Profile

Levent Kurt

Chief Technology Officer & Technology Executive based in Istanbul, Turkey

I help companies turn complex products into resilient, high-performing platforms — from early-stage scale-ups to global organizations.

CTO & Technology Leadership Platform & Architecture Scaling Engineering Teams
Levent Kurt

Career Journey

Leadership roles across scale

A vertical snapshot of key roles and impact — explore the timeline to move between summary context and deeper detail.

  • March 2024 – Present

    Fractional CTO & Strategic Advisor

    Multi-Sector Ventures · Istanbul, Turkey

    Summary Deep Dive

    Advising startups and SMEs on technology due diligence, cloud architecture, and digital transformation roadmaps.

    • Direct technical due diligence and digital transformation roadmaps for portfolio companies and SMEs.
    • Architect multi-tenant, cloud-native solutions across AWS and Azure with regional compliance in mind.
    • Delivered a private LLM rollout for a regional conglomerate and reduced startup cloud burn through infrastructure restructuring.
    Budget scope
    Advisory portfolio scope
  • Jan 2023 – March 2024

    Chief Technology Officer (Digital Transformation Lead)

    Farmasi · Istanbul, Turkey

    Summary Deep Dive

    Led a 12-month technology turnaround that prepared Farmasi's digital platform for global growth.

    • Scaled the engineering organization from 35 to 60+ to support global expansion.
    • Completed the shift to a mobile-first architecture and launched the company's first mobile application.
    • Moved core infrastructure to AWS and standardized R&D processes to improve delivery efficiency.
    Team size
    35 → 60 engineers
    Budget scope
    Global expansion program
  • March 2020 – Jan 2023

    Chief Product Development Officer

    SansTech (Demirören Group) · Istanbul, Turkey

    Summary Deep Dive

    Directed multi-vertical product and software delivery across one of Turkey's largest media and gaming groups.

    • Led software development lifecycles for major media brands and digital gaming platforms inside Demirören Group.
    • Managed a direct team of 90+ and coordinated a broader ecosystem of 250+ employees across group companies.
    • Built a 30-person technology team for Misli Azerbaijan in two months across backend, mobile, and QA.
    Team size
    90 direct / 250+ ecosystem
    Budget scope
    Group portfolio scope
  • Jan 2019 – March 2020

    Co-Founder

    Marvy Games · Istanbul, Turkey

    Summary Deep Dive

    Co-founded a game studio and led both technology delivery and day-to-day management for the first product launch.

    • Led technology and management operations for a Unity-based game development studio.
    • Managed a blended team of 8 full-time staff and 10 freelancers.
    • Shipped the MVP for the studio's inaugural title, BORA, in December 2019.
    Team size
    8 full-time + 10 freelancers
    Budget scope
    Startup studio scope
  • Aug 2017 – Jan 2019

    Chief Technology Officer

    Modanisa · Istanbul, Turkey

    Summary Deep Dive

    Owned product, architecture, DevOps, ERP, and PMO functions for a global e-commerce leader serving 20M+ customers.

    • Managed a 68-person cross-functional organization spanning Product, PMO, Software Architecture, DevOps, and ERP.
    • Improved web performance by 300% and doubled warehouse time-to-shipment metrics.
    • Established an in-house R&D center and moved infrastructure to AWS for greater stability and scale.
    Team size
    68 cross-functional professionals
    Budget scope
    Global commerce platform
  • April 2016 – Aug 2017

    CTO & COO

    Netmarble Turkey · Istanbul, Turkey

    Summary Deep Dive

    Ran software development, IT operations, and QA for a major gaming portfolio across the EMEA region.

    • Oversaw software development, IT operations, and QA for high-traffic gaming products.
    • Managed 300+ systems across three datacenters and an 8 Gbps network footprint.
    • Introduced Agile project management and data-driven BI for live game management analytics.
    Budget scope
    Regional operations scope
  • Aug 2008 – April 2016

    Head of Technology Services

    GittiGidiyor / eBay Turkey · Istanbul, Turkey

    Summary Deep Dive

    Progressed through technology leadership roles while helping scale Turkey's pioneering C2C marketplace through its eBay integration.

    • Oversaw 1,000+ virtualized systems and a 26-person team in progressive leadership roles.
    • Played a pivotal role in technical due diligence and post-acquisition integration following eBay's investment.
    • Built a private cloud platform that achieved 100% virtualization while cutting physical servers by half.
    Team size
    26 people / 1,000+ systems
    Budget scope
    Acquisition integration scope
  • 2006 – 2008

    System Administration Team Lead

    Superonline · Istanbul, Turkey

    Summary Deep Dive

    Led system administration work inside a telecom environment where reliability and production operations were core.

    • Managed infrastructure operations during a formative telecom leadership chapter.
    • Built the operational depth that later translated into larger-scale platform and cloud responsibilities.
  • 2005 – 2006

    Software Architect

    Vargonen Technologies · Istanbul, Turkey

    Summary Deep Dive

    Owned architecture responsibilities during an early enterprise software and platform design chapter.

    • Focused on software architecture decisions that strengthened platform design and delivery foundations.
    • Expanded technical breadth ahead of later infrastructure and executive leadership roles.
  • 2003 – 2005

    Development Team Lead

    Bilnet Information Systems · Istanbul, Turkey

    Summary Deep Dive

    Stepped into delivery leadership while building enterprise software and coordinating team execution.

    • Led development delivery in an enterprise information systems environment.
    • Built the management and coordination skills that fed directly into later architecture and operations roles.
  • 2001 – 2003

    Software Developer

    Emtnet Internet Services · Istanbul, Turkey

    Summary Deep Dive

    Developed internet-facing software systems during the early growth years of web services in Turkey.

    • Built hands-on software delivery experience in internet services.
    • Strengthened the application development base that preceded later team leadership roles.
  • 1998 – 2001

    Software Developer

    BNG Computing Systems · Istanbul, Turkey

    Summary Deep Dive

    Started the software engineering career path by building core development experience in computing systems.

    • Established foundational software development practice across business-critical systems.
    • Built the technical base for later architecture, operations, and executive leadership roles.

Domain Experience

Sector depth across commerce, media, gaming, telecom, and platforms

The map below shows where Levent has repeatedly operated, from acquisition-era commerce infrastructure to regional gaming operations and large-scale media products.

Domain experience map showing sectors and operating contexts across Levent Kurt's career 25+ yrs Commerce 3 roles Media 1 roles Gaming 3 roles Transform 5 roles Cloud 5 roles Telecom 1 roles Platforms 4 roles Advisory 1 roles Retail 2 roles

E-commerce

Marketplace, retail, and digital sales platforms operating at high transaction volume.

Roles
3
Leadership signals
3

Farmasi • Modanisa • GittiGidiyor / eBay Turkey

Most recent role: Chief Technology Officer (Digital Transformation Lead)

Media

Editorial, publishing, and broadcasting products serving large national audiences.

Roles
1
Leadership signals
1

SansTech (Demirören Group)

Most recent role: Chief Product Development Officer

Gaming

Online and mobile gaming operations with live-service infrastructure and analytics needs.

Roles
3
Leadership signals
3

SansTech (Demirören Group) • Marvy Games • Netmarble Turkey

Most recent role: Chief Product Development Officer

Digital Transformation

Technology turnarounds, modernization programs, and operating-model redesign across growth stages.

Roles
5
Leadership signals
5

Multi-Sector Ventures • Farmasi • SansTech (Demirören Group) • Modanisa • GittiGidiyor / eBay Turkey

Most recent role: Fractional CTO & Strategic Advisor

Cloud Infrastructure

High-availability platforms, cloud migration, virtualization, and production operations.

Roles
5
Leadership signals
3

Multi-Sector Ventures • Netmarble Turkey • GittiGidiyor / eBay Turkey • Superonline • Vargonen Technologies

Most recent role: Fractional CTO & Strategic Advisor

Telecom

Carrier-grade infrastructure and operations supporting always-on network services.

Roles
1
Leadership signals
0

Superonline

Most recent role: System Administration Team Lead

Enterprise Platforms

Business-critical internal and customer-facing software systems across enterprise environments.

Roles
4
Leadership signals
0

Vargonen Technologies • Bilnet Information Systems • Emtnet Internet Services • BNG Computing Systems

Most recent role: Software Architect

Strategic Advisory

Executive technology strategy, due diligence, and portfolio-level operating guidance.

Roles
1
Leadership signals
1

Multi-Sector Ventures

Most recent role: Fractional CTO & Strategic Advisor

Beauty & Retail

Global consumer brands balancing digital commerce, mobile channels, and multi-market growth.

Roles
2
Leadership signals
2

Farmasi • Modanisa

Most recent role: Chief Technology Officer (Digital Transformation Lead)

Contact

Let's talk about your next chapter

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