Tobias Lukowitz
Verified Expert in Product Management
Product Manager
Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
Toptal member since May 12, 2020
Tobias is an entrepreneurial product manager with several years of professional experience in leading cutting-edge digital B2B2C products. He is an expert in highly competitive, volatile, and regulated markets such as banking, fintech, and insurtech. Working in both startups and large enterprises, Tobias has led scaled agile cross-functional teams. He is passionate about data-driven decision making and continually delivering high scale products from ideation to growth.
Project Highlights
Expertise
- Agile Product Management
- Agile Software Development
- Banking & Finance
- Business to Business (B2B)
- Fintech
- Go-to-market Plans
- Growth
- Identity & Access Management (IAM)
Work Experience
Chief Product Officer
Fintech Startup
- Launched an open-banking ecosystem and integrated over 1,000 banks for two-click and real-time identity verification within nine months.
- Implemented a group-wide and partner-spanning roadmap planning process with top executives from Europe's two largest banking groups.
- Defined a unique and disruptive electronic signature and Anti-Money-Laundering Act compliant identity verification solution based on online-banking two-factor authentication.
- Made sure that ecosystem and services comply with the Anti-Money-Laundering Act, minimum requirements for risk management, supervisory requirements for IT, and the Payment Services Supervision Act.
- Designed and implemented processes for scalable and high performing partner onboarding, support, complaint, and incident management.
Co-founder | Managing Director
Corporate Startup
- Successfully funded, founded, and managed a corporate startup with a German DAX 30 corporation.
- Established an early confirmation of proof of concept (POC) and market acceptance.
- Collaborated with federal ministries of finance, economy, and interior to shape regulatory context around identity management (Anti-Money-Laundering Act, Payment Services Supervision Act, and eIDAS).
Lead Portfolio Manager, Identity Management
German, DAX30 Corporation
- Successfully transformed product management practices from single product responsibilities to cross-industry portfolio approach with team of 20.
- Applied and established agile management methods in cross-functional team of 60 (product, IT, marketing, business development, and sales).
- Exploited market potential by establishing a portfolio in three new markets through winning and launching lighthouse customers within a six-month period.
- Refocused the approach and profitability by establishing value-based pricing (coming from penetration pricing) as well as increasing operational performance and efficiency—resulting in the fastest break-even of newly established digital solutions.
- Achieved market-leading customer satisfaction while at the same time reducing costs by a two-digit percentage.
Product Owner | Product Manager, Identity Management
German, DAX30 Corporation
- Led three agile development teams (5-7 developers each) in back-end, front-end, web, and app (iOS & Android) development as well as marketing and business development teams.
- Launched and established three new and innovative digital solutions for identity verification within 12 months—a 6 million transaction p.a. at a 15% annual growth rate.
- Won strategic partners in banking, health insurance, telco, and mobility sector for joint product development and go-to-market strategy.
- Awarded first place in the category "Customer Relations/Recruitment" for a photo-based identity solution at Enterprise Mobility Summit 2017 of Vogel IT-Academy.
Scientific Assistant | Lecturer | Ph.D. Student
University of Cologne
- Successfully published and defended my Ph.D. thesis on "Multirelational Network Analysis of Formal Organizational Structures."
- Held highly respected lectures on strategic management, competitive dynamics, strategic alliances as well as organizational and corporate development.
- Led strategy consulting projects for corporate partners around evolving food delivery services.
Project History
Go-to-market Strategy of an Open-banking Ecosystem
Created a successful go-to-market strategy of an open banking ecosystem with more than 1,000 banks in the shortest possible time in cooperation with the two largest European banking groups.
• Defined and led go-to-market by aligning overall product strategy, roadmap, pricing, organizational structures, and processes.
• Accomplished the launch of an MVP with over 1,000 banks within nine months by constantly refining a go-to-market approach and roadmap as well as closely aligning with external partners.
• Led and mentored a team of 15 around product management, development, and DevOps.
Spin-off and Management of a Corporate Startup
Pitched and led the funding, founding, development, and management of a corporate startup in cooperation with a DAX 30 company to launch a disruptive B2B2C identity-sharing platform.
Tasks Accomplished:
• Founded a startup to develop and launch a B2B2C identity-sharing platform that was cannibalized but at the same time, strategically complemented the existing product portfolio and aligned it for international expansion.
• Accomplished a PoC (proof of concept) and approval of the business model, business case, and suitable organizational structures within a few weeks by rapid prototyping and user testing with business partners.
• Ensured legal and regulatory compliance through collaboration with federal ministries of finance, economy, and interior.
Digital and Agile Transformation of Product Management at DAX 30 Corporation
Accomplished the market launch of a digital product portfolio within nine months, successfully positioned the portfolio, and increased sales in an increasingly competitive market; accompanied organizational development towards agile practices.
Tasks Accomplished:
• Accomplished the fastest go-to-market delivery within a highly dynamic market and shifting customer needs.
• Defined the portfolio strategy including pricing, roadmap, sales approach, and customer migration.
• Successfully transformed product development from waterfall to agile practices by closely aligning with all units and stakeholders involved.
• Accomplished furthermore organizational development towards SAFe (scaled agile framework) after the first transition phase.
• Trained and led a sales team of 30 and a product management team of eight.
Education
Ph.D. in Strategy and Organization
University of Cologne - Cologne, Germany
Master's Degree (Diploma) in Business Administration
University of Cologne - Cologne, Germany
Bachelor's Degree (Pre-diploma) in Business Administration
Technical University of Berlin - Berlin, Germany
Certifications
Venture Deals
Kauffmann Fellows
Skills
Tools
Atlassian Suite, Jira, Confluence, Zoom, Slack, Google Workspace, Figma, InVision
Paradigms
Scrum, Agile Software Development, Agile Product Management, Agile, Rapid Prototyping, User Testing, Agile Workflow
Industry Expertise
Banking & Finance, Insurance Technology (Insurtech)
Other
Fintech, Identity & Access Management (IAM), Product Strategy, Product Management, Product Owner, Business to Business (B2B), Feature Backlog Prioritization, Product Roadmaps, Feature Roadmaps, Go-to-market Plans, Business Models, Product Design, Product Innovation, Remote Work, Growth, User Acceptance Testing (UAT), Business Analysis, User Requirements, User Research, Agile Product Delivery, Startup Funding, Miro, Zoho, Microsoft Office, Pipedrive API, System Requirements
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