CV / Resume | Steve Zitkovich

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STEVE ZITKOVICH
email: steve@zitkovich.com | mobile: (request number by email) | currently in Seattle, USA

SUMMARY
I increase customers and revenues in international markets through multilingual marketing, product management, localization strategy and go-to-market tactics, building teams, processes and partnerships.

360-degree view of international business from working at large (Microsoft), highly creative (Getty Images, Zefa) and startup companies in Seattle, Europe, and APAC.

A team player with a positive attitude looking to join a company long-term.

Personal
* Languages: English (native), German (fluent), French (business conversational)
* Lived 15+ years in 8 countries in Europe (UK, Germany, France, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Spain, Czech Republic, Slovakia)

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Localization Director at Markforged (remote from Seattle) March ’21 – Oct ’24
Worked with Boston headquarters team supporting the field offices around the world.
* SME and champion for localization issues across the company.
* Set up from scratch the processes and people, including vendors, to manage large amounts of multilingual content and hands-on managed the localization projects.
— Managed 7 website languages + up to 16 languages of technical documentation
— Led integration of AI (LLMs) into localization processes
* Received top percentile annual reviews from my managers and numerous compliments from
colleagues in the company #kudos Slack channel. Happy to share these with prospective employers.
* End: was part of 20% staff lay-off as company prepared for acquisition.

Projects + job search (Seattle) May ’20 – March ’21
Return to Seattle from Europe and project work while looking for a long-term job.
* Consultant to a company taking first steps of international expansion
* Creating online community connecting international tech companies with Seattle tech companies
* Mentoring international graduate students on their job searches in the Seattle area
* Teaching English online through University of Washington (volunteer)

Director of Marketing at IT-Development SAS (Lyon) June ’17 – Oct ’19
ITD is a SaaS provider to telecoms companies for managing projects, assets and logistics. Company has 12,000 daily users across 20 countries in Europe, Africa, Middle East and SE Asia.
Managed all marketing activities. Emphasis on product marketing, generating leads and supporting sales. Wrote marketing & sales support materials, managed publishing calendar, did sales prospecting and calls, did online demos, managed trade show presence & activities. Also contributed to product management.

Director International at Nubart (Frankfurt & Barcelona) March ’17 – Nov ’17
Nubart is a startup with innovative technology for delivering museum audio guides. Worked with the two founders on all aspects of product/company strategy, sales, marketing and business development. Wrote business plans which won EU funding, earning certificates of excellence.

Program Director at Moravia IT (Monterey, CA) April ’16 – October ’16
Managed localization services account at global Silicon Valley internet company. Sales + P&L responsibility. Gained insight to the vendor side of localization and translation services, but at heart I am a product and marketing person focused on the customer and this role was too far removed from end-users.

E-Commerce Mobile App Business Plan & International Move (Barcelona) June ’15 – March ’16
1. Wrote business plan for an innovative e-commerce mobile app that delivers digital content by independent artists (especially music, books, video).
2. Moved back to Europe on my own, i.e. not re-located by an employer. Moving one’s life abroad is a lot like doing a startup: requires flexibility, agility and decisions based on opportunities or challenges.

International Product- and Program Manager consulting / contracting Sept ’08 – April ’15
(Between contracts I worked on entrepreneurial/business ideas in the Seattle startup community.)

Holland America Line (Seattle)
* Increased speed + quality of promotions and content translations across 4 languages and worldwide markets to establish simultaneous release (simship) delivery.
* Delivered localization projects, including $500K project, to budget and on-time delivery.
* Managed international e-commerce purchase path, data protection and privacy.

Tango Card (Seattle)
* Business development in identifying and setting up partnerships globally, including Amazon and iTunes e-gift cards procurement across Europe and Asia.
* Assisted VP Product Management on 2 MVP products.
* Supported sales teams on calls and proposals; international capabilities were a differentiator in landing a number of key customers.

Sogeti USA (Seattle)
* Consulted Starbucks on localization strategy and best-practices in creating an internationalized platform and processes to host websites for 39 countries.
* SharePoint 2010 implementation: Co-author of governance document and SME for international/localization issues supporting Starbucks global offices, stores and operations.
* Assessed dev team processes at Charles Schwab and made recommendations to improve development speed and reduce risk using Agile methodologies.

Earth Class Mail & Swiss Post Box (Seattle & Zurich)
* Did knowledge transfer of Earth Class Mail processes to Swiss Post Box, including technical implementation, marketing, operations, customer service and overall business rules.
* Managed implementation to launch deadline. Launched in 5 countries.
* Member of core team planning Swiss Post Box product road map and marketing.

[Private Entrepreneur] (Den Haag, NL)
* For a startup, took business concept and defined an online service (including functional requirements and wireframes) to develop an MVP to attract further investment.

International Program Manager at Microsoft (Redmond) May ’07 – July ’08
Team managed localization of 350+ projects, more than 3 million words and a budget of nearly $6 million.
* Led globalization and localization strategy, planning and requirements for international versions of Microsoft Dynamics, People Ready Business and other Microsoft customer campaigns websites.
* Managed localization budget to within 5% of target on a quarterly basis.
* Authored best-practices (“Localization Framework”) for reference across Microsoft.

Project work for Alice In Chains and Soundgarden (Seattle) 1992 – June ’15
Various projects and managing archives. 2006-2007 was particularly busy during Alice In Chains reunion.

Previous Positions
International Product Marketing Manager at Ofoto (now Shutterfly) (Amsterdam, NL) July ’04 – Oct ’05
Program Manager & Interim Head of IT at Zefa Visual Media (Düsseldorf, DE) Oct ’02 – Jan ’04
Director Product Management at B2Build SA (Paris, FR) May ’00 – July ’01

OTHER EXPERIENCE
* Teacher of German and English in Czechoslovakia (Bratislava 1991/92, Prague 1993).
* Non-profit and volunteering:
— 2014 – present: Homestay host for international students & program participants
— 2006 – 2020: Teach an English class I created for international students
— 2011 – 2014: Translators Without Borders
* Play two soccer games per week on teams I have played with for decades. I practice in life the values team sports teach: strive to excel, collaborate, compromise, respect, win gracefully, lose gracefully; when defeated, get up and try again.

EDUCATION
University of Washington, Certificate in Software Product Management (9-month program)
University of Washington, Bachelor of Arts, German Area Studies
– included one year at Johannes Gutenberg Universität, Mainz, Germany