Ilya Ozerets
Verified Expert in Product Management
Product Manager
Rancho Mission Viejo, CA, United States
Toptal member since March 22, 2022
Ilya builds success stories faster. He is a leading product and strategy expert, seasoned international startup founder, and advisor to multiple technology companies. For example, he led a project-to-product transformation that increased ARR by $1.5 million in less than a year, moved from a 1-scope project to 100 production-licensed partners with 100 million+ transactional usages and a million AMU, and increased the valuation from $10 million to $49 million+.
Project Highlights
Expertise
- Artificial Intelligence (AI)
- Leadership
- Product Development
- Product Leadership
- Product Lifecycle Management (PLM)
- Product Roadmaps
- Product Vision
- Team Leadership
Work Experience
Founder
Instaloper
- Built a software product development studio to partner with clients to create success stories. Delivered entire product lifecycle, from ideation to validation, launch, and production.
- Established cross-functional processes for the business to operate remotely with several R&D hubs.
- Received third party industry-leading independent award for delivering technology products.
VP, Strategy & Innovation
Mitek Systems
- Led integration of acquired business units and introduced AI agents/agentic AI workflows across operations, delivering $3+ million in annual OpEx savings through intelligent process automation and system consolidation.
- Drove cross-functional innovation across identity verification, biometrics, and fraud prevention—aligning data platform, model ops, and compliance to enable scalable AI adoption.
- Optimized 15% of G&A costs through platform unification, algorithm pipeline optimization, and enhanced automation.
- Developed company repositioning and product portfolio strategy, unifying go-to-market, pricing, and platform narratives to strengthen market differentiation.
- Established foundation for a next-generation data platform and API-led ecosystem to support future AI, analytics, and automation initiatives.
Chief Product and Strategy Officer
ID R&D
- Led a project-to-product transformation, moving from a 1-scope project to 100 production-licensed partners with 100+ million transactional usages of the product suite and one million active monthly users.
- Led the company's product and strategy, drove an M&A transaction, and grew the valuation from $1 million to $49+ million. Mitek Systems acquired ID R&D in 2021.
- Brought the best product in the industry from hypothesis validation to production and scale.
- Established the complete product development lifecycle and built and led the R&D team of more than 50 people.
Interim CTO | Technology and Product Advisor
GritWell Limited
- Set the product strategy, metrics, and technology vision.
- Built the prototype and defined the scope and objectives for the MVP.
- Applied customer development and user discoveries to test hypotheses.
- Implemented HIPAA-compliant infrastructure and best practices.
- Helped raise $2 million in funding and continue advising on technology, strategy, and product development.
Senior Product Manager
Mitek Systems
- Led innovation initiatives focusing on vertical expansion and product enablement for customers and partners.
- Built an evaluation platform to enable demo capabilities for internal teams, shorten the go-to-live and time-to-revenue timeframes, and enable partners to demonstrate the capabilities of Mitek's technology.
- Client testimonial: "The best platform I have ever seen, and I saw a lot in the industry for the last ten years. I wish all technology companies to have such a system to offer satisfaction for their internal teams, partners, and clients!"
Product Development Lead
Transaction Corporation
- Hired and managed a team of dynamic doers to achieve targeted results in a "special ops/task force" style for all areas of the company.
- Collaborated with the executive team to develop strategic project plans and direct the special projects team as well as other teams to rapidly execute projects to grow and develop the business.
- Improved remote product development team velocity by 32%.
Chief Product Officer
Online Freelance Marketplace
- Led the development of a marketplace platform in the hyper-growth phase, including product development operations, planning strategies, business objectives, implementing systems, and optimizing processes.
- Directed and guided a startup through idea generation, validating product-market fit, building the MVP, and scaling the product via strong and effective strategic leadership.
- Implemented the Agile development methodology, designed the go-to-market plan, and collaborated and negotiated best terms with third-party vendors.
- Hired, educated, and mentored 20+ employees and contractors. Built teams and processes for UX/UI design, product development, customer success, and technical support.
Principal | Managing Partner
Business Maximum
- Developed and executed corporate restructuring, marketing, and business development plans, resulting in increased overall company exposure, revenue, and presence in the industry.
- Re-engineered and optimized internal business processes. Established new markets for the company resulting in revenue growth.
- Built strong rapport with key partners and clients. Managed three offices in different cities.
Head of Product Development
VS Software Technologies
- Translated business goals, feature concepts, and customer needs into prioritized product requirements and use cases.
- Collaborated with the development, design, sales, marketing, and support teams to launch products on time and within budget.
- Partnered with the marketing team to translate product features into customer value propositions used in consumer messaging.
Project History
Facial Liveness | Biometric Product for B2B
https://www.idrnd.ai/passive-facial-liveness/Led the research, design, development, and launch of the first and best facial liveness software product, featuring a frictionless experience.
Facial Liveness is a biometric software product that allows enterprises to validate and verify that a user is a genuine human being and not a representation of it, such as a picture, printed photograph, or mask. The product is used in more than 60 countries worldwide and processes hundreds of millions of transactions.
Online Freelance Marketplace
Led the design, development, and launch of a marketplace for entrepreneurs to hire freelance talent and manage the full cycle, including payments. The platform has 650,000+ active users and processes more than $100 million annually.
A global marketplace platform that allows entrepreneurs to hire freelance talent, manage their teams, payments, and projects. I created the product vision, architected the solution, developed the roadmap, and hired the team. We integrated crypto payment and payment processing systems to support global payouts. The main platform is supported with a mobile application on iOS and Android that allows contractors to stay in touch, track their time, and communicate with employers.
Mobile Verify | Digital Identity Verification Solution
https://www.miteksystems.com/identity-verificationLed the innovation initiatives focusing on vertical expansion and product enablement for customers and partners.
Mobile Verify is an identity verification solution that combines linked and layered automated technologies with the world’s top forensic experts to accurately verify end customers and detect identity fraud quickly, thus increasing approval rates and security.
Education
Master's Degree in Computer Science
Russian New University - Moscow, Russia
Skills
Tools
Slack, Zoom
Paradigms
Team Development, Agile, Agile Product Management, Marketplace Platforms
Other
Product Development, Software Development, Product Lifecycle Management (PLM), Software Engineering, Leadership, Product Management, Team Leadership, Hypothesis Testing, Customer Development, Product Roadmaps, Product Vision, Minimum Viable Product (MVP), Strategy, Cross-functional Team Leadership, Remote Team Leadership, Product Strategy, User Experience (UX), New Product Development, Computer Vision, Startup Consulting, Early-stage Startups, Business Modeling, Artificial Intelligence Product Manager, Product Leadership, Business to Business (B2B), Product-market Fit, Lean, Roadmaps, Scaling, Prototyping, Diagrams, Workflow Diagrams, Customer Journey, UX Strategy, CX Strategy, Executive Presentations, SaaS, B2B, Business Process Optimization, Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC), Software Architecture, Web & Mobile Applications, Mobile Apps, User Journey Maps, User Journeys, Consulting, Ideation, Conceptualization, Business Strategy, Business Unit Strategy, Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A), Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Fundraising, Startup Funding, B2B Lead Generation, Business Development, P&L Management, New Business Development, Business Unit Management, Startups, Product Strategy Consultant, Innovation
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