Ania Halliop

Work Experience

• Senior Director of Engineering

  GitHub

  June 2022 - Present

  • I lead the Collaboration Workflows organization which is responsible for GitHub Issues, Projects, Notifications, Sponsors, Docs, Education, Primer Design System, Accessibility, as well as core platform UX teams. The organization spans 18 teams with 160+ engineers across NA and EMEA.

• Head of Software

  Waabi

  Mar 2021 - Apr 2022

  • Led the engineering organization developing the next generation of self-driving technology. In addition to my role as Head of Software, I helped lead efforts across Finance, HR, IT, Recruitment, and Facilities, from the first day of the company.

• Senior Engineering Manager

  Uber

  Oct 2020 - Feb 2021 (due to Uber ATG Toronto R&D lab closure)

  • Leading teams to productize and optimize machine learning at Uber Advanced Technologies Group (ATG). My teams worked on cutting-edge deep-learning models from research into production for self-driving vehicles.

• Senior Director of Engineering

  FreshBooks

  May 2014 - Oct 2020

  • Reporting to CFO, lead Data Engineering and Infrastructure. Acted as a data advocate to develop the long-term roadmap for FreshBooks to become a data driven organization through data governance, steady operational costs and proper infrastructure investment.

  • Highlights

    • Led data disclosure across the company by identifying challenge areas, creating transparency on projects and stakeholder engagement, and bringing alignment to the future of data at FreshBooks
    • Identified and drove the re-architecture and re-platforming of data infrastructure, as well as led cost and development savings through full migration from AWS to GCP
    • Ensured Data organization budget kept on track (identified 20% savings in 2020)
    • Led the company-wide Diversity, Inclusivity, and Belonging initiative

  • Previous roles of Director of Engineering, Engineering Manager and Team Lead

    • Managed up to 7 product software teams. Identifyed and built up multiple new leaders.
    • Led Engineering Operational Costs with 10% operational cost savings YoY
    • Led initiatives such as creating technical and management engineering career ladders, and creating consistent promotion and calibration processes
    • Built new engineering teams, e.g Growth Enablement, Build & Developer Experience, Hybrid Mobile
    • Led the original team which re-platformed FreshBooks to new tech stack and product
    • Led the co-op program and built a team of volunteers to scale the program and increase diversity

• Co-founder

  ExploreTech Toronto

  Mar 2015 - Oct 2020

  • Co-founded a monthly meetup to increase diversity in the tech community. Provided mentorship for new technical speakers and ensured at least 50% of all speakers were women at every event. Closed Oct 2020 due to Covid-19.

• Software Developer and Team Lead

  June 2000 - May 2014

  • 1BlockUP: Lead developer on core product features
  • Blackberry/Certicom: Led the VPN (IPsec) Security & Protocols software team and provided technical guidance for QNX mobile devices. Recognition award for BB10 extensible security architecture virtual team. VPN power optimization for BB10
  • BorderWare: Developed security software. Led software team of 2-5 people
  • Siemens/Chantry: Developed application & security software for wireless LAN
  • Hyperchip: Developed MPLS software, based on IETF standards
  • Nortel: Developed BGP and MPLS software, based on IETF standards