Giorgi Kotchlamazashvili
Verified Expert in Product Management
Product Manager
Tbilisi, Georgia
Toptal member since May 16, 2022
Giorgi is a humble, customer-centric product manager with 7+ years of thorough experience. He's been leading numerous successful projects over the past years, such as e-wallet and payments applications for iOS and Android, biometric identification and verification, strong customer authentication (SCA) and other PSD2 regulation-based projects, peer-to-peer lending platforms, CRM, HRM, HMS, ERP, and more. Giorgi tirelessly strives to deliver the best possible value for customers around the globe.
Project Highlights
Expertise
Work Experience
Product Manager
Space International
- Led the tribe of BNPL/POS lending products in Georgia and Uzbekistan, as well as instant cash loan (ICL) and banking-as-a-service teams in Uzbekistan.
- Created automation for loan processes such as accounting, settlement, repayment, cancelation, etc. As a result, it minimized manual labor for the back office and customer waiting time.
- Worked on various customizations of the core banking system according to new regulatory and audit requirements to ensure business continuity.
- Conducted detailed research and analysis of various loan funnels, captured areas of improvement, and tailored new strategies, which eventually translated into 800%-1000% growth in daily conversion.
- Worked on technical optimizations of lending APIs and, as a result, minimized errors.
Product Manager II
EPAM Systems
- Worked as a product manager on an Estée Lauder project on the NPL platform.
- Managed communications with brands and third-party systems to ensure the continuity of the development process. Worked closely with key stakeholders to define priorities and manage expectations.
- Captured requirements of data interchange with an enterprise data lake and other integrated sources. Approved user stories and development tasks. Initiated and conducted UAT and E2E integration testing sessions.
- Led the product discovery for the EPAM background check process and structured biometric identification/verification solution.
- Performed an analysis of onboarding processes and identified hiring risks related to identity fraud. Based on insights, crafted clear problem statements and made technology-driven solutions to maximize the effectiveness of fraud prevention measures.
- Implemented industry best practices in automated identity verification flow and created manual procedures for handling edge cases.
- Created user journey map, UX prototypes, automation flows, and high-level technical architecture of integration in the scope of biometric identity verification.
- Led the Georgian Product Management community in EPAM and conducted valuable research to analyze collective and individual problems across the community.
- Created community strategy and OKRs and conducted meetings to share experiences and best product practices.
- Conducted qualitative and quantitative research of product manager user personas globally in EPAM and research of the product owner job market in Georgia, delivering valuable insights to stakeholders.
Product Manager
Eisengard.AI
- Analyzed the company's development process and identified congestion, delays, and pain points. Based on these insights, created effective, targeted action plans, addressing existing problems to optimize the effectiveness of the engineering process.
- Led the Agile transformation process and worked on adopting and optimizing product ownership and QA processes.
- Aligned the concept of iterative software development to the company's operating model and implemented best product management practices.
- Researched various user segments and identified their problems, needs, and expectations. Addressed proper solutions and created multi-purpose use cases regarding the needs of prospective partners.
- Created long-term development roadmap for diverse user segments, both individuals and businesses.
- Assessed GTM (go-to-market) plans for new feature releases.
Head of Research and Development
JSC OPPA
- Delivered mobile e-wallet applications on Android and iOS on the market, enabling clients to pay for more than 800 services and simplifying managing finances with various features.
- Delivered points transfer systems for tobacco manufacturers: Japan Tobacco International, Philip Morris, Imperial Brands. As a result, increased the companies' revenue and also enhanced the motivation and effectiveness of tobacco merchandisers.
- Delivered Strong Customer Authentication and other PSD2 regulation-related projects, which made our products compliant with new AML standards and national bank regulatory frames.
- Delivered an innovative solution, namely a remote biometric identification/verification process, which dramatically reduced the onboarding costs by 80% and, via automation, practically made the waitlist unnecessary.
- 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 to finance new projects.
- Captured business and technical requirements for complex risk calculation and fraud prevention systems.
- Led the PO direction and BA activities, captured requirements and translated them into well-defined development tasks, and created epics, user stories, and acceptance criteria. Prioritized product backlogs and planned product and feature releases.
- Led the process of project initiation and planning, created PRDs, business cases, commercial models and monetization strategies, financial evaluations, budget projections, risk assessments, resource matrices, exit strategies, scopes, MVPs, etc.
- Conducted market research, competitor research, user research, and segmentation activities with internal effort. Contributed as a stakeholder committee member for external research projects by highly-authoritative research organizations.
- Managed communications and negotiations with internal/external stakeholders, partners, vendors, competitors, and regulatory authorities and led the contracting processes.
Head of Product
FG Group
- Led the complete product development process and delivered peer-to-peer lending platforms on the market, enabling clients to rapidly satisfy various financial needs without bureaucracy and intermediary institutions.
- Conducted ideation workshops, created the holistic concept of product, revenue generation model, and structured MVP/MMP.
- Successfully managed the complete process of creating and implementing UI/UX design.
- Conducted research projects to test and analyze platform usability and validate customer journey maps. Based on this information, modified and optimized user experience.
- Led market and user research projects and, as a result, discovered new markets around the globe.
- Planned and managed multi-channel digital marketing activities, focused on generating high-quality, dedicated traffic.
Lead Product Manager
SIEMI
- Led the complete process of creating, launching, and maintaining 20+ web products.
- Defined and implemented various content strategies and managed to create and distribute digital content.
- Led the multi-stage process of creating, implementing, and validating UI/UX designs for web products.
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
Jira, Asana, Trello, Zoom, Skype, Slack, Board Reporting, Figma, Financial Data, Atlassian, Atlassian Suite
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
Industry Expertise
Financial Services, Marketplaces, Consumer Products
Other
Management, Marketing, Project Management, ClickUp, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, Project Planning, Portfolio Management, Solution Portfolio Management, Project Portfolio Management (PPM), Lean 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, Product Development Manager, UX Strategy, IT Strategy, IT Management, Product Planning, Product Roadmaps, Project Reporting, 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, Business Analysis, 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 Systems, 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, Early-stage Startups, 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, Chief Product Officer (CPO), Creative Thinking, Lean Startups, Mentorship & Coaching, Market Strategy and Research Product Manager, Positioning, Pricing Models, Minimum Marketable Product (MMP), Product Marketing, Digital Payments, Loyalty Programs, Payment Processing, Card Payments, Online Payments, SaaS, Management Consulting, ROI, User Personas, Product Discovery, Product Analytics, Regulations, Financials, Data Reporting, User Interviews, Fintech, 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, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning, Statistical Data Analysis, Experimental Design, Data-informed Decisions, Hypothesis Testing, Direct/Indirect Sales & Distribution, Pricing, Pricing Strategy, Agile Coaching, Payment APIs, Digital Marketing, P2P, Web Applications, SQL, Discovery Workshops, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Social Media Apps, Subscriptions, Data Science, React, Python, Community Management, Business Intelligence (BI), Data Product Manager, Data, Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL)
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