A new career abroad: The realities of relocation with Vinted

The idea of leaving everything you know behind and starting fresh in a totally new country can be a daunting one.

Leandro Quibem Magnabosco recently took the leap – upping sticks from Amsterdam to Vilnius to take on an exciting career challenge as our Group Security Lead at Vinted.

From finding your feet in a new workplace to settling into everyday life in a new culture, moving abroad for work can come with its fair share of challenges. That’s why we have a dedicated relocation programme to make the transition as smooth as possible for people joining us from overseas.

Who better to share their experience of relocating to Lithuania than someone who’s just done it? We caught up with Leandro to find out more about his recent move to Vilnius, our capital. From taking on new strategic challenges in a different culture, to navigating an unknown city and language barriers, we found out what it’s really like to start a new chapter with Vinted.

Deciding to make the leap

So, why Lithuania? For Leandro, the decision to move to Vilnius came down to three things:

• A rare working culture: Leandro was drawn to our down-to-earth approach to work, and our mission to make a tangible impact on the world. It was a culture he could see himself being part of.
• A strategic challenge: Group security is the solid foundation that enables our growth. Taking on this role was an irresistible opportunity for Leandro to tackle a complex challenge and do what he loves on a massive scale.
• An unexpected city: Although Vilnius wasn’t initially on Leandro’s relocation radar, the more he discovered about Lithuania’s capital, the thriving tech scene in particular, the more he was drawn to it.

The biggest surprises of relocating to Vinted

Having led security for some of the world’s biggest retail platforms before Vinted, Leandro thought he knew what massive scale looked like. When he arrived, he was surprised to discover the hidden complexity under the hood of our operations.

Many people think of us as a marketplace used by millions of users, but we’re also a payments company and a logistics company. For Leandro, securing that intersection of services is a fascinating challenge that requires a very close, intimate understanding of the business.

Leandro was also pleased to discover that the workplace culture that first attracted him to Vinted is more than just words; it's reflected in the way we work every day.

"Beyond the architecture, what really stands out is the engineering DNA. There is a deep pragmatism and a true mentality of excellence here."

Our engineers are empowered to make the right architectural decisions, even if it takes more work or a longer route. Seeing that commitment firsthand during his initial 30 days here has given him a massive appreciation for what it takes to build and secure a platform at this level.

Setting the security vision as a new leader

As a new leader, Leandro’s priority was shaping a security vision that aligned with Vinted’s Sustainable Speed approach. Moving too fast on the engineering side can often leave organisations open to increased security risks. Our slower, more measured approach is designed to avoid creating technical debt and security bugs, which inevitably slow you down in the long run.

To foster our culture of ownership and co-creation, group security is embedded into our operations from the beginning, rather than acting as a gatekeeper right before a release.

The way Leandro sees it, his team co-creates the guardrails and paved roads that make the secure way the easiest way. That mutual respect is exactly how we balance high developer velocity with the uncompromising safety of our platform.

How the LATAM experience helped Leandro navigate the security landscape at Vinted

Brazil, where Leandro is originally from, is known for having a high-pressure, sophisticated fintech and anti-fraud ecosystem. Leandro found his cultural background and expertise to be a perfect match with the security landscape at Vinted:

"The Brazilian fintech and retail landscape is an absolute crucible for security leaders. What you are up against isn't a lone hacker in a basement; you are fighting highly organised, well-funded operations that treat fraud as a highly scalable service. Surviving in that environment completely rewires your mental model. It teaches you that static, reactive security is a losing battle. You have to operate in real-time, analysing the entire behavioural chain of an actor rather than just building a wall around a login page."

When you combine that level of organisation with hyper-adopted instant payment ecosystems (like Pix), the lifecycle of a threat, from the initial social engineering hook to a cashed-out account, happens in seconds.

As a massive customer-to-customer marketplace integrated with a payments and logistics engine, Vinted enables millions of users to constantly interact. Leandro’s background helps him anticipate how organised actors attempt to weaponise human trust through social engineering. This allows his team to build real-time, behavioural defences that protect our community from highly motivated threats, without adding friction to the seamless experience our genuine users expect.

Relocation reality check: The first month in Vilnius

Coming from the other side of the world, Leandro admittedly didn’t know much about Lithuania until recently:

"My very first surprise was realising just how incredibly advanced this country is. It’s a highly developed, true first-world nation on par with anything you’ll find in Western Europe, complete with a booming tech ecosystem."

Braced for a major transition, Leandro found the relocation experience much easier than expected. He enjoys the walkability of our capital and feels safe enough to stroll anywhere at any hour without a second thought. He has also been making the most of the country’s natural landscape, from pristine lakes to dense, wild forests. Being able to step outside and be so close to nature has been a massive bonus to his overall quality of life.

A cultural match made in heaven

The best, most unexpected part of Leandro’s move has been the social dynamic. On paper, a Brazilian moving to the Baltics sounds like a massive culture shock, but it actually works perfectly. Lithuanians are inherently reserved; they rarely make the first move. Brazilians, on the other hand, are actively social and naturally equipped to initiate contact. Because he is happy to take that first step and start the conversation, the supposed cultural barrier simply disappears.