Carousell appoints new CTO to accelerate product innovation

• Former EVP of tech at Lazada, Igor Volynskiy joins as part of deep tech investments
• Appointment follows string of hires including VP of operations & chief commercial officer

Fast growing classifieds startup, Carousell announced last week, Sept 17, the appointment of Igor Volynskiy as chief technology officer (CTO). Igor will be responsible for developing Carousell’s technology capabilities, including engineering, data science and analytics, product and design to bring greater value, trust and convenience to users of Carousell.

Igor’s appointment is part of the company’s ongoing investment in deep technology capabilities to accelerate product innovation. With its existing AI-first mantra, Carousell has rolled out several product updates that create personalised and intuitive experiences to help users buy and sell with ease. Most recently, Carousell has rolled out an object identification feature, where an image taken for a listing is automatically provided with recommendations for the object’s name, product categories, and optimal selling price.

Lucas Ngoo, Carousell’s cofounder who has served as CTO to date, will continue to serve Carousell's business and technology needs in his day-to-day activities.

“With Igor joining us as CTO, we’re looking forward to leveraging his leadership experience within the rapidly evolving e-commerce space and extensive understanding of technology infrastructure, to build a world class product and engineering team to accelerate our growth and monetisation efforts,” said Ngoo.

Previously a technology executive vice president at Lazada and vice president of operations and marketplace technology at RedMart, Igor brings more than 20 years of experience in leading cross-functional organisations of software engineers, product managers, data scientists and industrial engineers to drive business results. At RedMart, Igor was instrumental in building a delivery capacity and routing management system to maximise the efficiency of its delivery fleet.

Igor’s appointment follows a string of high profile hires in 2019, including vice president of operations, Su Lin Tan; chief commercial officer, Lewis Ng and managing director of ads, JJ Eastwood, reflecting Carousell’s commitment to solidifying its market-leading position in the classifieds industry. Igor will oversee all technology-related functions in Carousell and will report to Cofounder and CEO, Siu Rui Quek.

“I am impressed by what the Carousell team has accomplished in just seven years, and am excited to contribute my knowledge and experience to help the company scale and reach new heights. Carousell is a mission first company with a strong belief in the importance of culture, which aligns very well with my own values. I look forward to continuing to build the technology team and its culture, to make Carousell the place for engineers, data scientists, product managers and designers to do their best work,” said Igor.