Scaling Engineering Squads & Driving Technical Excellence
CHECK24 is Germany's largest online comparison portal, connecting millions of consumers with transparent price comparisons and transactions. Behind this seamless user experience lies high-availability backend infrastructure and a dedicated team of engineers who build and maintain complex business rules.
Having joined CHECK24 as a Senior Developer in 2019, I made the deliberate transition into Engineering Team Lead in 2021. This shift from individual technical delivery ("lone wolf") to people-centric leadership involved taking full ownership of team health, sprint commitments, architectural integrity, and cross-functional collaboration with product stakeholders.
Key Leadership Pillars
- Team Culture & High Trust: Built an open, psychologically safe environment where engineers are empowered to challenge decisions, propose architectural improvements, and take pride in ownership.
- Structured Mentorship: Established continuous technical mentorship programs, pairing seasoned developers with emerging talent to accelerate skill acquisition and eliminate knowledge silos.
- Delivery Cadence: Implemented focused Agile/Scrum ceremonies that brought predictability to delivery timelines, minimized context-switching, and protected developer focus.
- Quality Engineering: Instilled a culture of thorough code reviews, automated integration tests, and proactive monitoring before code reaches production.
“Belma was one of the best developers I worked with during my time as a team leader at CHECK24. She did an excellent job of making the necessary shift in mindset from lone wolf to team leader. She is one of the few leaders I have had the pleasure of working with who brings passion, enthusiasm, energy, and integrity to her team and brings it out in her team members.”