Katarina Savic
Engineering Leader
Chicago,IL
Summary
Engineering leader with 15+ years of experience scaling engineering organizations, modernizing digital platforms, and championing AI-assisted delivery — including 13 years at Discover Financial Services driving modernization, architectural evolution, and customer-centric platform transformation.
Senior management professional, bringing strategic leadership and operational excellence to drive organizational success. Skilled in project management, team collaboration, and process optimization with keen focus on achieving results. Adept at navigating complex challenges, fostering culture of accountability, and adapting to evolving business needs. Known for strong decision-making, building high-performing teams and achieving high-impact results.
Overview
17
17
years of professional experience
1
1
Certification
Work History
Senior Manager, Software Engineering
Charles Schwab
10.2021 - Current
- Lead engineering strategy and execution for Schwab.com and internal wealth platforms.
- Partner with senior engineering and product leaders on multi-year architecture and modernization priorities.
- Delivered digital experiences for high-net-worth clients; modernized advisor systems including Aladdin integration.
- Directed development of an internal wealth platform enabling advisers to support complex client needs.
- Built and scaled engineering teams across full-time employees and contractors nationwide.
- Managed vendor relationships, budgeting, and professional services engagements.
- Developed strategic initiatives to align departmental goals with organizational objectives, driving overall performance.
- Spearheaded budget management efforts, optimizing resource allocation while maintaining operational excellence across projects.
- Championed GitHub Copilot adoption and AI-assisted engineering practices.
- Improved delivery predictability, alignment, and engineering excellence across teams.
- Mentored junior managers, fostering leadership skills and promoting a culture of continuous improvement within the team.
- Conducted performance evaluations, compensations and hiring to maintain appropriate staffing requirements.
- Evaluated hiring, firing, and promotions requests.
Principal Software Engineer / Application Architect
Discover Financial Services
01.2018 - 10.2021
- Led development of a new Card Customer Center application for service representatives.
- Modernized customer-service platforms from legacy monoliths to microservices.
- Owned platform architecture ensuring resilience and scalability.
- Defined engineering standards for automation, observability, API design, and service reliability.
- Spearheaded research on emerging technologies to inform strategic decision-making for future projects.
- Successfully managed multiple high-profile projects simultaneously, demonstrating a strong ability to prioritize tasks and delegate responsibilities effectively.
Senior Systems Analyst / Software Engineer
Discover Financial Services
08.2008 - 01.2018
- Delivered modernization projects improving system stability and performance.
- Developed robust web applications using JavaScript and React to enhance user experience.
- Implemented RESTful APIs to facilitate seamless communication between front-end and back-end systems.
- Led code reviews and mentored junior developers, fostering a culture of continuous improvement and knowledge sharing.
- Integrated CI/CD pipelines to automate deployment processes, reducing release time and increasing reliability.
Education
Master of Science - Artificial Intelligence
DePaul (IP)
Chicago, IL12-2027
Master of Science - Computer Information Systems
Northwestern
Chicago, IL06-2013
Bachelor of Science - Mathematics
University of Belgrade
Belgrade, Serbia12-2005
Skills
- Distributed Systems
- Digital Platforms
- Software architecture
- Microservices architecture
- Web application development
- Technical leadership
- Java / Spring
- Angular / React
- Cloud Architecture
- AI-Assisted Engineering
- DevOps practices
Certification
- AI for Leaders, Stanford - in progress
Additional Information
- Strategic Leadership
- Technology strategy
- Multi-year planning
- Business alignment
- Organizational Leadership
- Scaling teams
- Coaching leaders
- Management capability
- Delivery Excellence
- Complex program execution
- Reliability & automation
- Engineering rigor
- Technical Leadership
- Platform modernization
- Architecture evolution
- AI-assisted delivery
Timeline
Senior Manager, Software Engineering
Charles Schwab
10.2021 - Current
Principal Software Engineer / Application Architect
Discover Financial Services
01.2018 - 10.2021
Senior Systems Analyst / Software Engineer
Discover Financial Services
08.2008 - 01.2018
Master of Science - Artificial Intelligence
DePaul (IP)
Master of Science - Computer Information Systems
Northwestern
Bachelor of Science - Mathematics
University of Belgrade