Giorgi Kotchlamazashvili
Verified Expert in Product Management
Product Manager
Tbilisi, Georgia
Toptal member since May 16, 2022
Giorgi is a dedicated, customer-driven product manager with 8+ years of hands-on experience. He has successfully led the development and launch of cutting-edge products, including digital web wallets, payment apps for iOS and Android, peer-to-peer lending platforms, credit solutions (POS lending, BNPL, instant cash loans), biometric identification systems, client verification automation, a strong customer authentication (SCA) engine, and other PSD2-compliant projects.
Project Highlights
Expertise
- Business Analysis
- Digital Product Development
- Financial Services
- Fintech
- Product Lifecycle Management (PLM)
- Product Management
- Product Ownership
- Technical Product Management
Work Experience
Product Manager
Space International
- Led teams working on BNPL/POS lending, Instant Cash Loans (ICL), and banking-as-a-service products in Georgia and Uzbekistan.
- Conducted in-depth analysis of existing loan funnels, identified areas of improvement, and tailored development strategy. Implemented funnel optimizations and tech refactoring, eventually translating into 800%-1,000% growth in daily conversion.
- Developed various process automation for credit products related to accounting, settlement, repayment, cancellation, etc. As a result, it minimized manual labor for the back office and waiting time for customers.
- Designed and implemented various custom processes in the core banking system to meet new regulatory and audit requirements and ensure business continuity.
- Worked on continuous technical optimizations of lending APIs that reduced response times and minimized errors.
- Created a new revenue stream by implementing custom methods for applying one-time penalties on overdue loans.
- Set up product performance monitoring using Elastic and Sentry, including proper alerting for immediate response. As a result, the time for discovering and fixing issues across the product was minimized.
- Implemented critical changes to the loan flow, enhancing effectiveness of fraud prevention measures without compromising the user experience and credit KPIs.
Product Manager II
EPAM Systems
- Worked as a product owner on the Estée Lauder account on the new product launch (NPL) platform, which is used by various business roles and represents a centralized tool to manage the complete product lifecycle for all companies under the Estée Lauder umbrella.
- Captured requirements for data interchange with an enterprise data lake and other integrated sources.
- Reviewed and approved user stories and development tasks to ensure alignment with existing requirements. Worked closely with stakeholders to define development priorities and manage delivery expectations.
- Managed communications with brands and third-party systems to ensure continuity of the development process. Initiated and conducted UAT and E2E integration testing sessions.
- Led the product discovery process for EPAM’s background check procedure and, as a result, structured, customized biometric identification solution.
- Performed analysis of existing onboarding processes to identify hiring risks. Defined a clear problem statement and addressed technological solutions to maximize the effectiveness of fraud prevention measures.
- Applied industry best practices and created manual procedures for handling edge cases. Designed user journey maps, UX prototypes, and automation flows and worked on the high-level technical architecture of system integration.
- Co-led the Georgian Product Management community at EPAM Georgia.
- Analyzed collective and individual challenges across the community. Created community strategy and OKRs for measuring professional progress. Planned and facilitated community meetings to share experiences and best product management practices.
- Participated in a research project on the product owner job market in Georgia. Participated in a research project of structuring global product manager user personas in EPAM.
Product Manager
Eisengard.AI
- Analyzed the company's development process to identify congestion, delays, and pain points. Based on these results, I created effective, targeted action plans, addressing existing problems to optimize the effectiveness of the engineering process.
- Implemented the best product management and agile practices.
- Worked on adopting and optimizing product ownership and QA processes.
- Aligned the concept of iterative software development to the company's operating model.
- Researched various user segments, identified their problems, needs, and expectations, and worked on addressing proper solutions.
- Created multi-purpose use cases regarding the needs of prospective partners.
- Created a long-term development roadmap for diverse user segments, both individuals and businesses.
- Crafted go-to-market (GTM) plans for new feature releases.
Head of Research and Development
JSC OPPA
- Delivered e-wallet mobile applications (Android and iOS) on the market, enabling clients to pay for over 800 services while simplifying managing finances through a set of various useful features and analytical tools.
- Delivered points transfer (cash-out) systems for tobacco manufacturers: Japan Tobacco International, Philip Morris, and Imperial Brands, driving revenue growth and enhancing merchandiser’s motivation and efficiency.
- Delivered an innovative solution, a remote biometric identification/verification system, which dramatically reduced the onboarding costs by at least 80% and, via automation, practically eliminated the waitlist.
- Delivered strong customer authentication and other PSD 2 regulation-related projects, ensuring our products adhere to new standards and regulations. Captured requirements for risk calculation and fraud prevention systems as per PSD 2 guidelines.
- Led the product ownership direction and BA activities, captured technical requirements and translated them into development tasks, created epics, user stories, and acceptance criteria, and prioritized product backlogs across various development streams.
- Created and presented an innovative, company-specific approach to the product development process alongside the detailed long-term product development plan, which convinced the board to increase the R&D budget and fund new projects.
- Led the complete process of project initiation and planning, crafted PRDs, and worked on business cases, commercial models and monetization strategies, financial evaluations, budget projections, risk assessment, resource allocation, exit strategies, etc.
- Conducted market research, competitor research, user research, and segmentation activities with internal effort and contributed as a stakeholder committee member for external research projects performed by highly authoritative research organizations.
- Managed communications and negotiations with internal and external stakeholders, partners, vendors, competitors, and regulatory authorities; led the service agreement revision and contracting processes.
- Contributed to assessing the company's strategic fit in the market. Assessed, monitored, and analyzed KPIs and OKRs across the company products to collect insights for continuous product adjustments.
Head of Product
FG Group
- Orchestrated ideation workshops to craft a holistic concept of the product, identify revenue generation models, and outline the scope of MVP/MMP.
- Led the entire product development process, delivering peer-to-peer lending platforms on the market. The product enabled clients to satisfy diverse financial needs swiftly, bypassing traditional bureaucratic processes and intermediary institutions.
- Managed the complete process of creating and implementing UI/UX design.
- Oversaw the entire process of creating UI/UX design systems, ensuring an intuitive and user-friendly interface.
- Conducted research projects to test and analyze platform usability and validate different customer journey models. Leveraged insights to improve and optimize the user experience.
- Directed market/user research initiatives, identifying and unlocking new global markets.
- Planned and executed multi-channel digital marketing activities, mainly focused on generating high-quality, dedicated traffic.
Lead Product Manager
SIEMI Group
- Led the entire process of creating and launching 20+ web products.
- Defined and implemented various content strategies; led the process of creating and distributing digital content across multiple communication channels.
- Guided an iterative process of creating, testing, implementing, and validating UI/UX design systems.
Project History
OPPA E-wallet Payments Applications for IOS and Android
Delivered E-wallet payment applications for Android and iOS on the market. In the product development process, which was full of challenges, we tried to maintain our main focus on simplicity, user-centricity, and diversity of payment needs.
Users were able to:
• Pay over 800 services, including mobile operators, gambling, utilities, financial services, and more
• Make instant payments using e-wallet balance and cards
• Complete payments efficiently by adding favorites and automated payments
• Attach cards and make payments easier using only CVC code
• Transfer money instantly to any bank using cards or OPPA balance 24/7
• Transfer money easily using only a mobile number
• Make an instant card-to-card payment using only card details
• Pay less using OPPA balance
• Access to users' detailed payments history at all times
• Explore visual charts to monitor users' income and outcome easily
OPPA Points Transfer System - B2B solution
Built the custom systems to exchange loyalty points for virtual wallet balances for tobacco manufacturer companies: Philip Morris, Japan Tobacco International, and Imperial Brands. As a result, we managed to increase our product revenue dramatically.
OPPA Biometric Identificatio Solution for e-wallet User Onboarding
Crafted biometric verification solution. As a result, dramatically reduced onboarding costs and time of being on the waitlist. Via automation, users were able to make payments immediately after registration.
We developed a less expensive solution for the customers to remotely fulfill the identification process, get the status instantly, and pay for services.
Necessary steps included:
1. 3D face scan and ID upload: In this step, we verify that the person behind the camera is real and matches the exact person whose photo is represented on the ID
2. Comparing data taken from MRZ (machine reading zone) to the existing data on the Georgian Data Exchange Agency (DEA)
3. Checking the ID in the terrorist database
4. KYC questionaries
Education
Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration
Ilia State University - Tbilisi, Georgia
Skills
Tools
Slack, Board Reporting, Figma, Financial Data, Atlassian, Atlassian Suite, Canvas, Jira, Confluence, Zoom
Paradigms
Agile Product Management, Agile Software Development, Agile, Requirements Analysis, Agile Project Management, B2C, B2B2C, Agile UX, Scrum, User Testing, Mobile App Design, Acceptance Testing, Business to Business to Consumer (B2B2C), Agile Workflow, Quantitative Research, Marketplace Platforms, Scalable Application
Industry Expertise
Financial Services, Digital Banking, Marketplaces, Consumer Products
Other
Management, Marketing, Project Management, ClickUp, Microsoft Teams, Project Planning, Portfolio Management, Strategic Planning, Strategic Planning & Execution, Strategic Partnerships, Product Management, IT Product Management, App Product Management, Web Product Management, SaaS Product Management, Lean Product Management, Mobile Product Management, Product Development, Lean Product Development, New Product Development, Digital Product Development, Customer-centered Product Development, Product Delivery, Agile Product Delivery, UX Strategy, IT Strategy, IT Management, Product Planning, Product Roadmaps, Marketing Strategy, Digital Marketing Strategy, UI Design, Web UI, UX Design, Web UX, B2B Product Management, New Products, Design, Software Design, Software Development, Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC), Software Development Management, Mobile UI, Mobile UX, Web UI Design, Web Design, Mobile UX Design, Mobile UI Design, Product Ownership, iOS, Web Development, Research, Contract Negotiation, Negotiation, Price Negotiations, Agile Sprints, Business Requirements, Customer Research, Customer Insights, User Feedback, User Flows, Process Flows, System Requirements, User Requirements, User Workflows, Workflow, Product Owner, Scrum Product Owner, Backlog Management, Stakeholder Management, Backlog Grooming, Delivery, Technical Requirements, Product Requirements Documentation (PRD), Project Delivery, Product Design, User Experience (UX), User Interface (UI), Technical Business Analysis, UX Workshops, Project Discovery, Lean Product Manager, Digital Product Management, Product Lifecycle Management (PLM), Technical Product Management, Product Information Management (PIM), Payment Product Manager, Global Product Management, Agile Delivery, Web App UX, Web App UI, Business to Business (B2B), Business Models, Online Business, Data-driven Decision-making, iOS App Design, Android App Design, IT Consulting, CRM Design, Market Research, Marketing Research & Analysis, Feature Analysis, Feature Roadmaps, Feature Planning, Feature Prioritization, Feature Backlog Prioritization, Feature-driven Development (FDD), B2B, Business to Consumer (B2C), B2C Marketing, B2B Partnerships, B2B Sales Pipeline, B2B Lead Generation, Sprints, Sprint Planning, Sprint Retrospectives, Design Sprints, Mockups, Front-end, Front-end Design, Front-end Development, Back-end, Back-end Development, Back-end Architecture, Product Growth, Growth, Sales Growth, Leadership, Project Leadership, UX Leadership, Team Leadership, Design Leadership, Agile Leadership, Product Leadership, Change Leadership, Cross-functional Team Leadership, Remote Team Leadership, Leadership Strategy, Transformational Leadership, Agile Deployment, Agile Program Management, User-centered Design (UCD), User-centered Development (UCD), Consumer-facing Product Design, Consumer-focused Web Development, Consumer Loans, Consumer Lending, Consumer Services, Consumer Insights, Consumer Behavior, Customer Support, Customer Success, Customer Analysis, Customer Analytics, Customer Development, Customer Journeys, Know Your Customer (KYC), Customer Service, Customer Discovery, Customer Engagement, Customer Experience, Customer Interviews, Customer Acquisition, Customer Segmentation, Customer Satisfaction, Voice of the Customer (VoC), Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC), Customer Experience Management, Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Project Budget Management, Annual Budgets, Budget Modeling, Budget Management, Budgeting, Consulting, Value Analysis, Finance, Human Resource Management Systems (HRMS), Human Resources (HR), Payroll & Benefits, Documentation, User Stories, Product Strategy, Product Strategy Consultant, Wireframing, Web & Mobile Applications, Project Timelines, Communication, Estimations, Presentations, Strategy, Go-to-market Strategy, Mobile Applications, Product-market Fit, User Validation, Requirements, Cost Estimation, Financial Modeling, Estimation & Planning, Market Research & Analysis, Minimum Viable Product (MVP), MVP Design, Startups, Monetization Models, Growth Strategy, Business Strategy, Mobile Payments, Fraud Prevention, Dashboard Design, Ideation, Data Visualization, Product Launch, Design Requirements, Workflow Diagrams, Competition Research, Competitor Analysis & Profiling, Data Analysis, Data Analytics, Mobile Apps, A/B Testing, Functional Requirements, User Acceptance Testing (UAT), Roadmaps, Project Consultancy, Checkout, eCommerce, User Research, Ideation Workshops, Project Scoping, Revenue Strategy, Business Plan Consulting, Sales, Market Entry, Expansion Strategy, Vendor Selection, Onboarding, User Onboarding, Conversion, Technical Writing, Go-to-market Optimization, Product Positioning, Pricing Models, Product Marketing, Digital Payments, Loyalty Programs, Payment Processing, Card Payments, Online Payments, SaaS, Management Consulting, ROI, User Personas, Product Discovery, Product Analytics, Regulations, Financials, Fintech, Finance Product Manager, Process Improvement, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), Data Reporting, Business Analysis, User Interviews, Fintech Consultant, Qualitative Research, Quantitative User Research, Quantitative Analysis, Social Marketplaces, Community Development, Community Growth, Community, Healthcare IT, Growth Hacking, Conceptualization, Process Mapping, Process Design, Use Case Analysis, Use Case Diagram, Machine Learning, Statistical Data Analysis, Experimental Design, Data-informed Decisions, Hypothesis Testing, Direct/Indirect Sales & Distribution, Pricing, Pricing Strategy, Payment APIs, Digital Marketing, Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL), P2P, Web Applications, Chief Product Officer (CPO), Enterprise Analytics, Interim CPO, Product Consultant, API Integration, Platforms, Coaching, SQL, Discovery Workshops, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Social Media Apps, Data Science, React, Python, Community Management, Business Intelligence (BI), Data Product Manager, Data, Peer-to-peer Lending, Content Writing, SEO Marketing, Search Engine Marketing (SEM), Search Engine Optimization (SEO), User Experience Design, Web UX Design, Miro, Microsoft 365, Artificial Intelligence (AI)
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