"It’s probably easier than you think!"
Engineering Manager | Building Strong Teams in Complex Times
Driving performance, scalability, and business impact through people & technology
Ivan Milanov
Engineering leader with 15+ years in software development and 5+ years in management, helping teams grow, scale, and succeed globally.
My passion lies in combining Agile principles, Stoic philosophy, and Systems Thinking to guide teams through complexity, simplify processes, and deliver sustainable outcomes.I believe that clear thinking, simple processes, and empowered teams are the most effective way to create long-term value — in both software development and leadership.
Career Highlights:
💼 15+ years in software engineering, including 5+ years leading teams in high-growth environments🌍 Scaled and managed globally distributed teams across EU, DACH, USA & Scandinavia🎤 Speaker on Agile Leadership, Stoic Resilience, and Digital Transformation⚡ Improved system performance by 60–70%, enhancing operational efficiency
What I’m Most Proud of:
💡 Agile Delivery Excellence
Established a sustainable agile cadence with regular releases, structured peer reviews, and effective cross-team feedback loops — increasing delivery speed and predictability by 40%+.🚀 Massive Performance & Reliability Gains
Introduced system-wide optimizations that reduced latency by 45% and cut incident rates by 60% (from multiple per week to only a few annually). Boosted throughput and stability, saving significant operational costs.🔍 Monitoring Redefined
Implemented proactive monitoring that alerts before users are affected — covering mission-critical processes and enabling much faster troubleshooting and resolution.⚙️ Automation of Key Processes
Replaced multiple manual triggers with automated workflows, freeing up valuable team time and reducing operational risk.📊 Smarter Use of Digital Tools
Aligned digital tools (Jira, Confluence, monitoring dashboards) with real team needs — improving collaboration and reducing friction across projects.
Current Stack & New Horizons:
I lead with a hands-on approach to Agile delivery, Lean practices, CI/CD, and TDD — building high-performing teams and fostering strong remote & async collaboration.Data & Performance: SQL development and optimization, large-scale performance tuning, proactive monitoring, and reliability engineering.DevOps & Delivery: Azure DevOps, CI/CD pipelines, containerization (Docker), and automation frameworks.ERP & Business Systems: Hands-on experience with Microsoft Dynamics NAV/Business Central (On-Prem & SaaS), system integrations, and enterprise reporting (Power BI, RDL/RDLC).Emerging Tech: Currently exploring Python, TypeScript, JavaScript, AI/ML, cloud-native architectures (AWS, Kubernetes), and real-time data streaming (Kafka) — shaping scalable, future-ready systems.
The 3S Approach – Scrum, Stoicism, and Systems Thinking:
The mindset and framework I’ve developed to lead teams, improve performance, and deliver lasting business impact.