Marnus van Staden
Product & Process
"Find the bottleneck, automate the grunt, measure the gain."
Co-founder & Head of Product Engineering at This Is 42 — Marnus turns tangled operations into data-driven, test-ready workflows. Blending an industrial-engineering mindset with simulation, automation and ruthless backlog economics, he designs lean product strategies and keeps squads honest on scope, value and sprint cadence.
Superpowers at a Glance
Aligns architects, PMs and execs to one narrative, smoothing cross-team hand-offs.
Builds Monte Carlo and AnyLogic models to test scenarios before code is written.
Designed bots that cleared a 13,000-order backlog in under a week.
Facilitates test sessions and rigorous requirements reviews to raise quality fast.
Tracks budgets and cost-of-delay, keeping delivery portfolios ROI-positive.
Career Snapshot
Industrial Engineer, Level Products — Monte Carlo simulation guided machinery investment.
Intelligent Automation Specialist, Jurumani — RPA BA/Dev; built process-mining proof-of-concept.
BA & Scrum Master, Vodacom Enterprise Tech — bridge between business and 4-dev squad.
Process Analyst, Vodacom Technical Product Eng. — cloud/hosting/security portfolio.
Salesforce Consultant & Business Analyst, NTT Data — leads high-impact Salesforce & integration projects.
External Examiner, Univ. of Pretoria — assesses final-year Industrial Eng. dissertations.
Certifications & Badges
Toolbox
Modelling & Simulation
AnyLogic, Monte Carlo (R), Python
Automation & Integration
RPA (Python/MQTT), Salesforce Platform, Mulesoft
Product & Project Ops
ClickUp, Agile Scrum frameworks, Budget & Scope tracking
Analytics & Process Mining
Python pandas, bespoke process-mining tool prototypes
Facilitation
Requirements workshops, test sessions, Toastmasters-honed public speaking
Recent Wins
Backlog Blitz
RPA bot cleared 13,000 FTTX orders in under 7 days, unblocking delivery teams.
Simulation-Led CapEx
Monte Carlo model convinced Level Products to green-light new machinery.
Process-Mining Pioneer
Built concept tool that seeded Jurumani's commercial process-mining offering.
Speaking & Community
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External Examiner, University of Pretoria Industrial & Systems Engineering
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Executive committee & mentor, Toastmasters Pretoria Advanced Club (Sergeant-at-Arms 2023/24)
Beyond the Keyboard
Trail-runner, cyclist and hiker who conquered the 2025 Ultra Trail Drakensberg 100 km in 24 h 26 m. When he's not on the move, Marnus is either tinkering with weekend DIY projects or perfecting a V60 pour-over from his latest single-origin beans. He also sharpens his public-speaking craft through Toastmasters and spends weekends exploring South Africa's wild spaces.