Canonical URL: https://giftcard.news/rewards-loyalty/runa-appoints-first-engineering-manager-in-sofia-bulgaria-0bcdc895dbd0/ --- description: A June 2023 company interview describes a new Bulgarian engineering presence and work planned around wallets, merchants and onboarding. title: Runa begins building a Sofia engineering team with Zlatko Atanasov image: https://giftcard.news/images/social/v1/runa-begins-building-sofia-engineering-team-zlatko-atanasov-6117c3308a348f8060d950a6ad212ba0.jpg --- 1. [Home](https://giftcard.news/) 2. [Rewards & Loyalty](https://giftcard.news/rewards-loyalty/) # Runa begins building a Sofia engineering team with Zlatko Atanasov A June 2023 company interview describes a new Bulgarian engineering presence and work planned around wallets, merchants and onboarding. By [Suzie Elis](https://giftcard.news/author/suzie-elis/) June 7, 2023 2 min read Share [ ](https://x.com/intent/post?url=https%3A%2F%2Fgiftcard.news%2Frewards-loyalty%2Fruna-appoints-first-engineering-manager-in-sofia-bulgaria-0bcdc895dbd0%2F%3Futm%5Fsource%3Dx%26utm%5Fmedium%3Dsocial&text=Runa%20begins%20building%20a%20Sofia%20engineering%20team%20with%20Zlatko%20Atanasov "X") [ ](https://www.linkedin.com/sharing/share-offsite/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fgiftcard.news%2Frewards-loyalty%2Fruna-appoints-first-engineering-manager-in-sofia-bulgaria-0bcdc895dbd0%2F%3Futm%5Fsource%3Dlinkedin%26utm%5Fmedium%3Dsocial "LinkedIn") [ ](https://wa.me/?text=Runa%20begins%20building%20a%20Sofia%20engineering%20team%20with%20Zlatko%20Atanasov%20https%3A%2F%2Fgiftcard.news%2Frewards-loyalty%2Fruna-appoints-first-engineering-manager-in-sofia-bulgaria-0bcdc895dbd0%2F%3Futm%5Fsource%3Dwhatsapp%26utm%5Fmedium%3Dsocial "WhatsApp") ![Portrait of Runa engineering manager Zlatko Atanasov](https://giftcard.news/images/variants/v1/runa-begins-building-sofia-engineering-team-zlatko-atanasov-portrait-manager-w600.webp) Company portrait accompanying the June 2023 interview. Photo: Runa [Runa](https://giftcard.news/company/runa/) began building an engineering team in Sofia after hiring [Zlatko Atanasov](https://giftcard.news/person/zlatko-atanasov/) as an engineering manager in March 2023\. In a company interview published on June 7, Atanasov described himself as the first member of the new Sofia team and said its initial group was nearing completion. [\[S01\]](#article-source-1) ## A second location for engineering work Atanasov described collaboration between engineers in London and Sofia through asynchronous communication, video calls and shared project tools. At the time of the interview, Runa was still establishing its Bulgarian entity. The account therefore describes an expansion in progress, rather than the completion of every legal or office arrangement. [\[S01\]](#article-source-1) For a gift card and payout infrastructure provider, team expansion is relevant because product delivery depends on the people operating the platform. A new location can widen recruitment, but its contribution cannot be measured from an appointment alone. Customers experience the result through the reliability and usability of the service. ## Work beyond a gift card catalogue The interview identifies a digital wallet, merchant experience and partner onboarding among the areas the engineering organisation expected to develop. It also describes an ambition to add another development team in Sofia. These were plans stated in June 2023, not subsequently verified headcount or completed product releases. [\[S01\]](#article-source-1) Scroll left or right to see all columns __Work beyond a gift card catalogue__ | Reported in June 2023 | What it establishes | | ---------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------- | | First Sofia engineering manager hired in March | A named starting point for the team | | Initial team nearing completion | Recruitment under way | | Bulgarian entity being established | Corporate setup still in progress | | Additional team envisioned | An expansion plan, not a completed hire count | ## How to assess an engineering expansion A company can open recruitment in a new market without immediately changing the service available to customers. The meaningful follow-up is how the additional capacity is used: which product work ships, how operational responsibilities are shared and how service quality is maintained. The interview provides a dated account of Runa’s early Sofia presence. It does not disclose an investment amount, a final team size or a delivery timetable. Those limits leave the central development intact: the business was extending its engineering organisation beyond London while developing its wider digital-value platform. ## Sources and documents ExpandCollapse * [\[S01\] Original company announcement](https://runa.io/blog/meet-the-team-zlatko-atanasov?utm%5Fsource=giftcard.news) — runa.io ## In this article ### Companies * [Runa](https://giftcard.news/company/runa/) ### People * [Zlatko Atanasov](https://giftcard.news/person/zlatko-atanasov/) Share [ ](https://x.com/intent/post?url=https%3A%2F%2Fgiftcard.news%2Frewards-loyalty%2Fruna-appoints-first-engineering-manager-in-sofia-bulgaria-0bcdc895dbd0%2F%3Futm%5Fsource%3Dx%26utm%5Fmedium%3Dsocial&text=Runa%20begins%20building%20a%20Sofia%20engineering%20team%20with%20Zlatko%20Atanasov "X") [ ](https://www.linkedin.com/sharing/share-offsite/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fgiftcard.news%2Frewards-loyalty%2Fruna-appoints-first-engineering-manager-in-sofia-bulgaria-0bcdc895dbd0%2F%3Futm%5Fsource%3Dlinkedin%26utm%5Fmedium%3Dsocial "LinkedIn") [ ](https://wa.me/?text=Runa%20begins%20building%20a%20Sofia%20engineering%20team%20with%20Zlatko%20Atanasov%20https%3A%2F%2Fgiftcard.news%2Frewards-loyalty%2Fruna-appoints-first-engineering-manager-in-sofia-bulgaria-0bcdc895dbd0%2F%3Futm%5Fsource%3Dwhatsapp%26utm%5Fmedium%3Dsocial "WhatsApp") ![Portrait of Suzie Elis](https://giftcard.news/images/variants/v1/suzie-elis-editorial-portrait-w320.webp) About the author ## [Suzie Elis](https://giftcard.news/author/suzie-elis/) Journalist — Gift Cards & Digital Gifting Suzie Elis covers gift card products, digital gifting and distribution for Gift Card News. From reading to building ## Your next move in gift cards. Tell us what you’re building. We’ll help you explore suitable providers. [Find a provider ](https://giftcard.news/find-a-provider/) ## Related articles [Rewards & Loyalty](https://giftcard.news/rewards-loyalty/) News ### [Giftbit’s Research Incentive Guide Puts Unclaimed Gift Cards and Privacy in Focus](https://giftcard.news/rewards-loyalty/giftbit-research-incentives-unclaimed-gift-cards-privacy/) [Maya Bennett](https://giftcard.news/author/maya-bennett/) September 17, 2026 2 min [Rewards & Loyalty](https://giftcard.news/rewards-loyalty/) News ### [Yoyo Reports Platō Loyalty Results a Year After Card-Linked Launch](https://giftcard.news/rewards-loyalty/yoyo-plato-card-linked-loyalty-first-year-results/) [Maya Bennett](https://giftcard.news/author/maya-bennett/) September 16, 2026 2 min [Rewards & Loyalty](https://giftcard.news/rewards-loyalty/) News ### [Prezzee sets out employee gift card options for work anniversaries](https://giftcard.news/rewards-loyalty/prezzee-employee-gift-card-options-work-anniversaries/) [Maya Bennett](https://giftcard.news/author/maya-bennett/) September 15, 2026 2 min ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://giftcard.news/#publisher","name":"Gift Card News","url":"https://giftcard.news/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://giftcard.news/brand/giftcard-news-logo.svg"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https://giftcard.news/author/suzie-elis/#person","name":"Suzie Elis","url":"https://giftcard.news/author/suzie-elis/","description":"Suzie Elis covers gift card products, digital gifting and distribution for Gift Card News.","jobTitle":"Journalist — Gift Cards & Digital Gifting","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://giftcard.news/images/suzie-elis-editorial-portrait.webp","contentUrl":"https://giftcard.news/images/suzie-elis-editorial-portrait.webp","width":256,"height":256,"caption":"Illustrated portrait representing the Suzie Elis editorial 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