Daniel James, Product Manager in San Francisco, CA, United States
Daniel is available for hire
Hire Daniel

Daniel James

Verified Expert  in Product Management

Product Manager

Location
San Francisco, CA, United States
Toptal Member Since
January 13, 2020

Daniel has nearly a decade of experience in strategy, operations, product, and technology. He focuses on consumer, eCommerce, fintech, InsurTech, and payments and has significant experience in B2B and SaaS. He has worked every phase of the product development lifecycle, launched new concepts as an entrepreneur, shipped features to millions in Silicon Valley, and led new product development for Fortune 100 companies. Daniel is an engaging and empowering leader.

Project Highlights

Enterprise-wide Pricing Platform for Fortune 100 Insurer
Launched an automated pricing platform, rolling out to an entire division of over 100 underwriters.
Automated Saving App for Mobile Banking
Led conception, discovery, and execution of a mobile-first automated saving app for a Fortune 100 financial services firm.
New Product Launch
Designed, built, and launched a new product to provide transparency in the funeral planning industry.

Expertise

Work Experience

Product Manager

2022 - 2022
Apto Payments
  • Worked with senior executives to define the product strategy for the API payments platform.
  • Led an agile team of engineers to oversee the developer portal, documentation, and experience related to API library.
  • Managed the development and rollout of the new security protocols and defined requirements for Auth/access for users.
  • Spearheaded the design sprint to identify new opportunities and bring renewed focus to the team, enabling the development of a strategic roadmap and identification of new features.

Founder and CPO

2019 - 2022
Canopy Life Inc.
  • Founded a fintech startup that enabled collaborative transaction monitoring and shared spending controls for patients with cognitive decline.
  • Managed a team of five across functions and led all aspects of fundraising, product development, and operations.
  • Led the discovery and oversaw the UX design and implementation with the CTO of native and responsive web apps.
  • Conducted A/B tests to drive sign-ups and test features.
  • Derived the product strategy, wrote product requirements documents (PRDs), and managed the backlog to prioritize product development.

Insurance Product Manager/BA—UX and Data Expert

2020 - 2020
AXA - Platform, Capabilities & Automation
  • Worked with C-level execs to outline strategy related to the development of AI implementation to drive improved risk-pricing and data analytics.
  • Managed multiple streams through the organization to deliver improved insight, business processes, and analytics, using the Agile method to improve efficiency.
  • Articulated the product strategy to guide the delivery and execution of key initiatives, collaborating with senior leaders and team members.
  • Led customer discovery relating to core business processes to deliver a prioritized roadmap of features for development.

Entrepreneur in Residence

2018 - 2018
Grand Central Tech
  • Explored opportunities related to InsurYech and fintech.
  • Researched various markets and technologies related to financial services and insurance.
  • Interviewed SMEs to deepen the understanding of the market landscape.
  • Conducted market landscaping and analyzed competitors, products, and macro trends.
  • Analyzed the market needs to determine the new product opportunity and market entry strategy.

Founder and CEO

2017 - 2018
FuneralPlan
  • Founded a funeral planning search and discovery platform to provide price transparency.
  • Conducted market research, user interviews, and prototypes to inform the product roadmap.
  • Built the team and managed the backlog during the build and every phase of development and rollout.
  • Launched the product and conducted marketing testing using A/B testing to determine the product roadmap.
  • Decided to discontinue due to poor unit economics.

Director, Product Management

2016 - 2017
CapitalOne
  • Led the new product development in the NY labs, overseeing the exploration and application of new technology related to consumer finance.
  • Implemented Lean and Agile to improve the production process and focus.
  • Conducted market research to develop a strategy, vision, and roadmap related to delivering a new automated savings app.
  • Utilized design sprints and design thinking to understand consumer needs and enable rapid iteration of the prototype.
  • Managed and mentored a team of junior product managers implementing a performance measurement approach to enable improved career development.
  • Devised and delivered product management training for new hires, outlining product management techniques, including Agile, Lean, and HCD, to enable rapid onboarding and training of new hires.

Product Manager—Consultant

2015 - 2015
Fortune 100 Insurer
  • Brought in to build and coach a new Agile pod with cross-functional capabilities to execute against KPIs.
  • Coached the product owner about best-practice related to the product, opportunity identification, backlog prioritization, and scope.
  • Derived the roadmap, vision, and strategy to socialize with senior leadership and the organization.
  • Worked with C-level executives to identify market opportunities and transform the organization to align with the product-thinking approach.
  • Implemented best practices related to consumer insight and user testing to improve the customer focus of the design and engineering teams.

Product Manager—Consultant

2014 - 2015
Fortune 100 Insurer
  • Led the new product initiative to deliver an automated pricing platform to improve the underwriting experience.
  • Conducted interviews with stakeholders to understand the work process flows and document requirements.
  • Worked with the UX team to wireframe and conduct user tests of prototypes before the build-out.
  • Built the backlog of prioritized features and managed the cross-functional teams to deliver version 1.0 of the pricing tool.
  • Socialized the effort with C-level executives to achieve buy-in and ensure continued support for the project.

Founder and CEO

2013 - 2014
RevMax
  • Founded a company focused on revenue optimization for SMBs in the hospitality space, namely hotels.
  • Built the founding team and identified the market opportunity based on SME interviews and outreach.
  • Conducted market research and competitor analysis to determine the go-to-market strategy.
  • Developed the customers for the initial proof of concept, negotiated contracts, and partnership agreements.
  • Gathered requirements from partners and built a roadmap for the feature roadmap.

Product Manager

2012 - 2013
Zynga
  • Shipped seven new product features for the flagship FarmVille franchise with around two million daily active users (DAU).
  • Conceived and executed a puzzle-based game to drive engagement and retain users. The social aspect sourced around 10% of DAU and generated around$100,000 in revenue through the product lifecycle.
  • Created and released a themed feature set, with staged release to reduce complexity and risk, resulting in around a 5% increase in user engagement and a 17 bps lift in retention.
  • Identified and targeted less engaged user segments with a revenue-focused "promotional" feature, using multi-variate testing to optimize discount and duration, resulting in around 3% of daily incremental revenue lift.
  • Gathered requirements and worked with cross-functional teams to deliver the product.

Consultant

2010 - 2012
Boston Consulting Group
  • Oversaw the product development and project managed the initial rollout of a complex, multimillion-dollar trading platform, building roadmaps for a leading global hedge fund to save $100 million in three years.
  • Spearheaded the tech implementation and winner of the 12th Annual "Polaris Award" for outstanding client impact when implementing improved operations for a global hedge fund leading to $1 billion NPV in savings.
  • Developed the growth strategy and identified a go-to-market strategy for a $10 billion consumer goods company, recommending an organic growth strategy yielding $200 million in potential incremental revenues.

Enterprise-wide Pricing Platform for Fortune 100 Insurer

Launched an automated pricing platform, rolling out to an entire division of over 100 underwriters.

Led the product development process, from discovery to execution and rollout. Conducted user interviews to map the work process flow and gather user requirements. Led user testing to refine prototypes and data visualization before division-wide release.

Automated Saving App for Mobile Banking

Led conception, discovery, and execution of a mobile-first automated saving app for a Fortune 100 financial services firm.

Owned the strategy, roadmap, and vision for the new product development focused on solving America's under-saving problem, leading customer research and product development for alpha rollout. I managed a team of four during the development

New Product Launch

Designed, built, and launched a new product to provide transparency in the funeral planning industry.

Conducted market research, user interviews, and built a team to deliver the product to the market. Gathered pricing data and used existing APIs to create a comprehensive database of existing businesses to enable consumers to plan while providing transparency.
2008 - 2010

Master's Degree in Business Administration

Kellogg School of Management - Illinois, USA

1998 - 2001

Bachelor's Degree in Economics

University of Bristol - Bristol, England

Collaboration That Works

How to Work with Toptal

Toptal matches you directly with global industry experts from our network in hours—not weeks or months.

1

Share your needs

Discuss your requirements and refine your scope in a call with a Toptal domain expert.
2

Choose your talent

Get a short list of expertly matched talent within 24 hours to review, interview, and choose from.
3

Start your risk-free talent trial

Work with your chosen talent on a trial basis for up to two weeks. Pay only if you decide to hire them.

Top talent is in high demand.

Start hiring