Benjamin HEINTZ
Independent CTO & IT Strategy Advisor
R&D Transformation | Product & Engineering Scale-up Expert
"Scaling business growth through technological excellence."
Skills
Recent Engagements & Significant Experience
mylight150 — Head / VP of Engineering 2022 – 2026
Lead distributed, cross-functional teams of ~45 engineers, driving delivery, scalability, and operational excellence to support the company's hypergrowth.
Key achievements: Scaled the engineering department from 16 to 45 engineers (+180%) · Orchestrated technology deployment across France & Spain · Managed the technical rollout of 20k EMS units · Reduced the "Energy Offering" lifecycle to 1 month from idea to production.
Operating Model & Organization
- Designed and implemented a scalable operating model (Squads & Tribes) aligned with business domains
- Structured the organization into 9 squads across 4 tribes (B2C, B2B, Platforms, Enablers)
- Managed managers, building a strong servant leadership layer to support scale
- Ensured organizational alignment through OKRs, tightly connected to company-wide strategy
- Defined team topologies, including platform teams and enabling functions
- Built acceleration units (Low-Code / No-Code & AI) to increase delivery speed and innovation capacity
- Led quarterly Product Increment (PI) planning across the entire R&D organization
Product & Delivery
- Structured the end-to-end delivery lifecycle: framing, design, build, and run
- Defined and monitored engineering performance KPIs, including DORA metrics (lead time, deployment frequency, MTTR, change failure rate)
- Established product and engineering practices ensuring quality, predictability, and fast time-to-market
People & HR Leadership
- Managed a growing engineering organization of ~45 engineers through Engineering Managers
- Defined career paths, role frameworks, and progression models across engineering roles
- Led hiring strategies to support hypergrowth and strengthen internal capabilities
Financial Management
- Owned and managed the full R&D budget, including analytical accounting (CAPEX / OPEX)
- Aligned investment strategy with business priorities and growth objectives
Partnerships & Vendor Management
- Managed strategic partnerships, including contract negotiation and commercial relationships
- Oversaw external vendors, ensuring alignment with internal standards and objectives
Technology Strategy
- Defined and executed the company-wide technology roadmap
- Ensured scalability, resilience, and alignment with product and business strategy
Sopra Steria Next — Senior Manager 2016 – 2022
Euromaster – Digital & API Transformation Roadmap
- Development of the Euromaster Digital & IT Transformation Roadmap
- Defined digitalization priorities (business needs) and the API strategy to support them
- Identified different types of APIs (private, partner, public), analyzed the current landscape, and initiated the catalog
- Designed the Euromaster API program framework: catalog, categorization, selection and benchmarking of the API Management solution
- Defined the methodological and technical framework for developing, exposing, and managing APIs
- Identified key skills as well as the target organization and governance
- Defined the budget (5 years, CAPEX/OPEX) and the deployment roadmap
Technologies & Solutions
| Domain | Stack |
|---|---|
| Cloud | Azure (IaaS, CaaS, PaaS, SaaS, FaaS) |
| Backend | REST, GraphQL, gRPC, Clean Architecture, Micro-services |
| AI | MCP Server, Spec Driven Development, Process Automation |
| Low-code / No-code | Airtable, N8N, Power Platform |
| Backlog | Azure DevOps |
| Languages / Runtimes | .NET, Node, JS/TS, Rust |
Training & Certifications
- Master 2 IT & Management Expert — Supinfo International University (major de promotion)
- Product Owner (PSPO1), SAFe 5 SPC
Sector Experience
| Sector | Companies |
|---|---|
| Industry | Renault Trucks · SEB Group · Michelin · Euromaster |
| Energy | mylight150 · EDF · IFPEN |
| Transportation | SNCF DSIM / DSIFS / TER · ATMB |
| Healthcare | Almerys · BAYER SAS |
The offering
This is the background behind the Fractional CTO & IT Strategy Advisor service.
→ See the Fractional CTO offering → All consulting offerings