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Experience and Education

Key Achievements

  • HER: Phase 1 of the Product<>Engineering process refresh had strong positive results:

    • Each of the 18 initiatives introduced had a positive impact on what team members worked on, how they worked or what they delivered. These included: changes to sprint meetings; refreshing the Definitions of Ready and Done; recontracting
      how Product Management and Product Design worked on different tasks within the Discovery and Delivery processes; recontracting the professional relationship between the Product Manager and Product Designer; shifting the company
      mindset to “MVP first”, and many others.

    • Overall satisfaction levels across the 11 process and ways of working areas rose to 3.0/4.0, from the baseline of 2.5/4.0

    • In the 4 process and ways of working areas prioritised for Phase 1, average satisfaction rose to 3.2/4.0, from the baseline
      of 2.25/4.0.

  • HER: Greatly increased the amount of experiments we were able to ideate, scope and run, without growing Product team headcount. In Q4, we ran 4 experiments. By the end of Q1, we will have run at least 11 experiments - with commensurate increase in learnings

  • Wayhome: Building the Customer Acquisition Journey on platform resulted in 5x average weekly total customer sign ups and 7x average weekly suitable customers signups comparing March 2021 to June 2022; 442% increase in the amount of customers moving from initial sign up to submitting credit (a key intent indicator) in 1 week, comparing October 2021 to July 2022

  • Wayhome: Increased diversity across product/engineering. After revamping the recruitment process I more than doubled the number of women in the team over 12 months, which is now comprised of 36% women (originally 25%)

  • CEC: Launched Compass+, a revolutionary system creating an unparalleled data set that enables Careers Leaders to deliver against the 2017 Government Careers Strategy; gained 20% of total addressable market in 10 months

  • Bulb: Delivered Bulb's Android App in 2018; achieved over 20,000 installs in the first week and a 4* rating

Work

2022 - 2023

Head of Product

London

  • Lead the Product department, comprised of Product Management, Design, Data and Trust&Safety

  • Prioritised product operations work to address deep existing issues in the Product team, and between Product<>Engineering
    teams, that were harming our ability to deliver on business goals and work as a functional team

  • Part of Leadership Team along with CEO and 3 other function heads; responsible for cross-company decision making, process

  • Consciously developed a culture of rapid experimentation, being supported to take risks, fast failure and test-learn-iterate

  • Introduced Discovery process to give Product Management and Product Design space for idea exploration and validation prior to Delivery

2020 - 2022

Senior Product Manager (2020)

Head of Product (2021-2022)

London

  • Led an 8-person team comprised of product and design. 3-5 direct reportees.
    hired 4 of the 5 product managers

  • Part of Senior Management Team along with 5 other function heads; responsible for cross-company decision making, process
    implementation and risk management, as well as ensuring that the Product team is appropriately represented

  • Designed and implemented a cross-company planning process that has resulted in every department head creating a quarterly
    roadmap and set of OKRs (and updating on a monthly basis).
    Accountable for Company OKR focused on ensuring the entire business is operating in a lean manner, ready for post Series A scaling objectives.

  • Built a sustainably high-performing team through ongoing investment in coaching, growth planning and upskilling. Hired and developed 1 Product Manager into a high-performing Senior Product Manager within 6 months

  • Built the Customer Acquisition journey fully on platform, including automating many previously manual staff tasks, and
    implementing Intercom as our Help Centre and customer engagement tool

  • Consciously developed a culture of rapid experimentation, being supported to take risks, fast failure and test-learn-iterate.

2019 - 2020

Senior Product Manager

Interim Head of Product (Feb-May 2020)

London

  • Delivered Compass+, a revolutionary system creating an unparalleled dataset about careers education across England

  • Overhauled team structure and product delivery process, to give team members more autonomy and responsibility, and free up management’s time to focus on team and product strategy

  • Began a digital transformation that greatly improved digital understanding, enthusiasm, and support throughout the company

  • Line managed 5 people across Product and Customer Service

2018 - 2019

Senior Product Manager

London

  • Responsible for improving chargeable case numbers, long-term usage, and overall customer satisfaction with SAAS mobile and desktop products

  • Introduced user feedback channels and a culture of user research, which identified unmet user needs and helped shape strategy

  • Identified 3 major issues which were barriers to existing users creating new chargeable cases, engaging with platform functionality, and implemented product changes to address

2017 - 2018

Product Manager

London

  • Delivered MVPs and enhanced existing products to support Bulb’s growth from under 100,000 customers to 700,000, in under 1 year

  • As Bulb’s first Product hire, set up product department and defined the product development process, including developing a product handbook to standardize quality and increase transparency with the rest of company

  • Delivered the Bulb Android app in January 2018, achieved over 20,000 installs in the first week and an initial 4* rating

2014 - 2017

Analyst (2014-2015)

Consultant (2015-2017)

London

  • Worked on a variety of roles and clients, focusing on Agile product delivery

  • As a consultant I was part of the Product Management and Design practice in Digital Delivery

  • Relevant experience:

    • British Retailer: Product Manager

    • Accenture Innovation Programme: Product Manager

    • Global consumer goods retailer: Agile Delivery and User-Centric Design SME

    • British Media and Broadcasting Company: Agile Delivery SME

Education

2010-2013

University of Cambridge

BA Hons - 2:1

Cambridge, UK

Read History at Homerton College, University of Cambridge

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Areas of focus: Roman and Medieval

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Dissertation: Representations of Queens in

Twelfth-century Chronicles

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Long Essay: Did the Romans have maps?

Certifications

Professional Scrum Product Owner certification (PSPO I) – scrum.org

SAFe Agilist certification (SA) – Scaled Agile

Professional Scrum Master certification (PSM I) - scrum.org

Product Tank

2019 - 2021

Product Tank Co-organiser

Mind the Product: Product Tank London

Some of the events I organised:

Work
Education
Certifications
Product Tank
Key Achievements

© 2023 design by Maya Nelson

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