Melina Weide

Hi Melina, good to see you. You started in July 2020 at Checkmk as a Working Student in our Marketing Team and switched into a full time position after you finished your university studies in October 2021 as a Marketing Specialist. And today, you are team lead for our Brand & Field Marketing Team.

Tell us a bit about your story with us.

When I started my journey at Checkmk during my master’s studies, I never expected to still be working here more than five years later. I joined as a working student, assuming it would simply help pay the bills before moving on to new adventures. As it turns out, 5.5 years later, I’m still here—and not even close to considering leaving.

I was positively surprised by the level of autonomy I was given from the very start, as well as the responsibility and projects I took on after just a few months. Since then, my journey has evolved significantly. Almost every year, new and exciting challenges have come my way, keeping the work both engaging and rewarding. Growing from a working student into a team lead role has been a natural progression—driven by finding where I belong and where I can live my passion: leading and growing the greatest team.

What fascinates you most about your job at Checkmk, and what are your tasks?

As the Brand and Field Marketing Team Lead, I oversee all internal and external events as well as our design work, shaping and safeguarding the Checkmk brand. While I remain hands-on in day-to-day operations, my greatest motivation comes from leading my team—empowering individuals, fostering growth, and helping people develop in ways that align with both their strengths and ambitions.

Beyond the work itself, true job satisfaction comes from the environment you work in. What truly sets Checkmk apart for me is its culture and the people behind it. I have strong confidence in our leadership and the strategic direction we’re pursuing. Collaborating with talented, diverse colleagues across nearly all departments, as well as with trusted external partners, makes my role highly people-focused—and consistently meaningful.

How did you grow into the team lead and what support did you get from Checkmk?

From day one, I was given a great deal of trust in my abilities, which strongly motivated me to take on challenges and achieve major milestones. I felt respected and genuinely appreciated, even as a small piece of the puzzle, and was trusted with high-responsibility projects right from the start—very much a “learning by doing” experience with the best manager by my side.

You already organised quite a few of our famous Checkmk Conferences, Partner Days and other events. Isn't this actually a routine already?

What began in 2020 as marketing responsibilities for Checkmk Conference #7 in 2021 quickly evolved into overall project ownership for our #CMKConf8 the year after. While the format may seem familiar, each event brings new challenges—making it anything but routine, especially when unexpected challenges like the COVID pandemic arose, for example. Navigating shifting restrictions, hybrid formats, and virtual-first experiences made each event a new challenge and reinforced our focus on adaptability and continuous improvement.

Within the Field Marketing team, there’s a strong mindset of progress and experimentation. While we aim to build consistent brand recognition across all events, we're always looking for meaningful upgrades to the attendee experience—whether people are joining us in Munich or Atlanta, or participating online. That balance between consistency and innovation is what keeps each event fresh and challenging.

What does a work week look like for you?

In my team, but also in most other marketing teams, we work in two-week sprints which provide the structure for the week. Thanks to our flexible working model I either start at 7:30 AM or sometimes also at 10:00 AM with our so-called daily, which is a short meeting with the core team to exchange updates on current tasks in progress so that everybody is kept in the loop. But first, coffee. Afterward, everything can be managed, be it in the office – or working remotely. The good thing is, every week is different but pre-structured thanks to our Scrum system.

What tools do you work with in your team?

The marketing team uses tools depending on their skills like the creative colleagues using the Adobe programs or the performance team dealing with HubSpot, Google Analytics, etc. Everyone in total uses a few common tools though to collab:

• Slack to communicate in direct message and channels cross-teams, reducing emails
• Zoom for hybrid video meetings
• Jira for ticketing and Scrum planning
• Figma for brainstorming, and various visualizations that require teamwork

What makes Checkmk so special? 

While we are growing heavily, and new colleagues are joining every month, which makes it hard to keep track sometimes, the sense of belonging and togetherness does not suffer. Support is always around the corner, no matter what is needed. This allows the agility we have in our company due to constant prioritization of tasks. Besides, targets are set for the team and the company rather than for individuals, pushing collaboration and team spirit.