Sr. Director IT · VP IT · CIO-Track
20+ years building technology organizations others didn't think were possible — during M&As, security breaches, pandemics, and growth cycles. Across Americas, EMEA, and APAC.
About
Sr. Director, Global IT — Enterprise Engineering · Digital Workplace · Platform Strategy
GoTo Technologies · 2021–Present
Every role Christian Merkel has held came during a transformation — a spin-off, a merger, a separation, a crisis, a growth phase. There's a pattern there, and it's intentional: he moves toward complexity, not away from it.
Over 20 years and across three continents, he has built technology organizations that combine rigorous operational depth with real team development. At Citrix he led the EMEA IT separation for the GetGo spin-off — 10 countries in 120 days. At LogMeIn he unified global UC infrastructure across two merged organizations. At GoTo he built GoPilots, launched AI-driven service operations, drove Zero Trust to 3,500+ endpoints across 40 countries, and led IT's response during the 2022 LastPass security breach — de facto CIO in the seat with no CIO present.
His approach: build playbooks before you need them, develop people before you need them, and make IT so clearly connected to business outcomes that the "cost center" conversation stops happening.
Bilingual English/German. Prosci® Certified Change Practitioner. ITIL Foundation. Certified External Data Protection Officer (GDPR). Operates comfortably under SOX and ISO 27001 compliance.
Quantified Impact
Full remote infrastructure deployed for 4,000+ employees during COVID-19. 65,000+ monthly call sessions sustained.
M&A infrastructure separation across 30+ countries, 600+ users. Including LastPass carve-out during active security breach.
AI-driven ticket deflection via Tech-E, GoTo's internal AI assistant. Built and launched through the GoPilots program.
IT NPS improvement — from ~40 to 65 — through communication reform, not technology changes.
VPN dependency eliminated. Zero Trust rollout to 3,500+ endpoints across 40 countries. Zero productivity disruption.
Annualized cost savings delivered. $1M+ from MPLS retirement alone. $125K+ from single SmartNet renewal renegotiation.
MTTR reduction across EMEA. LogicMonitor deployment enabled 42% faster root cause analysis.
Managed devices onboarded in 14 days post-Miradore acquisition. Less than 2% escalation rate.
CSAT improvement from AI service operations. Tech-E reduced Tier 1 load while raising satisfaction simultaneously.
Selected Work
Not a list of responsibilities. A record of things actually built.
Built an agile pilot validation framework inside IT: problem owner + cross-functional team + 6–8 week window + hard kill criteria at week 4. Launched Tech-E (AI support bot), which hit 28% ticket deflection and a 12-point CSAT improvement. Program expanded beyond IT into HR, Finance, and Sales.
Deployed Zscaler-based Zero Trust architecture to 3,500+ endpoints across 40 countries. 100% adoption. 90% reduction in VPN dependency. Zero disruption to employee productivity. Executed alongside infrastructure modernization while the business scaled.
Acting de facto CIO during the 2022 LastPass security breach — with no CIO in seat. Coordinated infrastructure containment with Mandiant forensic teams, briefed board-level stakeholders, managed the carve-out separation in parallel. Infrastructure separated in under 60 days across 30+ countries.
Led IT execution across every major transaction: Citrix→GetGo spin-off (10 countries, 120 days), GetGo→LogMeIn merger (1,100+ users unified), Bold360 divestiture (600+ users, 30 countries, 60 days), LastPass carve-out, Miradore acquisition (89,000 devices, 14 days). Built the Infrastructure Autonomy Playbook — pre-decided separation answers used across every subsequent deal.
Retired 10+ datacenter locations down to 3 global hubs. Decommissioned MPLS in favour of SD-WAN and SIP-based cloud communications. Migrated 2,400+ users from legacy PBX/Cisco to GoToConnect cloud telephony across 12 countries. Reduced telecom OpEx by $1.04M+ annually.
Raised internal IT satisfaction by 25 points — not through technology upgrades but through communication reform. First response time discipline, proactive status updates, resolution quality tracking, and eliminating auto-generated "resolved" messages. Introduced IT Newsletter and TED Talk Series as culture-building transparency tools.
Leadership Lens
The COVID remote deployment happened in 10 days because the infrastructure to do it had been built in quiet times. The M&A separations ran clean because the playbook existed before the deal closed. The LastPass breach was contained because the team knew what to do before anyone knew it was happening.
That's the through-line: build the team, build the playbook, build the standards — before pressure forces the question. That's what makes IT a trusted partner to the business instead of a bottleneck inside it.
"The infrastructure decisions you make in quiet times determine how you perform in loud ones."Start a conversation
Focus Areas
Operating Principles
Every M&A separation ran faster because the Infrastructure Autonomy Playbook existed before any deal closed. Good IT leaders pre-decide the answers so execution time is execution — not planning.
The more clearly IT connects architecture, service quality, and operating choices to business outcomes, the more meaningful its seat at the table becomes. You can't contain what you haven't mapped. And you can't lead what you haven't explained.
Most IT orgs have a backlog. GoPilots was something else: a repeatable framework for validating ideas fast, killing them early if needed, and expanding what works across the business. That's the difference between theater and transformation.
Strong execution is a byproduct of clear ownership, honest communication, and teams that feel trusted enough to improve the system around them. It is not a byproduct of surveillance, heroics, or over-reporting.
Disagreement is data. The teams that move fastest are the ones where people say the hard thing early and then commit without resentment. That starts with the leader modeling it first, every time.
Tech-E didn't deflect 28% of tickets because the AI was good. It worked because we defined success metrics before deployment, automated the boring stuff first, and built feedback loops that made the model better over time.
Career Arc
Published Work & Media
Digital workspace scale-up, SaaS consolidation, support modernization, and trust-based leadership — through the lens of how an internal IT organization evolves under real pressure.
Read article →How technology leaders communicate value, position IT strategically, and connect operational work to business outcomes. German-language executive webinar.
Watch webinar →Workplace technology that supports a more human, flexible, and better-designed employee experience in the hybrid era.
Read feature →Featured panelist on how technology leaders quantify, communicate, and prove the strategic value IT brings to the wider business — moving the conversation from cost to investment.
View on LinkedIn →Partnering IT with product and development teams so internal needs help shape tools that are better for employees and customers alike. The GoPilots framework in practice.
View post →Running IT more like a product organization: measurable value, continuous improvement, and outcomes that employees and the business can actually feel. Not just completed tickets.
View post →LinkedIn Content
Writing that reflects the real work — not polished takes from a content team.
Recognition & Visibility
Executive recognition for building and scaling the GoPilots Innovation-as-a-Service program — including the Tech-E AI assistant that became the flagship internal AI deployment.
Digital workspace scale-up, SaaS consolidation, support modernization, and trust-based leadership featured across the GoTo executive platform.
Read article →Featured speaker on how technology leaders quantify, articulate, and prove the strategic and operational value IT delivers to organizations.
External commentary on IT relevance, hybrid work, and executive technology leadership published across European professional and business media.
Watch webinar →Get in Touch
Reaching out on executive leadership roles, advisory conversations, speaking, and future-oriented discussions around enterprise technology strategy, AI operations, and global IT transformation.
