Simon Gerlach

Background

About Simon Gerlach

I am a product and technology leader with a strong foundation as a hands-on software engineer and more than a decade of experience building and scaling connected vehicle platforms. My career combines deep technical expertise with the ability to lead large, international development organizations and transform them towards modern software excellence. From Coding to Global Platforms: Started as a software developer and grew into leading international teams of 150+ engineers across Germany, the US, and India. Built new organizations from the ground up and established a strong engineering culture. Driving Software Excellence: Introduced modern DevOps practices to optimize delivery speed, reliability, and team performance. Guided large-scale transformations in complex corporate environments towards agile, software-centric ways of working. International Experience: Worked in the US (Silicon Valley) as part of Volkswagen’s innovation hub and collaborated with global teams and customers across Europe, North America, and Asia. Comfortable leading cross-cultural, distributed organizations. Product Ownership & Architecture: Responsible for end-to-end ownership of platforms such as the Volkswagen Automotive Cloud and AutoEdge runtime, ensuring production readiness, worldwide rollout, and reliable large-scale operations (>20M users). Innovation & Patents: Holder of multiple patents in infotainment systems, cloud integration, and connected services; author of scientific publications on HMI and connected car technologies. My mission: Combine hands-on software expertise, international leadership, and modern engineering practices to deliver the next generation of software-defined vehicles and connected services – from concept to global rollout.