Messaging Infrastructure · AI Product Leadership

salimcan venedik

Staff Software Engineer · Technical Lead at Insider

I build messaging infrastructure that operates at 24B+ notifications per month and help product teams ship AI without losing reliability.

Today I lead WhatsApp, SMS, Web Push, and conversational AI product engineering inside a 500+ engineer organization.

24B+ notifications / month
1,200+ enterprise customers
500+ engineers in org
Global brands Samsung, Adidas, Unilever

I work at the intersection of distributed systems, product strategy, and delivery discipline. At Insider, I lead messaging and AI product engineering, turning scale and execution ambiguity into systems teams can trust. Earlier work in education and legal workflow automation taught me to turn operational pain into practical software.

24B+ Monthly notifications
1,200+ Enterprise customers
500+ Engineers in org
8+ Years at Insider

Where I've worked

Insider

2018 – Present · 8+ years

$2B+ martech platform · 1,200+ enterprise customers · Shareholder

Scale

Scaled Web Push from 1.3B to 24B monthly notifications.

Product Surface

Built WhatsApp capabilities from zero into a core enterprise product line.

Leadership

Leading messaging and AI product engineering across a 500+ engineer organization.

Technical Lead — WhatsApp & SMS Product Teams Aug 2021 – Present

Owning roadmap, architecture, and delivery across WhatsApp, SMS, Web Push, and AI-assisted messaging surfaces.

Staff Software Engineer Sep 2024 – Present

Driving org-level technical direction, platform leverage, and high-signal engineering review systems.

Developer Team Mentor Aug 2021 – Present

Coaching engineers on system design, delivery habits, and long-term career growth.

QA Team Mentor Feb 2024 – Present

Partnering on quality strategy, automation, and feedback loops that scale with product complexity.

Shareholder Jul 2021 – Present

Committed to the company as both a builder and a long-term owner.

Sr. Software Engineer Jan 2021 – Sep 2024

Scaled web push from 1.3B to 24B monthly notifications and built WhatsApp capabilities from zero.

Scrum Master Dec 2019 – Jan 2021
Software Engineer Apr 2018 – Jan 2021

Built core messaging infra — multi-provider, rate limiting, failover.


ideaKup Web Technologies

May 2016 – Apr 2018
Software Developer

Workflow automation, e-commerce, file tracking. Full-stack.


Turkish State Folk Dance Ensemble

Sep 2011 – Sep 2015
Folk Dancer

International stages: Turkmenistan, Tunisia, Dubai, Morocco.


Benarti Software Solutions

Sep 2010 – Jun 2011
Intern

Selected case studies

A few systems where architecture, product judgment, and delivery rigor all had to show up at once.

Reliability · Distributed Systems

Messaging Platform at Scale

Scaled a multi-provider messaging backbone used by enterprise teams and global brands across high-volume notification use cases.

RoleSenior IC / Platform Builder ScopeWhatsApp, SMS, and Web Push backbone Outcome1.3B → 24B monthly notifications
  • Designed rate limiting, failover, provider routing, and recovery paths
  • Supported WhatsApp, SMS, and Web Push under constantly shifting throughput patterns
  • Focused on operational resilience so product teams could ship without babysitting delivery
1.3B → 24B monthly notifications

0→1 Product Engineering

AI Chatbot Product

Led engineering from early product shaping through production rollout for a conversational AI experience inside a complex enterprise platform.

RoleTechnical Lead Scope0→1 AI product inside an enterprise platform OutcomeConcept → production launch
  • Turned ambiguous product ideas into scoped releases and reusable architecture
  • Balanced experimentation speed with reliability, observability, and platform constraints
  • Built alignment across product, engineering, and go-to-market stakeholders
Concept → production launch

How education shaped my leadership philosophy

Before software became my career, education taught me how trust, clarity, and growth actually work. These essays are the roots of the leadership principles I still bring to engineering teams: empathy, feedback, discipline, and respect.

Read the essays →

Speaking, mentoring, and community

  • Talks Delivered system design and AWS architecture talks at five universities including Bilkent, Hacettepe, and METU.
  • Conference Speaker at PHP Conference (2020).
  • Workshop "The Art of Giving Feedback" seminar for university students (2022).
  • Writing Published: CloudWatch Monitoring & Alerting Best Practices — Insider Engineering Blog
  • Credentials AWS Jam Architecting and Advanced Architecting on AWS.
  • Mentoring Mentor at Mentorink (2025).

Outside work, I spent years on national stages as a folk dancer and still recharge through scuba, oud, and cooking long meals at home.

Let's build the right thing

Open to engineering leadership conversations, speaking invitations, and selective advisory work around messaging, platform reliability, and AI product delivery.