Slav Ben-Ari
Tel Aviv, Israel | LinkedIn
Core Competencies
Operational strategy: workflow design, resource planning, budget management, KPI tracking.
Management: cross-functional team coordination, site management, vendor relations, managing offshore development teams.
Legal & compliance: contract review, regulatory compliance support, translating legal requirements to technical specifications.
Technical context: marketplace experience, automation background, agile methodologies. Hands-on experience with no-code platforms (n8n, Activepieces) and project management tools (Confluence, Jira).
HR: compensation and salary management, recruiting.
Office establishment: site location, lease contract negotiation, renovation management, establishing external vendor relations, and office access setup.
AI: workflow automation, LLM integration, data analysis.
Experience
Geniuses Recruiting | Founder | Oct 2024 – Present
- Founded a niche tech recruiting agency, handling day-to-day business operations, finances, and service delivery. Hands-on, full-cycle recruiting, from sourcing to interviewing and the offer stage.
- Built automation tools using LLMs and no-code platforms (Activepieces, n8n) for business development (via LinkedIn) and recruiting workflows across various ATS systems (Manatal, BreezyHR, Traffit).
- Created an internal Telegram agent using Gemini API and no-code platform for automatic task creation, follow-ups, daily planning, reminders, and email/SMS processing.
- Developed recruitment and Employer of Record (EOR) processes; drafted contracts for employees, clients, and vendors.
- Managed cross-border logistics for clients in the EU and CIS regions.
Rakuten Viber | R&D Director/Operations | Oct 2021 – Oct 2024
- Served as a legal liaison and led an end-to-end compliance project with an EU government entity, managing the translation of legal requirements into technical specifications and final deployment. Required cross-functional collaboration with Product, UX, Engineering (back- and front-end), Analytics, and QA.
- Directly managed a team of web developers and QA for the company's internal projects in recruiting and tech support. Managed the migration of the company's support system, ticketing flow, and support automation from Wix to Zendesk.
- Established and directed a new R&D site in Tbilisi, Georgia, acting as Country Director and managing the site budget.
- Provided 'boots-on-the-ground' oversight for R&D sites in Belarus and Poland, managing budgets and ensuring compliance with company work policies and procedures.
- Managed the offshore recruiting team to drive talent acquisition and expansion strategies for the R&D sites.
- Determined optimal R&D locations for hiring based on analysis of regional salaries, talent availability, employment laws, and potential risks.
- Managed the Belarus R&D site's administration team, including IT, office management, and administrative employees.
- Managed and oversaw compensation structures and performed yearly salary reviews for R&D across multiple countries.
- Responsible for government relations, employment laws compliance in Belarus, Poland, and Georgia, and external vendor relations.
- Appeared as a guest speaker on tech events and expert panels; interviewed by various media and TV as the company's Country Director in Georgia.
ePlane | VP R&D | Jan 2019 – Oct 2021
- Cross-functional work: served as the connecting point between Product, Business Development, Customer Success, and Engineering to ensure the operational feasibility of new features.
- Managed the R&D teams for a B2B web marketplace, overseeing the product lifecycle from requirements to release.
- Integrated agile methodologies and adjusted internal processes to improve delivery.
- Contributed to the codebase by developing automation processes and external service integrations (Hubspot, SendGrid, and Twilio).
- Assisted in troubleshooting and resolving technical issues and bugs to maintain production stability. Conducted code reviews on external integrations.
- Served as HR Business Partner, managing employee salaries, recruiting, and performing yearly salary reviews for all offshore personnel.
iMesh | R&D Manager | Feb 2016 – Jan 2019
- Managed the company's R&D site in Belarus, overseeing recruiting, training, and management of 20+ developers and team leads.
- Supervised additional outsourced development teams, handling the integration between outsourced and in-house teams.
- Hands-on development of internal automation and external service integrations (Zendesk, SendGrid, and Twilio).
- Created QA processes and automation from scratch, hiring the first QA team.
iMesh | Automation Team Lead | Jan 2013 – Feb 2016
- Created automation frameworks and testing environments from scratch.
- Hired and led a team of manual QA and automation developers (desktop and web).
- Wrote and reviewed code for automated testing frameworks (C#, Selenium).
Soluto | Automation Developer | Dec 2008 – Jan 2013
- Transitioned from manual QA to automation developer in web/desktop environments.
- Built an automation framework from scratch.
Microsoft | Manual QA | Feb 2008 – Dec 2008
Private Law Firm | Associate Attorney | Jan 2003 – Jan 2008
- Practiced law with a focus on advocacy and consultancy, handling contract analysis and general legal counsel.
Education
The Open University of Israel | Computer Science | 2007 – 2009
Tel Aviv University | LL.B., Law | 1998 – 2002
Languages
Hebrew, English, Russian, Georgian (basic)