Open to opportunities

Christena Jethwa

@christenajethwa

Message

Engineering executive scaling distributed teams and aligning technical strategy with business outcomes.

Germany

Message

What I'm looking for

I seek senior leadership roles where I can scale distributed engineering teams, align technical strategy with business goals, and drive measurable operational improvements in a remote-first culture.

I am an engineering executive with 25+ years of experience building and scaling high-performance, distributed engineering organizations across startups and Fortune 500 companies.

I specialize in remote-first organizational design, driving operational excellence, and aligning technical roadmaps with executive business goals to improve DORA metrics, eNPS, and revenue growth.

I've led organizations from 6 to 80+ people, managed programs with budgets of $20M+, and delivered platform initiatives such as design systems, GraphQL federation, and back-office product transformations.

I am a hands-on leader who partners with C-suite stakeholders, champions DEI and mentoring programs, and fosters resilient engineering cultures focused on measurable outcomes.

Experience

Work history, roles, and key accomplishments

Head of Engineering

commercetools GmbH

Jan 2025 - Dec 2025 (11 months)

Directed a 30+ person engineering organization and delivered Platform Insights, Nimbus Design System, and GraphQL Federation while achieving top trust and engagement scores (9.7/10) and highest eNPS in Q2 2025.

Organizational Design GraphQL Design Systems Platform Engineering Incident Management Stakeholder Management Engineering Leadership

Senior Director of Engineering

Hotjar GmbH

Mar 2023 - Dec 2024 (1 year 9 months)

Built and led a 25+ person fully distributed tribe, raised DORA metrics to Elite, and drove growth initiatives that increased ARR by 20% while achieving highest engineering eNPS.

Distributed Teams DORA Metrics Growth Engineering Organizational Design Product Strategy

Senior Engineering Manager

Adjust GmbH

Feb 2022 - Feb 2023 (1 year)

Led a 20+ person group owning back office product and design system, released a redesigned Dashboard prototype and rearchitected governance to improve productivity and stakeholder collaboration.

Design Systems Product Management Team Leadership Governance Stakeholder Management Remote Collaboration

Engineering Manager

N26 GmbH

Mar 2021 - Dec 2021 (9 months)

Led the Core Systems segment (4 teams, 20+ people) responsible for accounting, transaction, and compliance services, delivered 2021 OKRs and implemented a career planning framework to improve productivity.

Core Banking Systems Team Leadership & Compliance Remote Management

Engineering Manager

Wells Fargo

Jun 2018 - Feb 2021 (2 years 8 months)

Led an 80+ person, $20M program delivering a modern account management system supporting $41B in financing across 30K+ dealers and 1,200+ distributors, consistently exceeding objectives through strategic vision and execution.

Program Management Budget Management Account Management Portfolio Delivery Risk Management

Product Management Manager

Wells Fargo

May 2016 - Jun 2018 (2 years 1 month)

Managed a team of 10 PMs overseeing systems that managed $120B in commercial real estate loans and championed 100+ enhancements to increase business efficiency and regulatory compliance.

Product Management Regulatory Compliance Team Leadership Business Systems Process Improvement Stakeholder Management