Toon Van Miert (he/him)

Experience

• 

  METRO/MAKRO Cash and Carry

  Jan 2016 - Jan 2017

  IT Helpdesk

  Student job where I had to maintain the IT infrastructure and assist colleagues with basic IT related support.

• 

  KU Leuven Faculty of Engineering Technology - Group T Leuven Campus

  Oct 2017 - Dec 2017

  Teaching Assistant

  Organizing the weekly lab sessions of 'Introduction to Object Oriënted Programming and Databases' to a class of 25 international students. I combined this job with obtaining my own master's degree.

• 

  AXA

  Sept 2018 - Mar 2020

  Software Engineer - Front-ends

  Front-end prototyping, software design and development surveillance within the AXA life insurance department. In this job, I derived particular satisfaction from being able to pursue my ambitions in innovative interaction design, while simultaneously getting up to speed with the latest developments in cloud technologies, business development processes, application lifetime planning, and organising corporate culture as a holistic experience (with, for instance, room to improve soft skills).I left AXA to join a startup with the mission to provide life long learning B2B services. This change was motivated by the possibility to continue connecting people, and improving their everyday comfort, through technological innovation. Next to that, it was of course exiting to experience a different work culture. Show less

• 

  Milernas

  Apr 2020 - Sept 2020

  Adoption and Change

  At Milernas, our team worked around concepts to speed up the digitization process within medium and large size companies. With the catchphrase of 'Life Long Learning', we offer the mindset of HR investments being the lever of a successful and sustainable business strategy. Combining the knowledge of the latest IT innovations, with the comprehension of on the floor challenges and objectives, we guide our clients towards a successful adoption plan. We measure an investment by its direct results, rather than its remaining opportunities.I focussed on the research on SaaS solutions and the value they would bring to our clients. Next to that, I had a role on the strategic discussion board in order to align our mission with the work schedule.Quite unfortunately, this employment collided with the start of the covid pandemic. I believe we were quite proficient in reorganising ourselves, internally, to the ever changing situation, yet being active in de B2B market obliged us to also reevaluate our strategy and value proposition. These discussions and forecasts made me reconsider if my projected role was still aligned with my personal aspirations. Due to this mismatch and uncertainty around the successfulness, I decided to return to my previous employer. At that time, it was best for me to choose for the job where I could immediately bring my skills into action, have a clear view on the opportunities and experience an empowering work environment. Show less

• 

  AXA

  Oct 2020 - now

  Key Skills:• Team Organization• Stakeholder Management• Strategic Planning & CommunicationKey Achievements:• Secured a budget for 50 colleagues to attend (inter)national conferences.• Motivated teams to reduce technical debt by over 30%.• Introduced GitHub Copilot as an AI-powered coding assistant.• Delivered 10+ presentations to C-Level executives, IT leadership, and IT all staff (300+ colleagues).• Participated in panel discussions on the future of software engineering and GenAI.• Facilitated expert sessions to enhance our software engineering practices.• Worked closely with the CIO office to make the IT strategy successful.In just a few months on the Engineering Excellence team, I was promoted to team lead - a role that combines high-level strategic vision with daily operational excellence. I manage weekly coordination calls, realign work priorities, and conduct one-on-one syncs with team members to ensure smooth operations. As our team manager, entrusts the daily oversight to me, I’ve sharpened my organization, communication, and stakeholder management skills.In this unique role, I’m recognized as an authority on software engineering, yet without direct control over delivery processes. This requires building sustainable relationships with diverse stakeholders and balancing their expectations with my professional viewpoints -a strategy that has proven effective over time.I collaborate with multiple experts to ensure we consistently present a unified message by tracking requests and managing relationships under the “one-voice” principle.I also enable the subject matter experts to fully leverage their talents by streamlining processes, acting as a gatekeeper for routine requests, handling fieldwork, and reducing administrative burdens. Reporting to and presenting before boards of C-Level executives has sharpened my storytelling and presentation skills, clearly reflecting my professional growth. Show less After a period as technical lead in the software delivery feature, AXA entrusted me with leading our front-end engineering practice - a role that has allowed me to become the go-to expert for Angular across 100+ applications. Beyond this primary responsibility, I’ve introduced innovative ideas that increase our team’s impact.Within the ‘Engineering Excellence’ team, I collaborate with fellow practice leads to transform technology into business value. We achieve this by guiding the technical communities and nurturing the diverse talents of colleagues across different teams. Our collective efforts have resulted in an actively maintained documentation portal, an in-house marketplace, and robust standards and guidelines for inner sourcing - bridging connections from senior management to technical leads.Though my time in this position was brief, I successfully initiated automation in governance practices and raised overall awareness of front-end engineering among key stakeholders, including direct management, functional analysts, back-end engineers, and architects. Show less Being caught up between (solution) design and implementation. I mainly work on application prototypes and coordinate the development team in order to reach our objectives in time, on scope... I put my focus on the usability aspect of digital solutions, meaning that I like to talk about simplicity, convenience, clarity among others.Working for an insurance company, I have the luck to be able to touchpoints with mathematical modelling in my professional life, which I personally value a lot. After working with Angular (front end JavaScript framework) for some time, I consider myself to be quite proficient in translating a broad business need into a working and good looking prototype. I've learned the - and invented some - tricks and best practices, which allows me to work efficiently and deliver fast.As the IT landscape is evolving by the day, I take it to be my responsibility to actually grow towards a DevSecOps role. I try to share this knowledge with my colleagues in order to establish a baseline about the opportunities and limitations we (still) have. I strongly believe in the power of technology, but try to see the full picture in order to give a value assessment when deciding on the next investment. Show less

  • Principal Software Engineer - Team Lead, Engineering Excellence

    Sept 2023 - now

  • Staff Software Engineer - Front-ends

    Apr 2023 - Aug 2023

  • Staff Software Engineer - Technical Lead

    Oct 2020 - Mar 2023