Radu Irava
Verified Expert in Product Management
Product Manager
Bucharest, Romania
Toptal member since February 8, 2019
Radu is a business and product leader with 15 years of experience in the software world. He has worked with over a dozen tech companies, from B2C to B2B, web to mobile, and one to 100,000 employees. Passionate about business growth, Radu has contributed to the acquisition of two companies for more than $150 million. He loves Toptal projects as they keep him challenged and excited and allow him to explore various industries, fields, and products.
Project Highlights
Expertise
- Artificial Intelligence (AI)
- Growth Strategy
- New Product Development
- Product Growth
- Product Management
- Product Strategy
- Startups
- User Experience (UX)
Work Experience
Product Manager - Growth, AI, and Data
Product Devel
- Helped established businesses ($10+ million a year revenue) and well-funded startups to grow their revenue and profit.
- Led and managed operations across the org, including product, engineering, customer success, marketing, and sales.
- Helped businesses grow and innovate. Delivered advanced product reviews.
- Coached aspiring and junior product managers. Built product departments.
- Consulted with early-stage startups in the customer discovery phase.
Product Manager - AI, Data, and Personalization
Babbel
- Built and grew an AI conversational tutor using OpenAI technology.
- Created a highly personalized user experience using customer and product data (tens of data points).
- Built an accompanying AI avatar tutor using proprietary technology.
Product Manager - AI and Data
Stealth Startup
- Worked on generative AI, prompt engineering, OpenAI API, evaluation, question answering, chatbots, iterative prompt development, summarizing, inferring, sentiment classification, topic extraction, transforming, and expanding.
- Contributed to creating LLMs, chat format, tokens, classification, moderation, chain-of-thought reasoning, chaining prompts, and outputs.
- Developed LangChain, models, prompts, parsers, memory, chains, agents, retrieval augmented generation (RAG), document loaders, document splitting, vector stores, embeddings, and retrieval.
Head of Product | General Manager
SureSwift Capital
- Focused on business growth and scaling through pricing optimization and a product-led lens. Reduced churn, improved trial to paid conversion rate, acquisition, and everything else needed.
- Created and implemented the product development process for the entire portfolio of software companies.
- Achieved single-digit revenue growth across the portfolio consistently.
- Delivered double-digit return on investment (ROI) to investors consistently.
Growth Product Manager
Scalers
- Created a business and a product growth strategy.
- Coached C-level executives on matters of product, growth, and operations.
- Provided coaching to junior-level product managers, product analysts, and growth specialists.
Product Manager for Internal Tools
HungerStation
- Created internal content management tools to optimize operational processes.
- Performed user interviews with internal employees.
- Managed external design and development agency team members.
Product Manager for Programmatic Advertising
AdsWizz (acquired by Pandora)
- Researched customers' needs for three of the company's products. Understood market needs, analyzed competitive solutions, and foresaw market evolution to drive product iteration with execs and engineering.
- Kept an eye on the capability of competitors' products and strove to differentiate. Worked with product designers to analyze user behavior and better drive UX iteration.
- Worked with the marketing team to articulate launch timing and produce marketing collateral. Gave a persuasive and fact-backed picture of the roadmap to senior leaders and end-users of the product.
- Reported directly to the VP of Product. Defined strategy, requirements, and roadmap for three of the company's products.
- Built and executed product roadmaps. Made sure anyone could answer the "Why are we doing this?" question.
- Worked with distributed teams which means being autonomous in executing product vision. Ensured product vision is shared across engineering, business, and operations teams.
- Served as the single point of contact for tech, business, and operation teams for all things product. Instilled confidence in the engineering teams and a sense of what is required from a back-end and UX perspective.
Product Manager for Mobile Platforms
Fashion Days (acquired by eMag)
- Drove the ideation, development, and launch of native (iOS, Android) across all major mobile platforms and devices.
- Produced functional and design specifications, mockups, prototypes, scenarios, and task flows for new features and functions.
- Collaborated with design and engineering teams daily and in all phases of product development.
- Maintained a deep, holistic understanding of the mobile user experience, e.g.user behavior, technology, context, and the market landscape to adjust the product path accordingly.
- Integrated customer feedback, business metrics, research, and opportunities into product requirements to enhance user satisfaction and sales.
- Established a shared mobile vision and strategy across the company by building consensus on priorities leading to product execution.
- Understood the technical architecture of complex and highly scalable media products.
- Maximized efficiency in a constantly evolving environment where the process is fluid and creative solutions are the norm.
- Consolidated the strategic position by delivering products that adhere to the company's quality standards and raise the bar for competitors.
Software Engineer | Business Analyst
PhaseFour
- Defined the scope, current functionalities, and further development possibilities of Bitcoin mobile payment apps for international customers.
- Developed use cases, functional designs, and wireframes of Bitcoin mobile payment apps for international customers.
- Created financial offers and time estimations. Managed the planning of consultancy and development projects on Bitcoin mobile payment apps for international customers.
- Designed mobile services based on digital currency payments for the Internet of Things.
- Designed a proximity payment mobile app using Ripple protocol and Beacons with BLE technology.
- Developed an MVP for a demo with representatives of companies from the financial industry, including the top three banks in the Netherlands, that resulted in leads and prospects.
Software Engineer / Business Analyst
Philips
- Designed platform services based on indoor localization.
- Developed game-theoretic models to incentivize user participation in location-based services for marketing activities (cross-selling, up-selling) in the retail industry.
- Developed business models for indoor positioning services based on visible light communication technology in the retail industry.
Software Engineer | Business Analyst
ORTEC
- Provided requirements engineering of an automated tool that replaced the department's hardware and software monitoring practices, stored checks' results in a database, and presented them in real time on a web-based dashboard.
- Extended and customized an existing open-source monitoring solution written in C#, configuring it with the department policy, testing, and deploying it.
- Created standardized SQL-based reports using MS Report Builder.
Software Engineer | Business Analyst
ORTEC
- Met with clients to determine their goals and requirements. Planned timescales and the resources needed.
- Elaborated technical and financial offers depending on customers' requirements. Coordinated a team of 1 developer and 16 data analysts for implementing customer-specific projects.
- Provided support and training to customers. Delivered presentations and demos of the company's solutions at customers' sites.
- Participated in internal sales meetings to improve short-term and long-term strategies.
- Designed, implemented, and tested new functionality, debugged and fixed existing functionality. Optimized and documented source code for re-usability purposes.
- Developed complex GUI modules in an MVC pattern. Aggregated big data by writing mathematical algorithms and creating charts, graphs, heat maps, and radars.
- Used Eclipse to create WSDL files and generate class structures. Created and configured SOAP web services.
- Created customer-specific XML Query-based reports using MS Report Builder.
Data Analyst
ORTEC
- Extracted and analyzed statistical data from football matches. Updated and administered the database.
- Provided improvement suggestions to the development team. Tested applications and reported bugs.
- Collaborated with global analysts teams. Communicated information to the technical staff of football teams, specifically Ajax, Feyenoord, etc., and media, like De Telegraaf, NOS, etc.
Project History
The Google Adwords for Audio
https://www.audiogo.com/Created a new product line in the digital audio advertising industry and grew the web platform.
The Fastest Growing Mobile Apps
https://fashiondays.com/Exponentially grew the fashion eCommerce brand via its mobile apps, contributing to the company's acquisition.
Purple Protocol
Organized development and design teams to build landing page and MVP.
cv30
https://www.cv30.co/Managed overall product review.
▪ Handled mechanism design for beta release.
Chat2it
https://chat2it.com/Developed an MVP for a mobile application with a unique communication concept.
▪ Provided requirements engineering for mobile apps and complex back-end systems.
▪ Managed communication with software development partners.
▪ Contributed to sales and marketing strategy.
AVA360
http://glo-marine.com/Built a prototype for a web-based visual management tool using 3D spherical camera technology.
Education
Master of Science Degree in Management of Technology
Delft University of Technology - Delft, Netherlands
Bachelor of Engineering Degree in Information Technology
University of Bucharest - Bucharest, Romania
Certifications
LangChain for LLM Application Development
DeepLearning.AI
LangChain Chat with Your Data
DeepLearning.AI
Building Systems with the ChatGPT API
DeepLearning.AI
Effective Listening
Building Resilience
Persuasive Selling
Startup School
YCombinator
Humor in the Workplace
Developing Political Savvy
Communication for Product Manager
Skills
Tools
Trello, Google Docs, Google Slides, Google Analytics, Jira, Confluence, Slack, Zoom, Asana, Firebase Analytics, Tableau, Crashlytics
Paradigms
Agile, Kanban, Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO), Key Performance Metrics, Agile Product Management, Agile Workflow, Design Thinking, Scrum, Quantitative Research, Change Management, Human-centered Design (HCD), B2C, Gamification
Industry Expertise
Consumer Finance, Consumer Products, Education Technology (Edtech), Premium Content Subscriptions, Banking & Finance, Insurance, Sports, Telecommunications, Venture Capital, Renewable Energy
Platforms
Mixpanel
Other
Strategy, SaaS, Dashboards, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), Product Growth, Android, iOS, eCommerce, Functional Requirements, Technology Trends, Requirements, Cross-functional Team Leadership, Business Cases, Annual Budgets, User Acceptance Testing (UAT), Customer Interviews, User Journeys, Market Research & Analysis, Pricing Models, New Product Development, Competitor Analysis & Profiling, Customer Research, Critical Thinking, Lean Startups, Analysis, Requirements & Specifications, IT Strategy, Process Optimization, Customer Development, User Experience (UX), Remote Work, Documentation, Business Requirements, Process Improvement, Startups, Early-stage Startups, Startup Growth Strategy Development, Innovation, Customer Experience, Digital Strategy, User Requirements, Project Management, Distributed Team Management, IT Project Management, Business Models, Growth Strategy, Team Management, Product Strategy, Product Management, Data Analytics, Management, Use Cases, Feature Backlog Prioritization, Teamwork, Windows, Microsoft Excel, Analytics, Apps, Mobile Apps, Business Analysis, Product Roadmaps, Go-to-market Plans, User Research, Product Design, Product Frameworks, Product Ownership, Product Discovery, Product Delivery, Travel Product Manager, Fashion & Beauty, Google Sheets, Product Owner, Web Applications, User Onboarding, Journey Mapping, Software as a Service (SaaS), Business Strategy, Business, Chief Product Officer (CPO), Digital Experience Design, Platforms, Global Product Management, Product Planning, Product Vision, Digital Product Management, Creative Thinking, Conceptualization, Ideation, Feature Prioritization, Planning, Mentorship & Coaching, Agile Leadership, Product Development, Pricing, Pricing Strategy, Product Positioning, Technical Product Management, Mobile App Development, Monetization Models, Mobile Applications, Business to Business (B2B), Customer Insights, Corporate Strategy, Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A), B2B Product Management, Product Requirements Documentation (PRD), App Development, Product Leadership, Operating Models, Dynamic Pricing, Project Consultancy, Product Consultant, Financial Modeling, Feature Roadmaps, Web & Mobile Applications, Data Reporting, Cross-departmental Collaboration, Iteration Management, Language Learning, Global Operations, Operational Risk, Digital Production, SaaS Product Management, Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI), Large Language Models (LLMs), Business Transformation Project Management, Client Management, Program Management, Software Development, General Management, Cross-functional Collaboration, AI Agents, API Integration, Generative Pre-trained Transformers (GPT), Agile Program Management, Data Collection, Data Products, Data Science Product Manager, Data Strategy, Digital Product Development, Personalization, Advertising Technology (Adtech), Internet of Things (IoT), Digital Project Management, Objectives & Key Results (OKRs), People Management, Negotiation, Marketing, Design, Communication, Presentations, Leadership, Writing & Editing, Product Launch, Market Research, Market Fit, Growth Marketing, Amplitude, Product Marketing, Management Consulting, Service Blueprints, Customer Acquisition, Funnel Analysis, Funnel Optimization, Digital Marketing, Funnel Marketing, Fintech, User Interviews, Product Mapping, User Feedback, Go-to-market Strategy, Stakeholder Management, Best Practices, Agile Coaching, Go-to-market Optimization, Market Entry, Minimum Marketable Product (MMP), Market Strategy and Research Product Manager, Positioning, Business Transformation, Target Operating Models, TOM, Direct to Consumer (D2C), Quality Assurance (QA), Artificial Intelligence (AI), Business to Consumer (B2C), Continuous Discovery, Discovery, Content Strategy, Multi-sided Marketplaces, Machine Learning, Product Research, Security Software Development, Revenue Strategy, Revenue Management, Revenue Optimization, Revenue & Expense Projections, Profit & Loss (P&L), Growth, Growth Hacking, Dashboard Design, Data Analysis, Data Visualization, Data-driven Decision-making, Strategic Planning & Execution, Education, Education Product Manager, Cryptocurrency Wallets, Enterprise SaaS, A/B Testing, Onboarding, Market Segmentation, Web, Production Management, Teams, Excel 2013, Sales, Politics, Solar
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