Mark De Carvalho, Project Manager in Toronto, ON, Canada
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Mark De Carvalho

Verified Expert  in Project Management

Project Manager

Toronto, ON, Canada

Toptal member since November 15, 2018

Expertise
Software Project ManagementAgile Project ManagementScrum Master ConsultingAgile CoachingWeb Project Management
Bio

After graduating top of his class in software engineering at the University of Waterloo, Mark became a passionate Agile product and project management leader. He joined the Toptal network to help organizations with Agile product development best practices. Mark has a strong engineering background at Microsoft and Amazon, among others. He has led B2B and B2C SaaS products at startups and medium-sized businesses with $35+ million/year revenue.

Project Highlights

Fintech Agile Transformation
At Mitre Media, led the transition from media company to product-driven Agile business.
Roadmap to Increase Product Competitiveness
Launched an email archive folder synchronization module that helped close several sales deals leading to $2+ million ARR.
Insurance CRM Product Launch
Launched the first Insurance CRM product for NexJ Systems. Supported the first customer in the insurance vertical.

Expertise

  • Agile
  • Agile Coaching
  • Agile Product Management
  • Agile Project Management
  • Product Management
  • Scrum
  • Scrum Master

Work Experience

Vice President of Products

2015 - PRESENT
Mitre Media
  • Re-organized product development by introducing Agile and product management best practices.
  • Launched several successful new products for DIY investors.

Group Product Manager

2012 - 2015
Proofpoint
  • Managed the roadmap for the Enterprise Email Archiving product (>$30 million ARR).
  • Defined quarterly objectives for the archive business unit as part of quarterly business reviews with executive staff.
  • Drove process changes required for successful day-to-day product operations that resulted in hitting 90% of roadmap commitments since January 2012.
  • Delivered, from concept to launch, several high profile market-facing features that involved running simultaneous beta programs.

Senior Product Manager

2007 - 2011
NexJ Systems
  • Managed a team of product managers to deliver on a roadmap of collaborative productivity enhancements, social CRM, customer loyalty management, and more.
  • Worked directly with the CEO and senior executives to establish product vision.
  • Widely established as product leader; selected to be the senior PM for NexJ's first and largest deal in the insurance industry.
  • Leveraged a strong technical background to deliver scalable designs: performed code reviews, mentored junior developers, and participated in technical design and architecture.
  • Helped promote and develop best practices and design methodologies that are now widely adopted by the PM department.

Software Development Engineer

2006 - 2006
Amazon
  • Reduced the amount of time the marketing team spent reviewing and modifying search rankings by building a more usable, reliable, and scalable ranking tool.
  • Developed the back-end for the Top Searches application using data mining and aggregation techniques implemented in Perl and SQL.

Software Development Engineer

2006 - 2006
Microsoft
  • Collaborated with MS Research to develop an extensible platform that provides advertisers with automated decision support during ad proposal generation.

Software Developer

2004 - 2005
RIM (Blackberry)
  • Developed a multimedia and SVG graphics cataloging component using C++/MFC for the BlackBerry Theme Builder development studio.
  • Enhanced SVG importing/exporting tools to convert data into corresponding representations in BlackBerry Theme Builder, including representing and linking animation frames, hyperlinks, and multimedia links.

Project History

Fintech Agile Transformation

At Mitre Media, led the transition from media company to product-driven Agile business.

Rolled out Agile and product management best practices to help shift the company towards being more user- and product-centric. Launched several innovative features and products across multiple brands by following a lean approach to project validation and delivery.

Roadmap to Increase Product Competitiveness

Launched an email archive folder synchronization module that helped close several sales deals leading to $2+ million ARR.

Led research and development toward creating a differentiated solution that would allow us to be more competitive against more established players. Coordinated multiple releases across an 18-month timeframe. Ran pilot programs with key customers to validate the core problem and solution. Aligned cross-functional teams and strengthened internal relationships to deliver on this key strategic functionality that filled key competitive gaps. Collaborated with sales and marketing departments to effectively launch the new feature for existing customers and enable sales to pitch new customers.

Insurance CRM Product Launch

Launched the first Insurance CRM product for NexJ Systems. Supported the first customer in the insurance vertical.

Worked with American Family Insurance to complete their first large Agile project. Coached internal and external stakeholders on Agile best practices. Worked closely with SMEs and expert users to define and launch NexJ's first CRM offering for insurance.

Education

2002 - 2007

Minor in Management Sciences

University of Waterloo - Waterloo, Ontario

2002 - 2007

Bachelor's Degree in Software Engineering

University of Waterloo - Waterloo, Ontario

Certifications

JUNE 2013 - PRESENT

Pragmatic Marketing Certified

Pragmatic Marketing

OCTOBER 2011 - PRESENT

Certified Scrum Product Owner

Mountain Goat Software

Skills

Tools

Spreadsheets

Paradigms

Agile Software Development, Agile Project Management, Agile Product Management, Scrum, Agile, Agile UX

Platforms

Windows, Android

Industry Expertise

Software

Other

Web, Product Management, Product Roadmaps, Agile Sprints, Agile Transformation, Roadmaps, Software as a Service (SaaS), Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO), Freelancing, Competitor Analysis & Profiling, Software Engineering, CRM Systems, Mentorship & Coaching, User Research, Strategy, Finance, Scrum Master, Agile Coaching, Product Marketing, Fintech

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