Maeliza Seymour
Verified Expert in Product Management
Product Manager
Les Abymes, Grande-Terre, Guadeloupe
Toptal member since February 18, 2021
Maeliza is an agile product manager specializing in AI and SaaS products. She has improved B2B2C SaaS retention by 17% over nine months and launched an AI-based B2C product that gained 30,000 unique users in six months. Her proficiency extends to accelerating product adoption and taking ownership of product strategy and roadmap. In a fast-growing startup environment, Maeliza excels by maintaining a consistent two-week release pace while efficiently coordinating the development team.
Project Highlights
Expertise
- Business Analysis
- Communication
- Data Science Product Manager
- Digital Product Management
- Lean Startups
- Product Analytics
- Product Management
- Product Roadmaps
Work Experience
Product Manager
DataDriven
- Led a product discovery and strategy-building phase to adapt an existing product to a new customer segment.
- Discovered and prioritized unmet user needs. Designed an interview protocol and identified pain points or improvement themes. Addressed B2B clients and included various aspects in her discovery, including legal, security, and availability.
- Created a high-level one-year strategy and a detailed six-month roadmap. Broke down user needs into epics and prioritized user stories in the backlog.
- Structured the product management department, set good practices, documented the product playbook for the team, and implemented continuous user discovery protocols.
Data Product Manager
Henoya
- Created the technical roadmap for a data-based product, which included: data acquisition, data processing, testing, UX development, and improvement stages. The tool used: Asana.
- Designed tech specs for a real-time social network data collection and visualization web app.
- Implemented a real-time data pipeline to gather, clean, and pre-process data using a Google Cloud environment from Twitter and Instagram APIs.
- Managed a 3-person front-end development team, including UX designers and front-end developers. Provided them with the UX roadmap, followed up on development, and ran the UX testing.
- Provided the client with data points and frameworks to communicate on. Enabled them to reach out to sponsors for external financing.
Data Product Manager
Medical Product and Service Company
- Enhanced customer adoption by over 17% using customer segmentation. Built a business case, set up data analysis and clustered a pipeline, and translated data insights into actionable marketing strategies.
- Reduced problem root cause detection by 85%. Built a business case, set up a POC scope, implemented a data pipeline, and set up an internal user-facing dashboard for easy use.
- Implemented a long-term pricing experiment that improved customer lifetime value by 7% on the eCommerce website. Tracked users' behavior when navigating the website and shopping cart page to improve conversion.
- Worked on multiple dashboards reporting on PowerBI. Reconciled data from various sources, including Salesforce solutions, internal databases, and IoT. Organized the dashboard and automated sharing with stakeholders.
- Improved data quality by mapping the existing data and covered processes. Tracked data completion and missing data collection. Set up an action plan with the tech team to increasingly extend the scope of collected data.
- Implemented the first business data POC in one month. Coordinated business, technology, marketing, and support stakeholders using the Agile methodology.
- Designed, prioritized, and planned the business cases for a data-centric approach. Identified business needs and priorities, mapped existing and missing data, defined implementation priorities, and tracked tasks.
- Used different product frameworks, such as AARRR metrics, customer journey, emotion map, and the Hook Model.
- Migrated user analytics dashboards from Google Analytics Universal to Google Analytics 4 for three websites. Set up new Google Analytics 4 reporting with default and custom events. Wrote technical requirements on Confluence. Tested event-tracking.
- Analyzed the user experience using custom Google Analytics 4 reports. Identified blocking steps in the user conversion flow and suggested UX improvements.
Product Manager
Codist AI
- Conducted market research and user discovery. Identified existing competition, conducted competitive analysis, and leveraged users' insights to scope the minimum lovable product (MLP) to deliver. Grew up to 30,000 unique users in the first semester.
- Used the Lean Startup methodology. Released the POC of an AI product within 1.5 months. Set the technical roadmap for AI algorithms and iterated the development with a larger set of data and more complex algorithms.
- Designed a product growth strategy. Prioritized community-based growth. Recruited power users, involved them in the product roadmap, and transformed some into advocates for the product.
- Built a technical roadmap for a public API-based solution. Gathered functional API requirements from user discovery and technical requirements from the back-end team. Prioritized the roadmap based on users' needs.
- Used different product frameworks, including the Hooked Model, Lean Startup, and product vision board.
- Reached a product-market fit in six months by breaking the product vision into a tactical plan and conducting user interviews to prioritize the product roadmap strategically.
- Wrote product requirements and feature specifications and coordinated the UX projects and UI mockups.
- Designed different personas that the company should communicate to. Identified events such as an in-house hackathon, PyCon, etc., where the solution could be promoted to developers.
Product Manager
Entrepreneur First
- Conducted user discovery for a vertical farming startup. Went on the field and met with farmers and local groceries to frame the needs for short food circuits. Obtained a prioritized list of food expected by local groceries.
- Conducted product discovery. Carried out intensive scientific papers review and interviews with robotic experts. Helped the client understand the state of the art in vertical farming and identify their differentiative factors as a startup.
- Sketched a high-level product strategy. Led the product vision to build a strategy consistent with the market trends and users' expectations for the client's forthcoming rising round.
Data Science Product Manager
Societe Generale
- Reduced the manual time to analyze fraudulent banking transactions by 15%. Designed the AI and ML algorithms strategy and prioritized their development using a Lean AI methodology.
- Released the first MVP within six months to test with users and expanded the user base to 300+ active internal users.
- Managed a data science team to deliver the AI solution using the product technical roadmap I implemented.
- Reported to senior executives to set the roadmap, budget, and KPIs and update them about the progress.
- Built a research and development plan for the following two years, including the human and financial resources required.
- Used Lean Startup and customer journey as product frameworks.
Data Steward
BNP Paribas
- Created the data models for structured and unstructured data for three different business units. Gathered business requirements and mapped out their processes and underlying data.
- Created the documentation system to ease any user onboarding.
- Coordinated the ingestion of 2To/day. Prioritized new data ingestion based on business priorities.
- Set up the first guidelines for the banking systems data lake (Colibri). Defined data quality KPIs to meet data to be added to the data lake. The final data lake was available for internal business needs and user-facing app development.
- Established the enterprise data management system with governance, tooling, data ingestion, and cleaning.
Data Science Product Manager
BNP Paribas
- Established automatic warnings reported through visualization dashboards used by 150+ technical managers.
- Created the technical roadmap for data processing and algorithms development and improvement.
- Collaborated with C-level stakeholders to define their needs and set a product roadmap and deliverables milestones.
- Coordinated with stakeholders to share information and resolve disputes through data-based mediation.
- Managed change and ensured customer success throughout the organization, setting up training sessions and FAQs.
- Set and conducted user interviews upfront to prioritize the roadmap.
- Led the development and launch of a data-based product for internal banking use in less than one year with two full-time developers.
Risk Project Manager
BNP Paribas
- Scoped business and IT disaster recovery plans for a bank, over five data centers, 20 countries, and +60 main business processes. Used the mapping of business process and technical architecture maps.
- Prioritized the business processes back-up implementation.
- Documented business and IT disaster recovery plans. I wrote and maintained the content of BC and DR plans over the years and shared them across the organization.
- Assessed risk using financial, business, and technical inputs. I established a risk assessment matrix to prioritize the content of BC and DR plans.
- Conducted DR exercises. Coordinated IT DR exercises consisting of data center partial or full recovery over two continents.
- Conducted reviews to improve the exercises' scope and outcome over time.
- Coordinated stakeholders. Set up coordination meetings across the organization (+5 countries) to ensure stakeholders' alignment on BC and DR priorities and corrective actions implementation.
IT Project Manager
BNP Paribas
- Coordinated C-level executives across BNP Paribas to set and validate the Group IT risk management policy.
- Spearheaded four IT data center switchover exercises across Europe and Asia.
- Managed and articulated IT stakeholders (network, infra, and architects) to design a group-level IT improvement plan.
Project History
Customer Segmentation for Better Product Adoption
Enhanced customer adoption by +17% using customer segmentation.
Consulted on that stream:
• I pitched the benefits of a more data-centric approach to reaching customers and set up business cases to demo the increased value data could bring to the business.
• Helped the business prioritize its needs based on data acquisition maturity and expected outcomes. Involved technical and business teams in this assessment.
The main business case was to track and increase the adoption of a digital tool:
• Set the technical milestones to reach and align them with business expected outcomes.
• Managed data processing and analysis for 250,000+ customers in a Microsoft environment.
• Clustered the customers with ML self-discovery algorithms. Augmented them with business knowledge.
• Tracked progress and problems through bi-monthly meetings and remote task-tracking tooling.
Challenges:
• Dealt with an evolving data structure, considering existing data when setting the roadmap.
• Convinced management to use data.
Product frameworks used: customer journey and experience map.
AI-based Developer Tool | POC and Production
Released the POC of an AI-based developer tool within six weeks, iterated development with a larger set of data and more complex algorithms, and grew its user base from 1,000 to 30,000 within six months.
• Set a product vision and broke it into a tactical plan that converged to a product-market fit in less than six months.
• Recruit and manage a five-person team while keeping up with a monthly release pace.
• Set and conduct user interviews to strategically prioritize the product roadmap.
• Develop the product marketing strategy by implementing four strategic partnerships with institutions.
• Align the product strategy and scientific roadmap of an R&D-based startup, delivering an over 10% improvement compared to the existing benchmarks over six months.
• Evangelize the product through the word-of-mouth effect. With a $0 customer acquisition cost, I set a strategy to win 30,000+ users in six months.
• Raised money with VC and BA to run the startup and deliver the MVP.
• Screened the competitive landscape to set the short-term product development and marketing tactical plan.
• Built and tracked strategic dashboards, such as Hotjar, Google Analytics, and package tracking.
Product frameworks used: Lean Startup and product vision.
Automatic Root Cause Identification Through Data | POC and Production
Reduced resolution time from thirty to three days, improving the customer experience by setting up a data pipeline to detect failures and automatically identify their root causes.
My contribution to the project involved:
• Set up a business strategy and prioritization for downtime reduction.
• Coordinated business meetings for needs and goals collection.
• Set up and improved the data pipeline in an iterative meeting.
• Implemented an internal user-facing dashboard for easy use.
Product frameworks used: customer journey.
Risk Management
Assisted a global banking client in mapping their business process and assessing risk. I wrote, tested, and improved BC and DR plans while coordinating IT continuity exercises consisting of data center recovery over three different data centers.
I wrote and maintained the content of BC and DR plans and shared them across the organization. Using financial, business, and technical inputs, I established a risk assessment matrix to prioritize the content of BC and DR plans.
I coordinated IT DR exercises consisting of partial or full recovery data centers over two continents. I also conducted reviews to improve the exercise's scope and outcome over time.
Medical Software Enhancement
https://scenariocloud.laerdal.com/Increased medical software NPS from 6 to 7.5 within one year.
As a product manager, I guided the client to:
• Map out the user journey and experience, identifying gaps through interviews and data analysis.
• Prioritize needs to fulfill and set the product roadmap. Prioritization was made considering technical legacy.
• Keep track of the impact of the development of the new features. Through behavioral data collection using Google Analytics, I tracked the main KPI of users' perceived value.
By the end of the implementation of the new features, NPS raised from 6 to 7.5 among end users.
Product frameworks used: customer journey, experience map, and AARRR metrics.
Insurance Automated App | Technical Requirements
Wrote technical specifications for an insurance app aiming to automate claims management for contracts beneficiaries.
The process of changing beneficiaries was previously submitted to manual verification by the company before validation, but they decided to automate this process by leveraging rules and AI.
As a data science project manager, I've:
• Created the release plan for the expected product. Based on the product roadmap, listed the functional and non-functional features expected.
• Wrote technical and test specifications for the automation features.
• Tested automation functional features before release.
Education
Master's Degree in Mathematics and Computer Science
Les Arts et Métiers - Paris, France
Master's Degree in Quality and Process Optimization
Les Mines - France
Certifications
Hypothesis-driven Development
UVA Darden
Splunk Advanced Power User
Splunk
Skills
Tools
Splunk, Financial Data, Microsoft Power BI, Google Analytics, Jira, Asana, Confluence
Paradigms
Agile Product Management, Data Product Management, Agile, Agile Project Management, Iterative Development, Requirements Analysis, Scrum, High-performance Computing (HPC)
Industry Expertise
Banking & Finance, Telecommunications, Telecom Equipment & Solutions, Industrial & Manufacturing, Health, Healthcare, Insurance, Financial Services
Platforms
Google Analytics 4
Other
Data Science Product Manager, Data Analysis, Product Management, Project Management, Communication, Product Roadmaps, Data Product Manager, Dashboards, Startups, Product Development, Technical Product Management, Reporting, Cross-functional Collaboration, Roadmaps, Management Consulting, Data-informed Decisions, Microsoft Excel, Planning, Analytical Thinking, Product Frameworks, Project Reporting, Data, Customer-centered Product Development, Iteration Management, Hypothesis Testing, Lean Startups, Product Analytics, Statistical Data Analysis, Machine Learning, Competitive Strategy, Data-driven Decision-making, Data-driven Methodology, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), Data Reporting, SaaS Product Management, Digital Product Management, Presentations, Product Requirements Documentation (PRD), Stakeholder Management, Big Data, User Stories, Feature Roadmaps, Product Owner, Sprint Planning, Data Collection, Software as a Service (SaaS), Agile Sprints, Risk Management, Business Continuity, Business Continuity & Disaster Recovery (BCDR), Business Continuity Planning (BCP), Feature Backlog Prioritization, Sprint Retrospectives, Customer Discovery, Scrum Master, Product Discovery, Technical Requirements, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Proof of Concept (POC), Artificial Intelligence Product Manager, Pitch Presentations, New Product Development, Minimum Viable Product (MVP), Use Cases, Data Quality, Business Strategy, User Experience (UX), Agile Leadership, Strategy, Data Science, Discovery Workshops, Business Analysis, Data Cleansing, Data Cleaning, Requirements, Project Timelines, Cross-functional Team Leadership, Consulting, Product Development Manager, Product Strategy Consultant, Feature Prioritization, Scope Management, Early-stage Funding, MVP Design, User Journeys, Feature Analysis, Product Strategy, Creative Problem Solving, Fundraising, Business to Business (B2B), Project Planning, Team Leadership, Remote Team Leadership, Product Lifecycle Management (PLM), Developer Relations, Python, API Integration, Process Optimization, Lean, Web & Mobile Applications, Cross-departmental Collaboration, eCommerce, Finance, Business Plan Consulting, Optimization, Computer Science, Python 3, Financials, Business Planning, Deep Learning, Agile Data Science, Code Architecture, IT Projects, Project Tracking, Project Finance, Project Coordination, Company Strategy, Product Operations, Dashboard Development, Data Visualization, Online Tracking Analysis, Data Management, Data Products, Reports, Automation, Startup Funding, Prototyping, SaaS, Master Data Management (MDM), Google Knowledge Graph, Data Analytics, Product Design, Conceptualization, Technical Writing, Salesforce, Market Research & Analysis, Competitor Analysis & Profiling, Disaster Recovery Plans (DRP), Enterprise SaaS, Algorithms, Web Scraping, Web Applications, Wireframing, Functional Requirements, Reconciliation, Software Development, Internet of Things (IoT), User Requirements, Sensor Data, Monitoring, Software, Personas, User Personas, Automation Tools, User Onboarding, Funnel Analysis, Go-to-market Strategy, Revenue Strategy, Coaching, Financial Forecasting, Use Case Analysis, Monetization Models, Specs, Engineering, Medical Software, Claims Processing, Functional Specifications, Test Specifications, Customer Insights, Corporate Strategy, UX Design, Staffing, Budgeting, Invoicing, Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Payroll & Benefits, UI Specifications, APIs, Google Cloud, Web App UI, Business Process Improvement (BPI), Commercial Banking, DevRel, Data Modeling, Data Queries, Technical Documentation, Innovation, B2B, Pricing Strategy, B2B Product Management, Orchestration, Digital Branding, Neuroscience, Language Learning, Natural Language Processing (NLP), Commerce, Marketing, Sales, Investment Banking, Data Scraping, Large Language Models (LLMs)
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