Over the years, I’ve had the chance to work with several teams where SEO played a central role in product growth. At Smallpdf, I was brought in as an acquisition manager to lead SEO strategy across multiple departments. Christoph Forsting, then COO, mentioned that after a long search, I stood out among the candidates. Mainly because I was able to show how SEO could directly support Smallpdf’s growth goals. I worked closely with Stéphane Turquay, one of the product managers, to embed SEO into product development and internal knowledge sharing.
One of the most rewarding aspects of that time was helping others grow. Akemi Narindal-Aoki, who joined the digital team early in her career, described our work together as a turning point for her. I see that as a core part of my role: making SEO not just functional, but teachable. Almudena Cañadas referred to me as a “guru,” which I take less as a compliment and more as a reminder of the responsibility to keep things simple and useful. Dr. Tamara Johnson summed it up well—what I try to do is translate complex acquisition systems into actionable strategies the wider team can understand and use.
At Experteer, the challenges were different but equally engaging. As Head of Marketing, Elisa Chieno involved me directly in aligning acquisition with product and metasearch development. I collaborated closely with engineers like Taras Struk to bring technical improvements to market quickly, and with analysts like Michael Korotkov to test and measure their outcomes. Nathalie Santos called our work together “enriching,” which reflects what I value most—transparency, clear thinking, and shipping changes that compound over time. Manfred Thurm-Kollenda, our Head of Product, and I started on the same day and regularly met to align SEO and product performance—those sessions were key to unlocking better acquisition flows within the job search engine.
This feedback isn’t marketing material, it’s a record of what others have seen in how I work, and the kind of outcomes I aim to deliver.
If I could summarize how I work in five words it would be:
Collaborative, Strategic, Practical, Trusted, Impactful
What People Say in detail:
References taken from my LinkedIn profile:
As a Product Manager, it was an amazing experience working along with Flavio.
Stéphane Turquay
PM at Smallpdf.com
I searched for a long time to find a really good acquisition manager for Smallpdf, since SEO is one of the most important success factors for Smallpdf. In all the conversations I had (and I had many), Flavio stood out.
Christoph Forsting
COO at Smallpdf.com
Working with Flavio came as a blessing at the start of my career in digital marketing at Smallpdf. His profound knowledge in SEO and long experience as a manager are notorious and make him an outstanding mentor.
Akemi Narindal-Aoki, PhD
SEO Manager at Smallpdf.com
Flavio is a Guru for SEO, who drives knowledge sharing and successfully plans and develops the execution of initiatives thanks to his expertise.
Almudena Cañadas
Junior SEO Manager at Smallpdf.com
Obviously, Flavio is highly skilled at marketing in general and search engine marketing in particular.
Dr. Tamara Marie Johnson
Marketing Manager at Smallpdf.com
I had the opportunity and the privilege of working directly with Flavio at Experteer, where I was employed as Performance Marketing Manager, Metasearch Team Lead and, later, Head of Marketing.
Elisa Chieno
Head of Marketing, Experteer.de
Flavio has especial project management skills and worked together with me and the engineering team at Experteer to implement unique and creative products.
Taras Struk
Senior Developer, Experteer.de
Work with Flavio is an amazing opportunity to learn something new every day, to work on super complicated concepts and to have a lot of fun in the process thanks to his fun-loving personality.
Michael Korotkov
Marketing / Analytics Manager, Experteer.de
Working with Flavio has been an enriching experience. Flavio is a doer, delivering the best practices in the market for SEO. Always updated in the latest trends which is crucial in the online marketing business.
Nathalie Santos
Marketing Manager, Experteer.de
Flavio and I started the same day as FTE at Experteer and I will miss our SEO/Product sessions a lot. We worked closely on the product development of the job search and improved our SEO performance tremendously.
Manfred Thurm-Kollenda
Head of Product, Experteer.de