Mihai Bratasanu
Verified Expert in Product Management
Product Manager
Bucharest, Romania
Toptal member since June 29, 2021
Mihai is a senior product manager with 7+ years of experience in product management and 10 years in the banking industry as a trader. He has a proven track record of successfully leading product development for top-tier banks or early-stage startups in domains such as fintech, healthcare, and Web3. His expertise in product management, strong leadership skills, and ability to drive cross-functional teams make him an excellent partner in bringing innovative products to market.
Project Highlights
Expertise
- Agile Product Management
- Artificial Intelligence (AI)
- Mobile Apps
- Non-fungible Tokens (NFT)
- Product Discovery
- Startups
- Strategy
- User Experience (UX)
Work Experience
Product Development Specialist
Bitventure Consulting Pty Ltd
- Prepared the pitch deck and detailed proposal for implementing an overhaul of the SMB clients onboarding for a top tier bank in South Africa.
- Worked with senior management to identify a unique approach, leveraging existing, out of the box services provided in the market, shortening the time to market and getting a significant advantage over the competition.
- Redesigned business processes, systems architecture and prepared a phased implementation that would transform the entire client onboarding and financial products origination processes.
Technical Product and Project Manager
Exemplar Human Services, LLC
- Oversaw the team through the discovery phase, preparing the backlog, the project plan, and the staffing plan for the implementation phase.
- Led the project in implementation, delivering the backlog and managing changes while keeping the initial timeline, budget, and the highest degree of quality. The client expressed utmost satisfaction and wants to return for the next product phase.
- Collaborated with senior executives to build a product roadmap for the next product phases.
Head of Product
Air Apps, Inc.
- Worked with senior executives and product managers to define the product strategy and build the roadmap for the following year.
- Led and grew a team of six product managers, helping them elevate to the next level in their careers. Improved the product management processes and strengthened connections with other teams like product marketing, engineering, and design.
- Managed some of the key products in the portfolio and was directly involved in bringing one of the first AI products to market, just a few weeks after AI became publicly available.
Product Manager
Mobile NFT Wallet Company
- Worked with senior executives and technical leads to build the product roadmap, defining and prioritizing features, as well as validating them through user interviews and surveys for the development of a mobile crypto application.
- Led the design team by preparing new feature requirements, reviewing designs, and gathering feedback from stakeholders. Proposed design solutions to increase the speed of the design process while achieving the best user experience.
- Managed the backlog by creating detailed requirements for the development team. Supported technical team during the sprint by clarifying and prioritizing backlog items to ensure the sprint goal was met.
Agile Product and Project Manager
Hype Labs Inc.
- Led the discovery phase of the system, which included UI/UX design, solution architecture, backlog prioritization, development estimations, and staff planning.
- Worked with senior stakeholders to define and plan the development of the Pilot phase of the project.
- Led the development and successfully delivered the pilot on time per initial planning while including small changes requested by the senior stakeholders.
Product Manager
FintechOS
- Worked with senior executives to build a banking application's roadmap based on customers' demands, sales opportunities, and product marketing go-to-market strategy.
- Designed more than 30 banking apps like customer onboarding, mobile banking, retail and SMB lending, mortgages, loan admin, treasury, wealth management, and insurance customer journeys, including health, car, or home insurance.
- Consulted and managed implementation of more than 10 complex projects for clients like banks, lenders, or retailers, automating journeys like customer onboarding and consumer or SMB lending up to 100%.
- Led three different teams from day one to highly productive and integrated teams in less than three months, coaching Scrum and Agile mindset.
- Set the vision and defined the roadmap and high level of the requirements for a core banking system that enabled banks to handle tens of thousands of transactions per second, be open banking ready, and take advantage of scalable cloud architectures.
Product Owner
Deutsche Bank
- Worked with senior management to assess, select, and implement a vendor application used globally for portfolio management by the wealth management division. The new system reduced the time spent by portfolio managers on daily tasks by 50%.
- Led, as product owner, a social networking app that targets the bank's next generation of ultra-high-net-worth customers. Managed to design and develop features that led to an 80% increase in monthly active users.
- Led the business analysis and product owners' practice (>60 members) across the Deutsche Bank tech center in Bucharest. Coached members in Agile mindset and Scrum practices, preparing them for a product management career.
- Led a team of business analysts, distributed across multiple scrum teams to design and build a global credit risk system used by Deutsche Bank across global regions.
- Conducted design sprints that resulted in more than 10 innovation concepts for wealth management business.
Trader
Nextebank
- Traded FX, money market, swaps, and bonds on the interbank market.
- Managed liquidity, FX position, and fixed income portfolio.
- Designed and managed the implementation of the funds' transfer price system between the treasury and other business divisions in the bank.
Project History
Fintech Company
Led the discovery, design, and development of a fintech MVP offering Bank Accounts, Payments, and FX for SMBs. Managed the selection and integration of different vendors: BaaS, KYC Screening and Onboarding, Core Banking, and Transaction Monitoring.
During discovery phase:
Defined the product vision and shaped the key features and personas
Created the Roadmap for the MVP and the following three releases
Identified potential vendors for key components: BaaS, Core Banking, KYC and Onboarding, etc.
Crafted a draft UI prototype
Prepared the high-level backlog for MVP
During building phase:
Led the design and development teams.
Managed the backlog: creating and prioritizing tasks.
Performed vendors assessment and selection alongside Tech Lead and Key Stakeholders.
Guided vendors integration.
Shaped the business processes.
Provided guidance on Banking topics like accounts, payments, and compliance processes.
Small and Medium Businesses Lending for an Upper Tier Bank
Led the design and analysis of a new lending system for SMB customers of an upper tier bank.
We've redesigned the entire flow, covering all required tasks and parties involved while automating more than 50% of the steps.
Integrated with third-party data providers like credit bureaus, fiscal authorities or legal advisors, and data providers.
Designed a new analysis engine that automatically performs 80% of the credit, fraud, and legal checks.
Private Social Networking Mobile App for UHNW Customers of a Tier 1 Investment Bank
Led the design and development of the mobile app, enabling a tier 1 investment bank to create a private, elite community for next-generation customers of wealth management business.
It serves the young generation of ultra-high-net-worth individuals that are enrolled in the bank's hyper-care program.
App registration is invitation-based and reserved for a highly elite community.
Customer Onboarding - Banking
Consulted the design and development of a bank customer onboarding flow, automating 100% of the process, enabling customers to have a fully functional bank account in less than five minutes.
In this project, I've consulted the team in designing and developing the solution for a fully automated onboarding process while mitigating compliance, business, and legal risks.
The new web flow (and mobile responsive) had to be integrated with the current CRM solution used in the bank and third-party providers of identity verification and e-sign solutions.
Certifications
Professional Scrum Product Owner I (PSPO I)
Scrum.org
ACI Dealing Certificate
The Financial Markets Association
Skills
Tools
Jira, Atlassian Suite, Atlassian, Basecamp, MindNode, Slack, Zoom, Figma
Paradigms
Scrum, Agile, Agile Product Management, Requirements Analysis, Agile Project Management, Scalable Application, Kanban, B2C
Industry Expertise
Banking & Finance, Financial Services, Digital Banking, Healthcare
Platforms
Blockchain
Other
Trading, Portfolio Management, Fintech, Wealth Management, Lending, Treasury, Business Analysis, Consumer Lending, User Flows, Workflow Diagrams, Product Management, Product Roadmaps, Product Owner, Minimum Viable Product (MVP), MVP Design, Feature Backlog Prioritization, Use Cases, Product Development, Digital Product Development, Product Delivery, Wireframing, User Interface (UI), Business to Consumer (B2C), Product Ownership, System Requirements, Requirements, Software Development, Feature Prioritization, Ideation, Feature Analysis, Diagrams, Product Strategy, Applications, Cross-functional Team Leadership, Mockups, UX Flows, Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC), Forex, User Workflows, User Onboarding, Frameworks, Loan Management, Forms, Scope of Work (SOW), Sprint Planning, Backlog Grooming, Business Requirements, Resource Management, Product Coach, Adobe Experience Design (XD), Mobile Banking, Agile Coaching, Product Vision, Personal Finance, Investment Banking, Commercial Banking, Design Sprints, Prototyping, Innovation, Team Management, Product Design, Social Networks, Onboarding, Online Banking, Loans, IT Consulting, Digital Transformation, iOS, Mobile Apps, Mobile Design, Software Consulting, Stakeholder Management, Data Modeling, Product Discovery, Consulting, Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Discovery Workshops, User Stories, Startups, B2B, Mobile UX, Mobile UI, User Experience (UX), Mobile Platforms, Web Platforms, Mobile Applications, Requirements & Specifications, User Journeys, Digital Product Management, Roadmaps, Web App Design, B2B Partnerships, Online Payments, Market Fit, User Personas, Web Applications, Cryptocurrency, UX Design, Objectives & Key Results (OKRs), Business Models, Design, User Feedback, New Product Development, Product Strategy Consultant, Scope Management, Feature Roadmaps, Digital Experience Design, Mobile Wallet, Project Planning, Team Leadership, Web & Mobile Applications, Project Timelines, Estimations, Presentations, Agile Leadership, Process Mapping, Process Design, Use Case Analysis, Project Management, Web Design, Web, Product Requirements Documentation (PRD), Technical Product Management, QA Testing, Quality Assurance (QA), Conceptualization, Creative Thinking, Mentorship & Coaching, Lean Startups, Digital Payments, Fintech Consultant, User Requirements, Feature Planning, SaaS, UML Diagrams, Flow Diagrams, Project Reporting, Staffing, Data Analytics, Growth, Business to Business (B2B), Growth Strategy, Customer Acquisition, Finance APIs, Product Lifecycle Management (PLM), Product Launch, Financials, App Development, Product Planning, Product Leadership, Best Practices, Platforms, Value Proposition, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Workshops, Release Management, Process Flows, Go-to-market Strategy, Web3, Scaling, Software as a Service (SaaS), User Research, Dashboards, Documentation, Executive Presentations, Market Research Analyst, Conceptual Design, Risk Analysis, Proposals, RFPs, RFQs, ITTs, Responses, Proposals & Quotes, API Development, Relational Database Design, Technical Documentation, Databases, Project Management & Work Tracking Tools, Know Your Customer (KYC), Team Mentoring, Stakeholder Interviews, Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI), SaaS Product Management, SaaS Strategy, Monetization, Subscriptions, Identity & Access Management (IAM), Account Management, Microsoft Teams, Vendor Selection, Salesforce, Core Banking Systems, Community Management, Community Growth, API Integration, Solution Architecture, ShapeUp, Planning, Discovery, Go-to-market Plans, Strategy, Product Research, Payment APIs, Back-end as a Service (BaaS), Non-fungible Tokens (NFT), Web 3.0, Cryptocurrency Wallets, Blockchain & Cryptocurrency, Cryptocurrency Exchanges, Competitor Analysis & Profiling, 802.11S Mesh Networking, UX Testing, Crypto, Cost Estimation, Product Growth, Consumer Applications, Backlog Management, Mobile App Development, Distributed Team Management, Startup Funding, APIs, Chief Product Officer (CPO), Payment Processing, Budgeting, Data Reporting, Finance, Android, Technical Hiring, Technical Requirements, Notion, Miro, Front-end Development, Technical Project Management, Scrum Master, Decentralized Systems, Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks (DePIN), Market Research, SQL, Cloud, Smart Contracts, Motivation, Machine Learning, Social Media, Scalability
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