ABOUT
Simge Helvaci
Product & Technology
Product Owner at Amadeus for Lufthansa Group's E-commerce platform. I'm a technical product person: one who codes, thinks in systems, and bridges engineering decisions with business goals — end to end.
Experience
Previously at Mercedes-Benz, led technical integration of the Online Store across 15 European markets, driving 200% growth in online sales. Ex IBMer — Technical Program Manager & Software Engineer on Mainframe Modernization projects. In every role, I asked one question: how do I make this technology more meaningful for real people?
Academia & Recognition
Oxford Said Business School Director's Award Scholar. Google Women Techmakers Ambassador. Special Attendee for Google IO and Cloud Next Conferences in San Francisco. Speaker on product management, AI strategy, and women in leadership.
BASED IN
Istanbul, TR
PREVIOUSLY
IBM, Mercedes-Benz, Amadeus, Lufthansa, Google
SPEAKING
50+ Events
RECOGNITION
Oxford Director's Award
Experience
Amadeus
Full-time
Senior Product Owner
Nov 2024 – Present · 1 yr 5 mos
Istanbul, Türkiye · Hybrid
As a Lufthansa Group Proxy Product Owner, responsible for Lufthansa, Swiss Air, Brussels Airlines, Austrian Airlines and ITA Airways E-Commerce platform built on Amadeus technology.
Mercedes-Benz Otomotiv
Full-time · 3 yrs 2 mos
Lead Technical Integration Manager
Apr 2024 – Nov 2024 · 8 mos
Türkiye
Technical Product Owner of the E-Commerce Platform of Mercedes-Benz.
Senior Technical Integration Manager
Oct 2021 – Nov 2024 · 3 yrs 2 mos
Istanbul, Türkiye
Technical Product Owner on the eCommerce platform called Mercedes-Benz Online Store. Subject-matter expert bridging the gap between product and technical aspects of product development across 15 European markets.
Garanti BBVA Teknoloji
Full-time
DevOps Engineer
Mar 2021 – Oct 2021 · 8 mos
Istanbul, Türkiye
Strong use of Shell scripting languages, including BASH for Mac platforms and PowerShell for Windows systems.
IBM
Full-time · 3 yrs 4 mos
Technical Program Manager
Mar 2019 – Apr 2021 · 2 yrs 2 mos
On-site
Led modernization projects for IBM Z & LinuxONE, delivering value through Analytics and AI on Z, DevOps integration, zContainer Extension, and Cloud Pak deployment.
Software Engineer
Jan 2018 – Mar 2019 · 1 yr 3 mos
Istanbul, Turkey
Skills in System Z / Mainframe Field: zOS, DB2, IMS, CICS, MQ, zVM, Linux on Z, UNIX, Z Security, RACF Pervasive Encryption, Mainframe Business Operations (DevOps, BigData, Cloud Computing).
Ford Otosan
Internship
Long Term Intern — Mobile Application Developer
Mar 2018 – Aug 2018 · 6 mos
Istanbul, Türkiye
Built infotainment software. Developed EasyRoute — a free traffic assistant and navigation mobile application.
Education
Said Business School, University of Oxford
Executive Diploma, Strategy and Innovation
Feb 2026 – Oct 2026
Galatasaray University
Master of Science (MS), Information Technology
Jun 2022 – Jun 2023
GPA 4.0/4.0 · Courses: Metaverse, Data Mining, AI and Deep Learning, Blockchain
Yeditepe University
Bachelor's Degree, Computer Engineering
2013 – 2018
Licenses & Certifications
Professional Scrum Product Owner I (PSPO I)
Scrum.org · Apr 2025
Certificat de Fin de Niveau A1
Institut francais · Mar 2025
A.1.1 Deutschkurs im Goethe-Institut
Goethe-Institut e.V. · Apr 2022
IBM Associate Project Management Office
IBM · Jan 2021
IBM Agile Explorer
IBM · Jan 2021
Recommendations
Joe Winchester
Senior Technical Staff Member at IBM
"I worked with Simge during her time at IBM. She was an excellent technology ambassador and great evangelist setting up user groups and networking to bring together customers and IBM technology teams to share ideas. Simge collaborated on innovative projects around bringing phone user interfaces built in Flutter to the legacy IBM Z mainframe platform. She has great personal skills, a huge passion and enthusiasm for bringing technology to customers to help them solve problems."
Publications
Improving Driver Behavior Using Gamification
The International Conference on Mobile Web and Intelligent Information Systems — MOBIWIS'18
Aug 1, 2018
Gamification approach to measure the driving behavior using in-vehicle data and score drivers.
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