Stefan ChristensenStefan Christensen — SVP Product & Engineering at Pleo. Fifteen years in European fintech: payment rails, platform scale, org design. Based in Copenhagen.https://stefanchristensen.me/Designing an Organization When Every Framework Says Something Differenthttps://stefanchristensen.me/posts/org-design-no-clean-answer/https://stefanchristensen.me/posts/org-design-no-clean-answer/Every org design framework is right, and they each point you somewhere different. What to do when the answers don't match.Sun, 03 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTThe Unglamorous Core of Paymentshttps://stefanchristensen.me/posts/unglamorous-core-of-payments/https://stefanchristensen.me/posts/unglamorous-core-of-payments/The smooth checkout is an illusion. The unglamorous infrastructure work behind it is where payments actually live.Sun, 26 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTThe Best Tech Is Not the Best Partnerhttps://stefanchristensen.me/posts/fintech-partnerships-infrastructure/https://stefanchristensen.me/posts/fintech-partnerships-infrastructure/Why partner selection in FinTech comes down to compliance posture and relationship depth, not which integration looks cleanest.Wed, 22 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTWhat I Listen Tohttps://stefanchristensen.me/posts/what-i-listen-to/https://stefanchristensen.me/posts/what-i-listen-to/From my father's vinyl to Sufjan Stevens on headphones. The thread is music that doesn't hedge.Sat, 21 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMTGoal Setting Doesn't Need Another Frameworkhttps://stefanchristensen.me/posts/goal-setting/https://stefanchristensen.me/posts/goal-setting/OKRs, SMART, BHAGs, V2MOMs. The framework isn't the point. A goal needs a clear achievement, a baseline, an owner, tangible work you can point to, and a cadence you keep.Sun, 01 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMTApproximate Correctly: What Physics Taught Me About Business Decisionshttps://stefanchristensen.me/posts/approximations-underrated-in-business/https://stefanchristensen.me/posts/approximations-underrated-in-business/A physicist's case for approximation as a deliberate tool, and why back-of-envelope thinking beats false precision in business decisions.Thu, 26 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMTWhat Setting a High Bar Requireshttps://stefanchristensen.me/posts/high-bar-without-burnout/https://stefanchristensen.me/posts/high-bar-without-burnout/The bar is a contract, not a demand. What it takes to hold high standards and actually help people meet them.Thu, 26 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMTHow We Kept the Payments Platform from Becoming a Bottleneckhttps://stefanchristensen.me/posts/payments-platform-not-a-bottleneck/https://stefanchristensen.me/posts/payments-platform-not-a-bottleneck/Every payments platform reaches the same crisis point: you become the team everything routes through. How we committed to APIs-only and held the line.Thu, 26 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMTThe Physicist's Path to FinTech Leadershiphttps://stefanchristensen.me/posts/physicist-path-to-fintech-leadership/https://stefanchristensen.me/posts/physicist-path-to-fintech-leadership/The connection between quantum physics and FinTech leadership isn't obvious. But the instincts transfer: systems thinking, order-of-magnitude reasoning, finding the right frame.Thu, 26 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMTSupport Meetings, Not Status Meetings: How Naming Changes Culturehttps://stefanchristensen.me/posts/support-meetings-over-status/https://stefanchristensen.me/posts/support-meetings-over-status/A 'status meeting' says your job is to account for yourself. A 'support meeting' says our job is to help you succeed. Same calendar slot, different culture.Thu, 12 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMTFrom Twelve Options to One Command: How We Transformed Platform Engineeringhttps://stefanchristensen.me/posts/platform-engineering-approach/https://stefanchristensen.me/posts/platform-engineering-approach/Our platform teams wrote thousands of lines of documentation. Engineers read almost none of it. Here's what we changed.Tue, 03 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMTWhy 'Do You Support Faster Payments?' Is the Wrong Questionhttps://stefanchristensen.me/posts/european-payment-rails/https://stefanchristensen.me/posts/european-payment-rails/We asked the bank if they supported Faster Payments. They said yes. Then we tested it at 9pm on a Saturday.Wed, 28 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMTYour Leadership Scorecard: What to Own When You Lead Beyond a Single Teamhttps://stefanchristensen.me/posts/leadership-scorecard-beyond-single-team/https://stefanchristensen.me/posts/leadership-scorecard-beyond-single-team/Five dimensions I track when I'm responsible for more than a single team. Not from a book — from doing the same thing in different areas and watching what moved.Thu, 22 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMTFive lessons I wish someone told me before about building in paymentshttps://stefanchristensen.me/posts/payment-systems-lessons/https://stefanchristensen.me/posts/payment-systems-lessons/Payment systems look simple until you hit production. The learning curve is expensive, and most of the lessons live in the gaps between what documentation says and what APIs do.Wed, 10 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMT