Benjamin Schaefer
Software Engineering Executive | 80+ Team Leader | Platform Architect Driving $400M+ ARR
- Role
- Vice President of Software Engineering at Optimizely
- Location
- Boston, MA, US
- LinkedIn followers
- 500 followers
About Benjamin Schaefer
I architect platforms that win deals and generate revenue. At Optimizely, I lead 80+ engineers across two strategic areas: platform engineering (identity, monetization, and integration capabilities that enable Optimizely One) and product engineering (recommendations, data platforms, and AI/ML). My teams generate $20M+ in direct revenue while the foundational platform we have built powers the entire $400M ARR portfolio.My unique advantage comes from understanding both sides of the table. I spent meaningful time in pre-sales solution architecture, sitting across from enterprise buyers during discovery and evaluation. That experience fundamentally changed how I build software: I architect for what enterprises actually buy, not just what is technically elegant.This customer-first approach defines my core competency: building platform infrastructure that makes acquisitions commercially viable. I architected the identity, provisioning, and monetization systems that transformed seven acquired companies into integrated Optimizely One capabilities, proven through rapid acquisition integration (Netspring) and launch of Opal, our agentic AI platform. I work directly with Product and Sales leadership to transform acquisitions into revenue-generating platform capabilities that drive competitive advantage.I own platform engineering and key revenue-generating product lines, with our Data Science organization delivering the advanced capabilities that differentiate us: contextual multi-armed bandits, AI memory, and evaluation frameworks for Opal. This work reflects my broader conviction: the future belongs to platforms that unify identity, data, and AI into compounding advantages. I\'m building that architecture with relentless focus on business impact, engineering velocity, and operational excellence at enterprise scale. I partner with the executive team to align technical strategy and security priorities with market opportunities.I\'ve spent my career transforming engineering organizations from product silos into platform-thinking cultures, developing leaders who own both technical excellence and commercial outcomes. I believe the best technical executives operate as true business partners, making architectural decisions with clear commercial intent while scaling organizations that deliver measurable impact.
Experience
Vice President of Software Engineering
Jun 2024 — Present
Education
Nashua Community College
Internet Developer Certificate, Computer Science
2012 — 2013
UNH Online
Post Baccalaureate Teacher Certification, General Special Education
2009 — 2011
Southern New Hampshire University
Master's Degree, Data Analytics - partial course work completed
University of New Hampshire
Bachelor of Arts (B.A.), Philosophy
2003 — 2007
Skills
- Twitter Bootstrap
- Html
- Iis
- Internet Information Services
- C++
- Business Analytics
- Scrum
- Curriculum Development
- Agile Methodologies
- Vb.net
- Teaching
- Jquery
- Visual Studio
- Ektron Content Management System
- Javascript
- Visual C#
- Microsoft Azure
- Marketing
- Sales
- Css
- Cms
- Staff Development
- Xml
- Microsoft Sql Server
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