About
Spyros Zafeiropoulos
Engineering executive, coach and advisor. Founder of STEPS.
I'm an engineer by training and a leader by trade. For 12+ years I've worked in autonomous driving and robotics, most of it leading teams: building engineering organizations and taking technology from research to shipped product.
01 — From systems to people
From systems to people
My career began in control systems and autonomous vehicle research, then moved into productizing perception systems for some of the world's largest automakers. That gave me both sides of the same coin: how algorithms are invented, and what it takes to make them work reliably in production vehicles.
From there I led engineering at every scale, technically and organizationally: global algorithm groups, simulation teams, and a fast-growing autonomy startup.
Along the way I learned that the most complex system isn't the code or the hardware. It's the people building it. I've mentored engineers and leaders through official programs since 2018, and in 2020 I started STEPS to coach engineering professionals and startups independently. Today STEPS is how I do that work: coaching, fractional leadership and advisory.
02 — Why it matters
Academic research, industrial R&D and product
Taking hard technology from idea to product often takes all three: research to know what's possible, industrial R&D to make it robust, and product discipline to ship it. I've worked in each of them, which lets me help founders, teams and boards connect the three.
Academic research
Control systems and autonomous driving at Georgia Tech and MERL. Peer-reviewed papers and US patents.
Industrial R&D
ADAS architectures, sensor fusion and simulation at Delphi/Aptiv, Cruise and Allegion.
Product
Production ADAS features at Aptiv in millions of vehicles, and a robotics product taken from prototype to scaled fleet at AeroVect.
03 — Where I've led
Where I've led
AeroVect
VP of Engineering
Led an engineering organization of 65+ people and the autonomy stack's move to large models, simulation at scale and data-driven development; earlier, technical advisor to the founding team.
Allegion
Principal Engineer, Algorithms
Pioneered new perception and simulation methods, including the company's first in-house sensor-fusion stack.
Cruise
Senior Engineering Manager, Simulation
Led the strategy for measuring the gap between simulation and reality; co-inventor on a published patent application on simulation fidelity.
Aptiv (formerly Delphi)
Global Chief Engineer, Algorithms & Software
Led a global ADAS algorithms group of 250+ engineers across seven sites; earlier, algorithm architect and project manager for ADAS in production vehicles.
04 — How I work
The STEPS way
STEPS rests on a simple belief: meaningful change happens one deliberate step at a time, and every step should be measurable. It's the discipline I used to scale autonomy teams, applied to people and organizations.
01
Uniqueness
We start from your context (strengths, constraints, ambitions), not a template.
02
Start & End
We agree where you are, where you're going, and the few signals that show the difference.
03
Path
The few decisions and habits that matter most, sequenced into steps you can measure.
Measuring people and teams is hard, and I won't pretend otherwise. We pick a handful of honest indicators and track them, rather than build a dashboard nobody trusts.
05 — Leadership & mentoring
Coaching, learned and practiced
Global Leadership Program
A year-long, exclusive executive leadership program at Aptiv, working with executive coaches.
Official mentor since 2018
Mentor in the mentorship programs at Aptiv, Cruise and Allegion.
Culture setter · AeroVect
Shaped the engineering culture as the team grew from 12 to 65+: how we give feedback, measure performance and make decisions.
Cultural champion · Aptiv
Member of Aptiv's global cultural transformation team.
MS Aerospace Engineering, Georgia Tech · Diploma in Mechanical Engineering, National Technical University of Athens · Core MBA coursework, Kelley School of Business · US patents in vehicle control and autonomous driving · Peer-reviewed papers at IEEE conferences
06 — Outside work
Greek by origin, international by career. I recharge through cycling, basketball, tennis, photography and reading.
«Σὺν Ἀθηνᾷ καὶ χεῖρα κίνει.»
Along with Athena, move your hand too.
Want to talk?
The first conversation is 30 minutes and free.