of learning, collaboration, and strong DevOps practices; created growth opportunities, including a Principal Engineer role.
- Managed budgets, end-to-end operations, and external consultants, prioritizing both short- and long-term goals.
- Established improved hiring and onboarding processes to drive team growth and retention.
- Maintained close collaboration with Product, Business, Marketing, and Engineering teams, as well as external stakeholders from Digital Unit and VWFS.
Engineering Manager – Financing & Cash Payments Solutions
heycar Deutschland
08.2020 - 11.2020
- Led a cross-functional team of 5 engineers, building end-to-end financing and cash payment solutions with VWFS and the Digital Unit.
- Defined technical vision and architecture aligned with product goals, ensuring scalable systems.
- Mentored team members and fostered a culture of learning, collaboration, and DevOps excellence.
- Managed OKRs, employee evaluations, and promotions to strengthen team performance.
Lead software Engineer
Trim
11.2018 - 06.2020
- Led the engineering team, drove OKR planning, and managed hiring to scale innovative, customized fashion-tech solutions.
- Optimized onboarding and recruitment processes, significantly improving team performance and technical capabilities.
Backend Team Lead
Bonify
05.2018 - 10.2018
- Led a team of 5 engineers, providing both technical leadership and people management.
- Recruited, mentored, and onboarded new team members, fostering a high-performing and collaborative backend team.
- Designed and executed the architecture and strategic roadmap to transition from a monolithic system to scalable microservices, improving system reliability and maintainability.
- Oversaw sprint planning and delivery, ensuring projects were completed on time with high quality.
- Collaborated with cross-functional teams to align technical decisions with business goals.
Tech Lead
MoneyMap (Finleap venture)
06.2016 - 05.2018
- Partnered with the CTO to shape architecture, priorities, and delivery milestones, owning sprint planning and execution for a cross-functional team.
- Acted as a feature lead for major initiatives, from specification to implementation.
- Partnered with Product Managers to translate business needs into scalable technical solutions for complex challenges.
- Mentored junior developers and improved system performance by identifying bottlenecks and optimizing code.
Senior Backend Software Engineer
FireLayers (Proofpoint)
01.2015 - 01.2016
Software Engineer
NICE Actimize
01.2014 - 01.2015
Software Engineer
Astea (IFS)
01.2012 - 01.2013
Software Engineer
Epperasign
01.2011 - 01.2012
Education
B.Sc. - Software Engineering
Ort Braude College of Engineering
06.2012
Practical Electronics & Electrical Engineering
Ort Braude College of Engineering
06.2004
Skills
- People & Team Leadership: Coaching, mentoring, performance management, team growth
- Product & Delivery Management: Roadmap ownership, agile execution, cross-market scaling
- Strategic Leadership: Tech vision, organizational scaling, cross-functional alignment
- Stakeholder Management: Executive collaboration, external partnerships (VWFS, Digital Unit)
- Engineering Excellence: Cloud-native architectures, microservices, CI/CD
Languages
English (Professional working proficiency)
Arabic (Fluent)
Hebrew (Fluent)
German (Intermediate)
Timeline
Sabbatical
Growth & Learning
10.2024 - Current
Engineering Manager – Checkout, Pay & Ship
OLX Group
10.2021 - 10.2024
Engineering Manager - Interim CTO for heycar.com
heycar Group
11.2020 - 09.2021
Engineering Manager – Financing & Cash Payments Solutions
heycar Deutschland
08.2020 - 11.2020
Lead software Engineer
Trim
11.2018 - 06.2020
Backend Team Lead
Bonify
05.2018 - 10.2018
Tech Lead
MoneyMap (Finleap venture)
06.2016 - 05.2018
Senior Backend Software Engineer
FireLayers (Proofpoint)
01.2015 - 01.2016
Software Engineer
NICE Actimize
01.2014 - 01.2015
Software Engineer
Astea (IFS)
01.2012 - 01.2013
Software Engineer
Epperasign
01.2011 - 01.2012
Practical Electronics & Electrical Engineering
Ort Braude College of Engineering
B.Sc. - Software Engineering
Ort Braude College of Engineering
Similar Profiles
Kyler GriffithKyler Griffith
Therapist- Branch Manager at The Green House Center, Growth and LearningTherapist- Branch Manager at The Green House Center, Growth and Learning
Anthony TurpinAnthony Turpin
Production Technician at LGP Laboratory Growth and ProductivityProduction Technician at LGP Laboratory Growth and Productivity
Marienne PerillaMarienne Perilla
Registered Behavior Technician at Gracious Growth ABARegistered Behavior Technician at Gracious Growth ABA
Marian CalixMarian Calix
Delegate Relations Manager at Smart Bridges GmbhDelegate Relations Manager at Smart Bridges Gmbh
Christian RamsbeckChristian Ramsbeck
Commercial Bid Manager Rail Infrastructure at Siemens Mobility GmbHCommercial Bid Manager Rail Infrastructure at Siemens Mobility GmbH