Akhilesh is available for hire
Hire AkhileshAkhilesh Sattenapalli
Verified Expert in Project Management
Project Manager
Location
Toronto, ON, Canada
Toptal Member Since
March 17, 2021
Akhilesh is a project manager who excels in IT projects, such as product and mobile applications (iOS and Android), SaaS solutions, and system migration projects. He has worn multiple hats, including scrum master and business analyst. He managed the development and release of a new product in the digital canvas industry that generated nearly ten times the estimated ROI. He is known for his thoroughness in drafting product roadmaps, strategies, and comprehensive project documentation.
Project Highlights
New Platform (SaaS Solution, Mobile Application) for Small, Medium-scale Enterprises
Launched several releases of this new product, which gained a large a customer base and secured ten times the estimated ROI.
Spearheaded IT RFP to Identify Qualified Vendor to Develop Web Application
Awarded contract to the vendor. Secured savings of $500,000. Acted as a primary liaison between the vendor and business team, managed all dependencies, identified risks, and avoided scope creep proactively.
Expertise
Work Experience
Project Manager
2022 - PRESENT
WorkSafe BC
- Managed three teams (14 people) and projects with an annual budget of $3 million.
- Owned the ecosystem of products—development, testing, production deployment, and production support.
- Facilitated monthly project steering committee meetings. Presented project status to stakeholders on a regular basis.
Program Manager
2021 - 2021
Cognizant
- Led new microservices development in the renowned retail industry.
- Managed, as a project manager, timelines and budget, communicated project status to stakeholders regularly, managed dependencies, and allocated resources.
- Managed multiple projects under my portfolio as a program manager.
- Acted as a scrum master, managing all dependencies with external teams, organizing Jira boards, and facilitating scrum ceremonies.
Program Manager
2021 - 2021
OneSpan
- Planned and led the product rollout right from code cut-off (developer) through multiple environments (QA, pre-Sandbox, Sandbox) to production.
- Facilitated phase gate meetings to obtain stakeholder consensus on Sandbox and production go/no-go.
- Conducted cross-functional meetings to bring together developers, quality analysts, and DevOps (deployment team) to tackle impediments to ensure a smooth rollout of product release.
- Ensured products were released as per the corporate roadmap.
- Developed communication management plan and communicated the project status to stakeholders.
Software Project Manager
2019 - 2021
Videri
- Trained multiple teams on Agile methodology (Scrum and Kanban framework). Transformed teams from Waterfall to Hybrid and then to Agile.
- Led software development projects (development and integration of back end and front end). Led mobile application projects (iOS, Android) and released to respective app stores.
- Led end-to-end new product development from discovery phase to requirements gathering, design, development, testing, maintenance, and support.
- Facilitated all sprint ceremonies (grooming, sprint planning, daily stand-up meetings, mid-sprint checkpoints, sprint reviews, sprint retrospectives, release planning and product demonstrations).
- Developed comprehensive project documentation such as detailed project plan, schedules, estimates, Gantt charts, and timely status reports.
- Set up change management processes. Managed scope change requests with proper impact analysis.
- Tracked project performance and compared against KPI (CPI, SPI, sprint velocities) and also against project success criteria.
- Managed and responded to client requests.
- Developed a communication management plan. Facilitated timely project status meetings to communicate to stakeholders.
Project Manager
2016 - 2019
Purolator
- Implemented enterprise-wide digitalization solutions such as SAP Ariba, electronic signature solutions, digital invoice management systems, and document management systems.
- Secured savings of $500,000 annually by digitalization (reducing paper usage and storage space).
- Conducted requirements elicitation sessions with business stakeholders. Translated business requirements into functional/non functional, system security service-level architectural support requirements.
- Led complicated RFP's. Evaluated RFP responses. Organized vendor presentations, led contract negotiations, awarded contract to vendor. Managed vendor and monitored vendor performance.
- Drafted project documentation such as project charter, SOW, communication management plan, executive presentations, contracts, RAID logs, Gantt charts, WBS and project schedule, business case, project proposal, and release and transition plans.
- Managed product development and led user acceptance testing. Prepared training manuals and facilitated training sessions.
Associate Project Manager
2014 - 2015
Syncup Technologies
- Managed software upgrades and migration projects for banking institutions. This project included migration of OS, browser, and software versions on various hardware devices.
- Drafted standard operating procedures and trained new team members to efficiently carry out migration activities.
- Developed project dashboards for both executives and managers in MS Excel to monitor project performance.
- Allocated and managed resources to successfully complete projects on time and within projects.
- Created detailed project documents including work plans, schedules, stakeholder management plan, communication plan, change logs, risk log, and escalation processes.
Project History
New Platform (SaaS Solution, Mobile Application) for Small, Medium-scale Enterprises
Launched several releases of this new product, which gained a large a customer base and secured ten times the estimated ROI.
I led the project discovery phase to identify business goals and targeted audience and success criteria. Identified requirements and developed feature backlog (user stories). Created product roadmaps and planned roll-out of the product in multiple phases.
Identified user personas and worked with designers to create efficient user journeys. Managed 20 developers and testers. Led the front end, back end, and mobile application development simultaneously.
Carried out user acceptance testing and deployed the product in multiple phases. Worked with sales to develop client-requested features and collaborated with LiveOps to assist with production issues supported by clients.
Spearheaded development activities while also collaborating with the hardware team.
Identified user personas and worked with designers to create efficient user journeys. Managed 20 developers and testers. Led the front end, back end, and mobile application development simultaneously.
Carried out user acceptance testing and deployed the product in multiple phases. Worked with sales to develop client-requested features and collaborated with LiveOps to assist with production issues supported by clients.
Spearheaded development activities while also collaborating with the hardware team.
Enterprise-wide Implementation of SAP Ariba
Launched organization-wide SAP Ariba. Trained over 100 users and digitalized contract management and RFP processes.
Documented current end-to-end process. Conducted requirement gathering sessions with business stakeholders and data mapping sessions to identify customized fields. Collaborated with the SAP team to customize the tool as per business requirements. Deployed the pilot version of the Ariba tool in partnership with the procurement department. Collaborated with 200 vendors to create Ariba profiles and digitalized the RFP and contract management process.
Spearheaded IT RFP to Identify Qualified Vendor to Develop Web Application
Awarded contract to the vendor. Secured savings of $500,000. Acted as a primary liaison between the vendor and business team, managed all dependencies, identified risks, and avoided scope creep proactively.
Collaborated with a business team of 14 stakeholders to elicit, analyze, and document different kinds of requirements such as functional, security, load and performance, warranties, service level agreements, user interface, scalability, configuration, data maintenance, audit log, and support requirements.
Worked with legal to prepare and consolidate RFP documentation (terms and conditions, timelines) and draft contract.
Categorized requirements into mandatory, rated requirements and proposed an evaluation strategy to business teams
Led end-to-end RFP, answered all vendor questions, organized oral demonstrations with vendors, evaluated proposals, negotiated and awarded the contract to vendor.
Acted as the primary contact between business and vendor during project execution and monitored vendor performance against contractually agreed SLA's.
Worked with legal to prepare and consolidate RFP documentation (terms and conditions, timelines) and draft contract.
Categorized requirements into mandatory, rated requirements and proposed an evaluation strategy to business teams
Led end-to-end RFP, answered all vendor questions, organized oral demonstrations with vendors, evaluated proposals, negotiated and awarded the contract to vendor.
Acted as the primary contact between business and vendor during project execution and monitored vendor performance against contractually agreed SLA's.
Education
2013 - 2015
Master's Degree in Industrial Engineering
Concordia University - Montreal, Canada
2009 - 2013
Bachelor's Degree in Mechanical Engineering
SRM University - Chennai, India
Certifications
MAY 2019 - PRESENT
Certified Scrum Master
Scrum Alliance
FEBRUARY 2018 - PRESENT
Project Management Professional (PMP)
Project Management Institute (PMI)
AUGUST 2017 - PRESENT
Black Belt (Six Sigma Lean)
Management and Strategy Institute
Collaboration That Works
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