Headline

Director, Product Management | EdTech • Global Trade • Automotive | Ex-Mercedes-Benz R&D | Working Backwards from the Customer & Forward with AI | TheProductWala

About

I am a product leader with over 13 years of experience specializing in scaling enterprise platforms through a customer-obsessed, AI-driven approach. My career spans diverse sectors including EdTech, global trade, and automotive, where I have successfully led cross-functional teams to deliver high-impact, scalable solutions. From optimizing global R&D processes at Mercedes-Benz to modernizing virtual classroom experiences at Elevate K-12, I focus on turning complex challenges into actionable roadmaps that drive measurable business outcomes. I am passionate about leveraging data and emerging technology to solve deep-seated user problems and create lasting value.

Location

Bengaluru, Karnataka

Work experience

Head of Product at Enabl3, Aug 2025 - Present · 1 y 2 mo, Bangalore, Enabl3 helps Pharma manufacturers to have a smooth journey in digitisation — the design, development, execution and validation of the Electronic Batch Record, end to end. The result: every step is guided, every entry is signed and audit-ready, and batches run right first time. As Head of Product, I own product strategy and the roadmap: what we build, for whom, and why - working backwards from the people on the shop floor and building forward with AI. What I'm here to do: → Product strategy & roadmap: define what "best-in-class" means for the people making medicines, and turn it into a multi-year roadmap where every item traces back to a customer outcome. → Force multiplication: build the platforms and tooling that let pharma teams go from design to a compliant, released batch faster - not just more digitally. → AI for Industry 4.0: bring AI into manufacturing execution in a way that operators, quality heads and regulators can all trust - with the governance and evaluation frameworks to prove it. → Product culture: grow a product team that ships with rigour, talks to customers constantly, and treats compliance as a design constraint rather than an afterthought. 14 years across automotive R&D, SaaS, global trade and EdTech - all regulated, all complex - brought me here. Pharma is the highest-stakes version of the same problem.

Senior Product Manager at Elevate K-12, Nov 2023 - Sep 2025 · 1 yr 11 mos, 1, Led product development for virtual classroom solutions, delivering engaging learning experiences for 100,000+ monthly active users across US school districts. 2. Implemented automated grade syncing through strategic partnerships, reducing teacher administrative time by 50% and improving grade accuracy by 90%. 3. Designed and launched an intuitive Survey feature within the LMS, increasing student response rates by 3x - from 25% to 75%, enabling richer feedback loops and data-driven instructional improvements. 4. Spearheaded strategic cost optimization initiatives, including a full transition from an Internal propriety platform to Zoom, projected to reduce platform costs by 70% and enhancing the learning experience of our Teachers and Students. 5. Oversaw evaluation and integration of various EdTech platforms (Nearpod, Magic School AI, Edlink, etc.) to drive instructional impact and improve student outcomes, ensuring alignment with business goals, scalability, and compliance with data privacy standards (FERPA, COPPA). 6. Built and scaled AI-driven support agents, resolving 45% of queries autonomously and reducing average resolution time from 30 minutes to under 7 minutes.

Principal Product Manager at EXPORA, Sep 2022 - Nov 2023 · 1 yr 3 mos

Product Owner at Solera, Inc., Oct 2021 - Aug 2022 · 11 mos, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India, Ownership of 3 website products: Proprietary and scalable Content Management System Fully responsive - Mobile first Website Platform Industry leading "drag & drop, no code" Website builder tool These products have 10 OEMs and their 800+ Dealers as clients under the SaaS model with annual revenue of ~15M USD. Responsible for prototyping, validating and implementing new features by participating in regular stakeholder meetings and leveraging data analytics to triangulate areas for improved customer engagement. Responsible for developing the Product Roadmap for FY23. Incorporating industry-leading designs and cutting edge technologies to build future ready smart websites and cater to changing customer needs and improvement of our key product metrics. Support and coordinate the development of A/B Testing solutions for the rollout of various product increments.

Senior Consultant at Mercedes-Benz Research and Development India, Apr 2016 - Oct 2021 · 5 yrs 7 mos, Bengaluru Area, India, End-to-End ownership of over 15 process and automation tools helping around 150 users worldwide to improve their efficiency by over 10%. Responsible for defining business requirements and metrics by working very closely with cross-functional stakeholders including but not limited to business owners, software developers and end customers. Further introduced agile project management tools (Jira) and methods (Scrum and Kanban) in my team that was templatized across different teams. Responsible for Global Testing and Release Management of Siemens NX CAD software for over 6000+ Design Engineers. Deputed at Daimler AG in Stuttgart, Germany as an Expatriate (April 2019 to September 2019). Built a close contact with Research & Development community to define processes for a new "Parameter Management Tool" in the area of vehicle certification. The process is expected to reduce ~ 4500 man-hours (80%) yearly and prevent legal penalties that can run into millions of euros caused by human error. Proposed and created an IT System landscape in the Powertrain domain to ensure consolidation of IT tools being used across the Mercedes-Benz Development system. The landscape is currently enabling the identification and phasing out of redundant IT tools reducing overhead IT costs.

Product Design Engineer at Mercedes-Benz Research and Development India, Jul 2012 - Apr 2016 · 3 yrs 10 mos, Bengaluru Area, India, Design Engineer with the NX Migration and Methods team. Responsibilities Included, 1. Developing methods to Migrate and Re-design Daimler Truck Power train CAD Data (2D and 3D) from the existing CATIA V5 data to Siemens NX. 2. Re-designing of Complex Powetrain components like - Gear Box Housing, Cylinder Crank Case, Cylinder Head, Intake ducts Etc. in NX according to the Daimler Methodologies. 3. Coordinating with more than 30 external suppliers for quality, methodology and on time delivery of assigned parts for migration. Other responsibilities include: 1. Key member of the “Corporate Social Responsibility(CSR)” team of MBRDI 2. ERT - Emergency Response Team of the Company. 3.Sang Tarang - An Employee engagement initiative at department level.

Intern at Continental, Jan 2012 - Jun 2012 · 6 mos, Worked on a project titled: CFD Analysis and Automatic Meshing of Diesel Injector Nozzles.

Education

Master of Business Administration - MBA (Executive), Business Analytics, SVKM's Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies (NMIMS)

Bachelor of Engineering (BEng), Mechanical Engineering, RV College of Engineering