Melanie is an expert problem solver with a strong bias towards action, relentlessly focused on delivering value and impact. She is able to seamlessly pivot between high-level strategy and the detail-oriented requirements of product development. Demonstrated success at leading cross-functional efforts at the team, department, and organizational levels.

Key Skills

Collaboration

Lead cross-functional teams across Engineering, Design, Data, Machine Learning, Marketing, Operations, and Sales to deliver innovative solutions and enhance product offerings. Skilled at developing and leading idea generation workshops, creating cohesion and clarity around company vision, and building high-functioning teams that are agile and can manage esoteric problems.

Product Strategy

Define and advocate for a strategic product vision based on company goals and market needs. Able to transform ambiguity into actionable plans with business-informed prioritization. Experience pivoting strategy in response to external and internal stimuli such as global pandemics or acquisition. Prioritizes tight feedback loops, offering transparency for product priorities and path to resolution.

Team Leadership

6+ years of experience hiring, managing, and retaining talent in fast-paced environments. Proven track record of coaching individuals using growth plans and performance-based KPIs to support individual and company growth. Experience creating leveling frameworks from the ground up and managing team expectations.

Stakeholder Management

Collaborate closely with executive leadership and other stakeholders to ensure product strategies are aligned with business objectives, driving overall company success. Works directly with Enterprise customers and internal stakeholders to manage high value projects. Manages relationships with external partners, systematizing the prioritization of integration maintenance requirements.

Growth Strategy

Influences company growth by analyzing data, industry trends, competitive intelligence, and customer insights to define product direction - setting, measuring, and optimizing KPIs. Skilled in leading strategy workshops and SWOT analyses to identify opportunities that balance customer and business needs.

Customer Centric

Deep user empathy and experience building products based on user needs. Engage with key customers and stakeholders to gather insights, validate concepts, and refine product offerings. Researches market and gets to know customers (internally and externally), translating that expertise into actionable strategies and solutions across product and go-to-market efforts.

Data & Analytics

Demonstrated history of achieving product outcomes through user testing and data-driven decision-making. Built the data practice at Koala, optimizing cross-department processes to leverage data and insights for stronger problem solving. Advocated for the transition from a sales-driven roadmap to a metrics-driven prioritization structure.

0-1 Product Development

Drive development of 0-1 platforms to support high-growth in key markets by defining product strategy, positioning, ROI, and developing cross-domain strategies to measure results. Oversee the entire product lifecycle, working closely with designers and developers to concept, prototype, ship, measure, and improve. Expert in Agile & Scrum methodologies, and the application in delivery processes.

Design Systems

Work with the design team and front-end engineers to continuously improve the design system and measure its impact on team productivity, raising the bar for design quality and user experience. Familiar with UX/UI Best Practices. Oversaw the Product Design team at Koala including optimizing workflows for design system updates and engagement across design and engineering teams.

Values

  • When strong talent has autonomy, they become intrinsically motivated to succeed. When you have a strong vision, properly distilled into goals and metrics, you create freedom for teams to innovate within those guidelines and principles. When people feel in charge of their work, they are empowered because the success is theirs. A leader’s role is never to prescribe, but to set the guardrails in which teams and individuals can innovate at their will. This results in autonomous, high functioning teams that are able to produce great, innovative ideas.

  • As cliché as it sounds, we are stronger than the sum of our parts. While each individual role has its own responsibilities and areas of expertise, creative solutions can come from all corners of an organization. There is a fine line between group think and collaboration, but harnessing the collective powers of a team has a wealth of benefits. It keeps individuals engaged and inspired, fueling productivity. It increases the knowledge available for problem solving, and the effectiveness of solutions. It encourages learning, and discourages working in a vacuum. Good collaboration requires the right processes and protocols - but when done properly enhances the quality of solutions and the speed of delivery.

  • My first question, when presented with almost any problem or concern, is "What information is available?" followed closely by "What information do we need to gather?". Data sits at the core of good problem solving - whether it's determining product-market fit for a new line of business, deciding what features are priority, or solving interpersonal conflicts within a team. When we gather information we arm ourselves with what is true and real, which allows us to identify high value outcomes, potential risks and challenges, and ultimately chart the most successful path forward.

  • Iteration is at the core of good prioritization. It is pulling out the “must haves” from a solution and starting small. It is making progressive adjustments to process that solve friction points as they arise. It is simplifying change management by taking individual steps into the future, and validating success before the next change occurs. Iteration makes complexity manageable, and before you know it, you’ve climbed the mountain (or have built a really great, market viable product).

  • Individuals should feel excited at work, safe within a team environment, and encouraged to bring their unique talents to what they do. Scare tactics and “big brothering” lead to burnout and turnover. Teams deserve to be able to share opinions and ideas or surface concerns without fear of negative repercussions. They deserve vulnerability from leaders, and kindness from co workers. They deserve to treated like humans. And when individuals are treated like humans, they are unafraid of sharing big ideas - ideas that can reshape the future.