About Christian

  • He/him/his Christian Schlüter
  • Hybrid / Remote / Mainz / Frankfurt / Wiesbaden / Mannheim
  • Diplom Informatiker (M.S. Computer Science)
  • christian@schlueter.co
  • German (native), English (fluent)
  • LinkedIn / XING / Web
  • Work for Wayfair LLC, XING SE, Netbiscuits GmbH, Solutas GmbH, Federal Cartel Office & University of Bonn
  • Projects with Internetstores GmbH, Winery Peth-Wetz, Ravensburger AG, Deutsche Telekom AG & Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft

Product Leader | Head of Product | Vision | Strategy | Discovery | Team-Building | Technology

I’m a highly passionate and motivated digital product leader. I personally enjoy working at the intersection between humans and technology. As technology matures, the role of product management has to adapt as well and stay up-to-date. I love to empower product teams that are able to do so and work side by side with other disciplines to achieve outstanding product experiences. My deep technical expertise and my ability to deliver complex software projects on time and of outstanding quality is one of my key strengths, incl. software development practices and methodologies. Furthermore, I possess exceptional problem solving skills and a proven track record of nurturing successful and motivated teams. Setting clear strategic objectives and expectations, which leads to products that scale and experiences that users enjoy, is essential for me.

“I love to create fresh user and technology experiences which really matter and have a significant impact on users and/or customers alike.”

Professional Skills

  • Product Design and Development
  • Business Analysis & Strategy
  • Developing Vision & Mission
  • Leadership & Execution
  • Goal Setting & Planning
  • Research & Data Analysis
  • Agile Development, SCRUM-based processes (CSPO certified)

Soft Skills

  • Communication
  • Emotional Intelligence
  • Collaboration & Teamwork
  • Adaptability & Transformation
  • Problem Solving

Technology Skills

  • Micro-services architectures, server-less setups, client-server, RESTful-APIs
  • Python, Java, JavaScript/Node.js, Ruby, PHP
  • Cloud technologies, e.g. AWS, Google Cloud, OpenStack, Kubernetes/Docker
  • Storage, e.g. MySQL, key-value stores (dynamoDB, redis)
  • Analytics & BI, e.g. Google Analytics, Adobe Analytics, Google Studio, Tableau
  • Checkout EPICA.cc which uses some of these technologies and was build by myself.

Experience

WAYFAIR | Associate Director Product Management

Berlin / Mainz | Feb 2021 - Current

Product lead in Supply Chain, managing Product Manager (3x POs) and Product Designers (1x VD/UX) across the US and EU

  • Building and leading the product development team of Wayfairs Freight Network EU/US, planning and execution of first and middle mile logistics
  • Building and leading the product development team of Wayfairs Global Customs Compliance domain, incl. integration of digital custom brokers, building freight forwarding products
  • Owning global inbound and outbound network logistics products
  • Integration of 3rd party TMS globally for planning, orchestration and execution in Wayfair transportation
  • Multi-leg, Multi-carriers management across global geographies
  • Leading products for management of middle mile facilities and orchestration of global cross-dock (x-dock) and freight forwarding solutions
  • Technology based on PHP, Java and Google Cloud

NEW WORK SE | Head of Product

Hamburg | Jan 2017 - Feb 2021

As Head of Product at XING SE leading three product managers, remote engineering, full stack teams out of Barcelona, and SEO Manager out of Hamburg, overall team size of 60

  • Energise and inspire our product vision, with focus on impact for users
  • Driving a sustainable B2C subscription business model (Premium and ProJob membership)
  • Setting objectives and key results for product teams
  • Support PMs in creating deep insights for product requirements
  • Sponsor research in the domain of e-recruiting and job-seeking
  • Develop PMs and their desired career paths
  • Digital and technical expert, offering knowledge of users and software engineering
  • Promote and market product portfolio to internal and external stakeholders
  • Steer and lead overall communication with senior management
  • Managing budget, P&L of product domaim
  • Technology based on Ruby, Java (virtual machine languages)

Co-Founder & Managing Director for EPICA.cc

Hamburg / Osthofen | Jan 2021 - Current

Regardless if you are a passionate cyclist, runner, swimmer, dog walker or anything in-between or beyond. We believe that there are certain moments, we call them epic activities, which are worth remembering and sharing in a unique visual way. That is why we developed https://epica.cc for you and we hope you like it.

  • Building a product for the sport, cycling market with a yearly growth rate >10% (2021)
  • Product strategy builds and targets the intersecion of users needs to achieve personal goals and the ability to showcase them
  • Product execution is based on rapid testing of different design and products
  • User feedback loops and engagement via social media was a priority from the start
  • Partnerships with sport and apperal companies allow us to increase visiblity and user adoption
  • Technology based on Python, AWS, elastic beanstalk, server-less functions and server-side JavaScript
  • Print rendering based on Docker and AWS lambda

XING SE | Senior Product Manager

Hamburg | Feb 2015 - Dec 2016

As Senior Product Manager E-Recruiting

  • Responsible for B2C2B jobs product (https://www.xing.com/jobs)
  • Leading product team of 5BE, 4FE engineers and 1VD and 1UX
  • Responsible for roadmap and product mission & vision
  • Responsible for KPIs, e.g. traffic, clicks, job application and user-centric KPIs
  • Scaling of jobs marketplace from 10k to 1mil. jobs, in-housing web crawler technology
  • Establish and optimise support processes and efficiency for inventory of jobs marketplace(s)
  • Technology based on Java, Ruby and Frontend tech

XING SE | Senior Technical Consultant

Hamburg | Jun 2014 - Feb 2015

As Senior Technical Consultant

  • Model and mapping of e-recruiting processes
  • Guard and establish technical workflows for e-recruiting and ATS partner
  • Manage and moderate XING e-recuriting platform usage
  • Provide 2nd level support and manage team for API partner
  • Technlogy based on OAuth, RESTful-APIs, Push/Pull services

NETBISCUITS GmbH | Senior Mobile Technology Consultant

Hamburg | Oct 2011 - May 2014

As mobile technology consultant

  • propose and design technical solutions for customers
  • support sales as pre-sales consultant
  • assessment of project objectives & KPIs
  • solve customers business issues/challenges
  • present prototypes, demos, and proofs of concept to a wide variety of audiences
  • Technology based on internally build frontend, JavaScript based framework + Java Backend

Federal Cartel Office | Senior IT Consultant

Bonn | Oct 2009 - Dec 2010

As Data Analyst and Software Developer

  • As Data Analyst and Software Developer
  • Responsible for custom software development
  • Writing scripts for importing large scale energy sector data
  • Monitor and analyse energy company data set
  • Technlogy based on Java/BI solutions

The University of Bonn | Research Fellow

Bonn | Oct 2008 - Sep 2011

As Research Fellow for Software Technology

  • Students courses
  • PHD work
  • Software prototyping
  • Agile software technology methodologies

Solutas GmbH | Junior Developer

Cologne | Jan 2000 - Jan 2003

Early years of developing WYSIWYG editor for small/medium size businesses.

  • Reverse engineering of Flash protocol
  • Java Development

EDUCATION

Leadership Coaching

Hamburg | Jan 2020 - Jan 2021

Individual, personalised Leadership Coaching (Führungskräftecoaching) - Dr. Andrea Martini (https://www.andreamartini.de/)

Structuring & Planning Communication

Hamburg | Nov 2018 - Nov 2018

CONTRIUM ACADEMY (https://contrium.de/academy/)

Corporate Leadership Trainings

Hamburg / Berlin / Boston | Jan 2018 - Current

  • 2018 - Leadership Training at XING / NEW Work
  • 2022 - Senior Leadership and Executive Training at Wayfair.com
  • Topics included, People Management, Strategic Thinking, Problem Solving Skills, Communication, Change Management

Diplom Informatiker | M.S. Computer Science

Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn | Nov 2004 - Aug 2010

Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Fakultät der Rheinischen Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn, Thesis: 02.08.2010 Declarative, rule-based framework for location based apps in collaboration with Deutsche Telekom and Ravensburger

PROJECTS & ENGAGEMENTS

Public Speaking

Berlin / Zürich | Jun 2018 - Current

  • Product Management Festival - How to deal with Commodity Products
  • E-Commerce Expo/Google - Collaboration with Google - How to stay relevant and reach customers in the modern web

Paramedic for Malteser Hilfsdienst e. V. (MHD)

Cologne | Sep 2001 - Sep 2006

Work as a paramedic for German civilian service / student employment

  • Social engagement working as paramedic
  • Support of daily Emergency medical services in Cologne
  • Support of special events like concerts, sport events, and alpine return services