Safaa Alkhatib

Experience

• 

  American Institute

  Jan 2006 - Nov 2006

  PHP Developer

  Junior developer who worked on different projects using PHP, MYSQL, Javascript.

• 

  ITI Lebanon

  Nov 2006 - Apr 2007

  Junior PHP Developer

  As a Junior PHP Developer focused on a university registration system, my responsibilities and contributions encompassed the following:- Core Development: Assisted in building and maintaining the backend components of the university registration system using PHP, ensuring a stable and efficient performance.- Database Management: Worked closely with relational databases (like MySQL) to store, retrieve, and manipulate data pertinent to student registrations, courses, faculty, and class schedules.- System Features: Developed essential features such as student enrollment, course selection, timetable generation, and faculty assignment, enhancing the overall functionality of the registration system.- Collaboration: Actively collaborated with a team of developers, designers, and database administrators to ensure that the system was cohesive, functional, and user-friendly.- Quality Assurance: Conducted routine debugging and testing of the codebase to identify and rectify potential issues, ensuring a smooth user experience for students and administrative staff.- User Interface: Assisted in integrating the backend logic with frontend components, ensuring seamless data flow and user interactions within the system.- Feedback Integration: Worked on implementing changes and improvements based on feedback from users (students, faculty, and administrative staff) to optimize the registration process.- Continual Learning: Regularly updated my knowledge on PHP and best coding practices through self-study, mentoring, and training sessions, striving for consistent personal and professional growth.In this role, even as a junior developer, I played an integral part in shaping the registration process for the university, ensuring it was efficient, intuitive, and met the institution's unique requirements. Show less

• 

  HRsmart

  Apr 2007 - May 2016

  As the Director of Development, I have driven excellence in:- Global Team Management: Led and synchronized a diverse development team spanning from Lebanon to the US and the Philippines, ensuring cohesive collaboration across geographies.- Feature Development: Spearheaded the design, development, and release of new features and updates to our enterprise clientele, ensuring alignment with business needs.- Quality Assurance: Instituted rigorous code review protocols, guaranteeing top-tier quality before transitioning work to the Quality Assurance team.- Technical Troubleshooting: Collaboratively resolved server-based technical issues during development, testing, and client releases, leveraging global team insights.- Integration Excellence: Pioneered powerful integration solutions, seamlessly merging the integration team with the core development unit.- Resource & Performance Management: Effectively allocated team resources, continually evaluated performance, and facilitated ongoing training to uplift team capabilities.- Operational Efficiency: Managed project estimations, planning, ticketing, and leveraged SVN and Git for efficient branching and merging practices.Through strategic leadership and hands-on involvement, I've elevated our development processes, ensuring timely, high-quality deliveries and fostering team growth. Show less As the Manager of Application Development and Integrations, I have overseen:- Global Team Integration: Successfully established a proficient developer team in the Philippines and harmonized their operations with counterparts in Lebanon and the USA, creating a unified global unit.- Integration Projects: Led the design and execution of pivotal integration projects like the Assessment and E-verify background checks, resulting in a significant 70% reduction in customer issues.- Quality & Delivery: Instituted stringent code review processes, ensuring all developments met quality standards prior to Quality Assurance. This streamlined approach ensured consistent, high-quality project deliveries without any commitment failures.- Team Leadership & Development: Helmed a diverse team across multiple regions, focusing on performance assessments, continuous training, and fostering a culture of collaboration, ensuring the delivery of exceptional results.- Operational Excellence: Managed the full spectrum of project lifecycle activities, from estimation and planning to release management. This also encompassed ticketing oversight and using SVN and Git for effective code branching and merging.Through strategic guidance and hands-on management, I've fortified our application development and integration processes, yielding both enhanced product quality and team performance. Show less As the Manager of Application Development, I have orchestrated the following:- Global Team Synergy: Unified diverse developer teams to work in tandem, ensuring the seamless flow of projects and the sharing of best practices.- End-to-End Development: Spearheaded the creation, testing, and deployment of robust applications, always prioritizing user experience and performance.- Quality Assurance: Implemented a rigorous review process, ensuring all developments met and often exceeded quality standards prior to the final QA phase.- Strategic Project Management: Managed the entire project lifecycle, from initial conceptualization, planning, to the final deployment, always ensuring on-time and on-budget delivery.- Leadership & Mentorship: Led a dynamic team of developers, focusing on continuous training, performance evaluations, and nurturing a collaborative environment to boost innovation and efficiency.- Operational Streamlining: Regularly evaluated and optimized our application development processes, methodologies, and tools to ensure agility and scalability.With a balanced mix of strategic oversight and hands-on engagement, I've elevated our application development processes, resulting in high-quality applications and an empowered, high-performing team. Show less As the Application Development Leader, my contributions encompassed the following:- Collaborative Leadership: Championed a team-driven approach, motivating and guiding developers towards achieving collective goals while fostering a culture of continuous learning and innovation.-End-to-End Project Oversight: Supervised the entire application lifecycle, from ideation and design to development, testing, and deployment, ensuring timely delivery and operational excellence.- Quality Advocacy: Established and maintained stringent code quality and review standards, ensuring all applications met organizational benchmarks and user expectations.Strategic Technological Insight: Regularly liaised with stakeholders, IT teams, and business units, translating complex requirements into actionable development strategies.- Continuous Improvement: Advocated for and implemented best practices, new methodologies, and cutting-edge tools to enhance efficiency, productivity, and the overall quality of our applications.- Mentorship & Growth: Cultivated a nurturing environment, emphasizing skill enhancement, knowledge sharing, and professional growth for all team members.Through a blend of hands-on development expertise and strategic leadership, I've played an integral role in propelling our application development processes to new heights, ensuring both team growth and product excellence. Show less As a Technical Project Lead, my pivotal roles and contributions were:- Technical Direction: Provided technical guidance throughout the project lifecycle, ensuring that solutions were architecturally sound and met the specific needs of the business.-Project Coordination: Oversaw project timelines, resources, and milestones, ensuring that projects were delivered on time, within scope, and in alignment with defined specifications.- Stakeholder Collaboration: Acted as the primary technical liaison between developers, business units, and other stakeholders, bridging communication gaps and ensuring that technical and business objectives were in harmony.- Quality Assurance: Instituted rigorous code review and testing protocols, ensuring the delivered solutions were robust, scalable, and bug-free.- Risk Mitigation: Proactively identified potential technical challenges and risks, devising and implementing strategies to address them head-on.- Team Mentorship: Fostered an environment of continuous learning, guiding and mentoring team members in best practices, new technologies, and advanced problem-solving techniques.- Resource Allocation: Strategically assigned tasks based on individual team member strengths, ensuring optimal productivity and fostering a positive team dynamic.- Continuous Improvement: Advocated for the adoption of emerging technologies, methodologies, and tools to keep our processes and outputs at the cutting edge.By leveraging a blend of technical acumen, leadership skills, and strategic thinking, I consistently ensured the seamless and efficient execution of projects, delivering solutions that exceeded both technical and business expectations. Show less - Technical Expertise: Demonstrated strong proficiency in PHP while effectively utilizing the Smarty template engine to drive dynamic content delivery in web applications.- Template Management: Employed Smarty to segregate application logic from presentation, ensuring a clean, maintainable, and organized codebase.- Efficient Rendering: Leveraged Smarty's caching mechanisms to optimize rendering times, significantly enhancing application speed and responsiveness.- Dynamic Content Delivery: Developed user-centric interfaces with dynamic content, using the power of Smarty's template inheritance and variable modifiers.- Database Integration: Seamlessly integrated MySQL and other databases with PHP, emphasizing secure data transactions and efficient retrieval methods.- Security Focus: Ensured all templates and PHP scripts were secure from common web vulnerabilities such as SQL injections, XSS attacks, and CSRF.- Modular Development: Utilized Smarty plugins to extend functionality, allowing for reusable components and streamlined development for future projects.- Collaborative Development: Collaborated closely with designers, frontend developers, and QA testers to ensure a cohesive workflow and high-quality end products.- Continuous Learning: Stayed updated with the latest advancements in PHP and Smarty, regularly integrating best practices and emerging features into the development process.In this role, I merged my in-depth knowledge of PHP with the versatility of the Smarty template engine, crafting efficient, secure, and user-friendly web applications that met and exceeded project specifications. Show less

  • Director of Development

    Jul 2015 - May 2016

  • Manager of Application Development & Integrations

    Jun 2013 - Jun 2015

  • Manager of Application development

    Apr 2011 - Jun 2013

  • Application Development Team Leader

    Jan 2008 - Apr 2011

  • Technical Project Lead

    Nov 2008 - Apr 2010

  • Application developer

    Apr 2007 - Apr 2008
• 

  TYCONZ

  Nov 2016 - Apr 2018

  Head of Unit, SAP HCM for SME

  As the Head of Unit for SAP HCM at SME, I've demonstrated leadership in:- Strategic Negotiations: Played a pivotal role in the direct negotiation of contracts and payment terms with vendors and partners, ensuring optimal terms for the organization.- Process Optimization: Streamlined and innovated work processes with vendors/partners to enhance deliverable efficiency to clients.- Team Development: Spearheaded the recruitment, training, and development of teams across the MENA region, ensuring a cohesive unit focused on timely project deliveries.- Stakeholder Communication: Expertly managed communications with third parties, fortifying relations and ensuring clarity in project expectations.- Support Team Management: Led both remote and local customer support teams, ensuring high levels of service quality and responsiveness.- Project Leadership: Oversaw the complete project lifecycle, from requirement gathering to production management, ensuring projects align with client expectations and are delivered on schedule.By bringing together strategic vision, team leadership, and hands-on project management, I've been instrumental in bolstering our unit's contributions to the organization's growth. Show less

• 

  MATIC

  Jul 2019 - Aug 2020

  Technical Lead

  As a Technical Lead managing both frontend and backend agile teams, my responsibilities and contributions spanned the following areas:- Team Management: Oversaw the daily operations of both frontend and backend development teams, ensuring alignment with project goals and promoting a collaborative work environment.- Scrum Collaboration: Worked closely with the Scrum Master to facilitate sprint planning, retrospectives, and daily stand-ups, ensuring adherence to agile methodologies and optimizing team velocity.- Stakeholder Communication: Acted as the primary technical point of contact for the Project Owner, translating technical nuances into understandable terms and aligning the development process with project expectations.- Integration Management: Ensured seamless integration between frontend and backend systems, promoting a cohesive and robust application structure.- Issue Resolution: Acted as the primary resolver for technical impediments, troubleshooting complex issues and streamlining solutions to ensure project continuity.- Resource Allocation: Managed team resources effectively, ensuring optimal distribution based on project requirements and individual expertise.- Training & Mentorship: Cultivated a continuous learning environment by offering training sessions, workshops, and one-on-one mentoring to team members, enhancing overall team competence.- Feedback Loop: Established a feedback mechanism between the development teams, Scrum Master, and Project Owner to ensure any concerns, improvements, or changes were addressed promptly.In this pivotal role, I bridged the gap between technical intricacies and overarching project objectives, ensuring that the development process was smooth, efficient, and aligned with stakeholder expectations. Show less

• 

  Azkatech S.A.L

  Oct 2020 - Oct 2021

  Enterprise Resources Planning Implementation Consultant

  - Odoo ERP Implementation Consultant with a focus on tailored client solutions.- Expertise in eliciting precise requirements from clients to align with their specific business needs.- Skilled in addressing and resolving ERP implementation challenges swiftly.- Facilitates clear and consistent communication with clients throughout project phases.- Coordinates seamlessly with internal development teams to ensure delivery of customized Odoo modules.- Champions collaboration between clients and technical teams, ensuring bespoke ERP solutions that optimize business operations. Show less

• 

  Anywr

  Jan 2022 - Apr 2024

  Senior Development Manager with extensive experience in guiding agile teams across multiple projects.Responsible for daily oversight of agile team tasks, ensuring efficiency and adherence to best practices.Spearhead project deliveries and releases, guaranteeing timely and high-quality results.Collaborate seamlessly with Backend, Frontend, and Quality Assurance leaders to align project goals and execution strategies.Coordinate with project owners, ensuring clear communication, stakeholder alignment, and optimal project outcomes. Show less Development Manager with extensive experience in guiding agile teams across multiple projects.Responsible for daily oversight of agile team tasks, ensuring efficiency and adherence to best practices.Spearhead project deliveries and releases, guaranteeing timely and high-quality results.Collaborate seamlessly with Backend, Frontend, and Quality Assurance leaders to align project goals and execution strategies.Coordinate with project owners, ensuring clear communication, stakeholder alignment, and optimal project outcomes. Show less As a Technical Lead managing both frontend and backend agile teams, my responsibilities and contributions spanned the following areas:- Team Management: Oversaw the daily operations of both frontend and backend development teams, ensuring alignment with project goals and promoting a collaborative work environment.- Scrum Collaboration: Worked closely with the Project Owners to facilitate sprint planning, retrospectives, and daily stand-ups, ensuring adherence to agile methodologies and optimizing team velocity.- Stakeholder Communication: Acted as the primary point of contact for the Project Owner, translating nuances into understandable terms and aligning the development process with project expectations.- Integration Management: Ensured seamless integration between frontend and backend systems, promoting a cohesive and robust application structure.- Issue Resolution: Acted as the primary resolver for technical impediments, troubleshooting complex issues and streamlining solutions to ensure project continuity.- Resource Allocation: Managed team resources effectively, ensuring optimal distribution based on project requirements and individual expertise.- Training & Mentorship: Cultivated a continuous learning environment by offering training sessions, workshops, and one-on-one mentoring to team members, enhancing overall team competence.- Feedback Loop: Established a feedback mechanism between the development teams, and Project Owner to ensure any concerns, improvements, or changes were addressed promptly.In this pivotal role, I bridged the gap between technical intricacies and overarching project objectives, ensuring that the development process was smooth, efficient, and aligned with stakeholder expectations. Show less

  • Senior Development Manager

    May 2023 - Apr 2024

  • Development Manager

    May 2022 - Apr 2023

  • Technical Lead

    Jan 2022 - May 2022
• 

  ISolution

  Feb 2025 - now

  Product Manager