Manager Design

Christopher Ford

**** * **** **. #**** Round Rock, TX, 78665

269-***-**** ******@*****.*** www.linkedin.com/in/christopheraford1

SKILLS

Business

Product Management, Customer Interviews, Business Intelligence, Market Analysis

Software

Trello/Asana/Monday, Jira, Photoshop, Proto.io, Microsoft Project, Microsoft Teams, Google Analytics, Google Ad Words, Miro, Django, WordPress, Bootstrap 4

Product, Thinking, prototyping, User Requirements, storyboarding

Technology

HTML, CSS, Python, JavaScript, MySQL

Strategy

Cross Functional Team Lead, Agile/Scrum/Kanban, User Stories/Story Mapping, Sprint Planning, Product Lifecycle, Product Roadmap, Lean Startup, Estimating, A/B Testing, Stakeholder Management, Backlog Management, Concept Testing, User Validation

WORK HISTORY

PRODUCT MANAGER 06/2018 to 01/2021

Summit Polymers - Portage, MI

Led end-to-end development, release and post-release iterations of decorative & kinetic automotive products focused on achieving increased quality, comfort, and aesthetic appeal in the automotive industry

Proactively engaged customers, partners, and internal stakeholders, to define impactful roadmaps that facilitated seamless processes in the delivery of interior automotive products for multiple vehicle platforms making 700K parts per year and generating $510M in annual revenue over 6 years

Prioritized product backlog and customer requests by making smart, decisive trade-offs using data-driven analysis and sound judgment in the delivery of initial customer automotive minimum viable products (MVPs) on time and within budget

Led cross functional teams including engineering,, tooling, and manufacturing in the use of thorough and analysis techniques to better optimize product designs and meet key performance indicator (KPI) goals, identifying more than $100K in tooling and manufacturing cost savings

Used A/B testing to compare multiple design iterations against one another to then collect customer feedback and help internal stakeholders and customers come to a design consensus.

Conducted competitive intelligence product research, exploring functionality, usability, and aesthetic appeal of similar products to help the customer make informed decisions regarding market opportunities and product requirements.

PRODUCT MANAGER 09/2017 to 03/2020

Zuhme Auto Care - Kalamazoo, MI

Led end-to-end development, release and post-release iterations of a car detailing app focused on achieving increased quality, convenience, and ease of use, in the consumer auto detailing industry

Uncovered key market opportunities by engaging with customers through user interviews leading to the launch of a car detailing platform, completing more than 700 service requests and generating $175K in revenue

Established strategic relationships with external partners such as assisted living communities or local businesses via cold calling and onsite visits, to increase product awareness and usage, leading to a 12% increase in local traffic and increase in conversions percentage

Used customer support interview feedback to help prioritize the most effective feature requests, leading to the integration of chat functionality into the app, shortening the customer buying cycle and increasing sales by 10%

Through the use of user stories and epics, was able to better understand and streamline the user workflow sequence, leading to a drop in service cancellations and an overall cancellation rate of less than 1%

Defined and monitored KPIs on a daily basis to track app performance and ensure conversion rate percentages as well as other key business goals were being met.

PRODUCT MANAGER 09/2016 to 09/2017

Flexfab - Hastings, MI

Led end-to-end development, release and post-release iterations of interior heating & cooling automotive products focused on achieving increased quality, efficiency, and performance, in the automotive industry

Successfully led cross functional teams by engaging engineering,, sales and manufacturing to drive internal heating and cooling products for two vehicle platforms through the full lifecycle, producing up to 600k parts per year and $36M in company revenue

Effectively and efficiently defined, planned, and prioritized product backlogs to drive impactful changes that greatly improved product testing in order to meet customer requirements

Performed in-depth analysis of products through rigorous testing to drive improvements in both quality and, leading to an 8% increase in product lifecycle performance

PRODUCT DESIGNER 11/2013 to 09/2016

Whirlpool – St. Joseph, MI

Owned the end-to-end design of washing and drying machine products, with a focus on increasing the capacity, appearance, and craftsmanship in the consumer laundry market.

Worked cross functionally with user experience (UX) designers, Industrial designers, and studio engineers to scope and prioritize product feature work in order to create effective prototypes that helped push through the design feedback loop quickly and efficiently

Working closely with UX teams, identified and validated opportunities for user experience improvement by conducting usability testing sessions with customers leading to an increase in buyer perceived quality and usability

Used user stories to create, schedule, and execute detailed design objectives leading to the smooth launch of a dryer top & lid product producing 300K parts per year and generating $40M in annual revenue

EDUCATION

Western Michigan University Bachelor of Science

Engineering Design Technology, 05/2014

CERTIFICATIONS

Scrum Alliance Dallas, TX

Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO) 01/2021

Contact this candidate