Radu is a Senior Software Engineer in the Predictions and Market Modelling Team (PMMT), responsible for designing and building reliable, scalable and maintainable Machine Learning products.

Prior to joining Vortexa, Radu worked at Lloyds Banking Group as a Software Engineer, where he produced Machine Learning pipelines and built an internal library for model monitoring and metric generation.

Fun Fact: Radu used to be a child star on Romanian prime-time TV!

We wanted to find out what inspired Radu to join Vortexa, what some of his biggest milestones have been to date, and what day-to-day life really looks like for a Senior Software Engineer…

What inspired you to join Vortexa?

That’s easy – the people I met and the taste of the company culture I got to experience during the interview process. I’ve been through quite a few interviews in my career, but this was the first time it felt very much like a two-way street,  it was about just as much about me as it was about the interviewers and the company. The standards are high at Vortexa, and it shows through and through. I was also inspired by the company mission and Vortexa’s track record of success, which made my decision to join at such an exciting stage of a scaling start-up even easier.

”…Vortexa is all about collaboration, innovation and knowledge sharing. It’s an inclusive environment where everyone makes critical contributions to our product no matter what their role is.”

What would you say is the most interesting aspect of your role?

We work in a very fast-paced environment, and this pace is driven by our enthusiasm and desire to deliver the most value possible for our customers. Every problem I have had to solve since I joined the company has been not only about delivering a particular feature but also about thinking about how the way we deliver it could help to evolve our engineering practices and enable us to be more efficient in the future. What does this mean in practice? First of all, you just can’t get bored, work is always interesting! Second of all, with every delivered feature, you will grow alongside the company and the people you work with.

What have been some significant milestone moments for you at Vortexa?

Very soon after I joined, I was given the opportunity to drive two projects that ended up helping our analysts understand the reasons why our models made certain predictions. Being trusted with such an important piece of work so early gave me a great deal of confidence.

Another important milestone was being part of a cross-team initiative to help reduce the cycle time of one of our core models. We’ve had incredible success in streamlining a process that initially took five days to what now takes just 12 hours, using a mix of technologies and techniques. 

What does day-to-day life look like for you as a Senior Software Engineer?

The day always starts with my pod’s standup, which is in most cases followed by the pod lead standup with our Head of Predictions and Market Modelling, where we talk about progress and try to iron out any blockers. The rest of the day is typically a mix of individual work, code reviews and pair programming sessions, sometimes with one of our regular knowledge sharing sessions sprinkled on top. We value collaboration and do our best not to isolate ourselves with individual work, which is now made easier with the occasional visit to the office.

”…We work in a very fast-paced environment, and this pace is driven by our enthusiasm and desire to deliver the most value possible for our customers.”

What key qualities make a Senior Software Engineer successful?

A successful Software Engineer needs to be curious, consistently try to think outside the box, always have the value that their work delivers in mind and never lose sight of the next iteration. In addition to that, a Senior Software Engineer should also provide thought leadership on best practices and make forward-thinking technical decisions.

How would you describe the culture at Vortexa?

Vortexa is all about collaboration, innovation and knowledge sharing. It’s an inclusive environment where everyone makes critical contributions to our product no matter what their role is.

What advice would you give people hoping to join Vortexa?

Be open and honest about your skills, experience and expectations from the first second of your interview process.

Describe your working life at Vortexa in three words?

Stimulating, innovative and motivating.