Aaron Dodds Email & Phone Number

Portland, Or, Us

Monterey, Ca, Us

San Francisco, Ca, Us

Product Leadership: Led product strategy, product roadmaps, and product development for an international B2B/B2C content platform for academic/scientific research, with over 3 million monthly active users in over 100 countries, including web and mobile experiences, content search and discovery, recommendation engine, APIs, data warehouse, and 3rd-party integrations including APIs, 3rd-party integrations.Team Leadership: Recruited, led, and developed an international, cross-functional team of product managers, user and market researchers, and data analysts, fostering a collaborative, user-centered and data-driven work environment.Cross-functional Collaboration: Collaborated seamlessly with leaders across engineering, marketing, and sales teams to ensure a unified approach to product development and delivery. Product Lifecycle Management: Oversaw the entire agile product development lifecycle, including user research, business case development, ideation, roadmap development, requirements development, prototyping, A/B testing, design, delivery, and performance management.Market Analysis: Led research of market trends, competitor offerings, and customer needs to inform business and technology strategies.Data Analytics Leadership: Revamped the organization’s data analytics capabilities, leading a cross-functional team in the creation of an enterprise data architecture, delivering key insights to stakeholders, and driving a data-informed culture.User and Market Research Leadership: Designed and established the organization’s user and market research capabilities, developing and growing a team of qualitative and quantitative researchers executing high-impact initiatives that informed business decisions and drove growth.Business Enablement: Enabled successful expansion of business from B2C into B2B, collaborating with Sales and Finance leadership to identify, develop, and deliver valuable capabilities to support business customers and enable scale.

San Francisco, Ca, Us

Product Leadership: Led product strategy, product roadmaps, and product development for an international B2B/B2C content platform for academic/scientific research, with over 350k articles and 3 million monthly active users in over 100 countries, including web and mobile experiences, content search and discovery, recommendation engine, APIs, data warehouse, and 3rd-party integrations.Team Leadership: Led and developed a cross-functional team of product owners, product managers, and user experience (UX) designers, fostering a collaborative and innovative work environment.Platform Modernization: Modernized platform, reduced technical debt, and improved usability, driving significant increases in user engagement and satisfaction while reducing operating costs.Team Building: Rebuilt the organization's product management function, streamlining product operations, upskilling staff, disambiguating responsibilities, and implementing best practices across the PDLC. Portfolio Steering: Established and chaired executive portfolio steering committee, leading collaborative decision-making and instilling an outcomes-driven and transparent culture within the leadership team.

Palo Alto, California, Us

Product Leadership: Led roadmap and development of an B2B SaaS EdTech platform for assessment and proctoring using AI/ML to detect academic dishonesty in high-stakes testing, catering to the higher education and professional development markets.Startup Leadership: Guided development within an education technology (EdTech) early-stage startup, formulating business and product strategies, engaging early adopters and design partners, building initial product offerings, and assessing market fit.Business and Product Strategy Leadership: Collaborated closely with the CEO and CTO to formulate and execute comprehensive business and product strategies. Contributions included market research, business modeling, pricing, defining product offerings, and creation of the product roadmap.Cross-functional Team Leadership: Managed and developed product managers, collaborated with business partners, led executive team meetings, and established a robust OKR playbook to align organizational objectives.Fundraising: Contributed to the completion of a successful funding round.

Palo Alto, California, Us

Product Leadership: Developed an AI-based B2B SaaS platform designed to identify academic dishonesty in high-stakes testing within the higher education and professional development markets.Startup Leadership: Guided development within an education technology (EdTech) early-stage startup, formulating business and product strategies, conducting market research, and designing and developing initial product offerings.Cross-functional Team Leadership: Led the product management function and served as a dynamic product manager in a high-paced startup environment.Product Strategy Leadership: Collaborated closely with the CEO and CTO to define the go-to-market strategy, initial product scope and strategic roadmap.Requirements Management: Crafted detailed user stories and acceptance criteria, designed intuitive workflows, and created wireframes to ensure a user-centric and effective product design.Agile Product Ownership: Operated as the product owner within an agile SDLC, ensuring alignment with strategic goals and overseeing successful product development iterations.

Malvern, Pennsylvania, Us

Product Leadership: Formulated and executed an enterprise technology strategy for a suite of B2B SaaS education technology (EdTech) and e-learning products, including market research, product and platform strategy creation, roadmap development, requirements creation, and user experience design, achieving an Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) of $25M.Cross-Functional Team Leadership: Assembled, developed, and guided a dynamic team consisting of product directors, product managers, UX designers, and technical writers, contributing to the success and growth of the product portfolio.Engineering Leadership: Operated as interim CTO, leading engineering, QA, DevOps, and project management teams through to the successful sale of the business. SDLC Leadership: Led the optimization of the SDLC, spearheading enhancements in Scrum practices across multiple teams. Operated as an agile evangelist, coaching and aligning leaders and individual contributors within the organization.Portfolio Steering: Chaired the executive steering committee, fostering close collaboration across the leadership team. Led comprehensive buy/build analysis and played a pivotal role in formulating and negotiating responses for key RFPs.Awards: Recipient of Edtech Digest award for Best Professional Development Solution twice, and a CODiE award finalist for Best Professional Development Solution, showcasing consistent recognition for innovation and excellence in the field.

San Francisco, Ca, Us

Startup Leadership: Operated as GM for an internal education technology (EdTech) startup; led business strategy, product strategy, user experience design, Go-to-Market, M&A initiatives, partnerships, and P&L. Product Leadership: Guided the creation of a B2B and B2C SaaS platform for game-based learning within the K-12 education market, developing an immersive game-based learning world, offering standards-aligned learning experiences and assessments to enhance educational outcomes.Cross-Functional Team Leadership: Recruited, developed, and provided leadership to a cross-functional team consisting of product managers, game designers, user experience designers, engineers, and curriculum experts.

London, Gb

Product Leadership: Led a portfolio of B2B SaaS education technology (EdTech) products tailored for domestic and international K-12 markets.Product Leadership: Directed domestic and international product development, overseeing a combined user base of 30 million in 65 countries and achieving an Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) surpassing $100M.Cross-Functional Team Leadership: Developed and provided leadership to a distributed team of 32 product directors, product managers, product marketers, and business analysts, fostering collaboration and excellence within the team.Product Portfolio Management: Oversaw a suite of seven enterprise SaaS products in the K-12 education market, encompassing student information management, grade book, analytics, system integration, and mobile apps.Portfolio Steering: Chaired the executive steering committee, fostering close collaboration across the leadership team and leading strategic decision-making.

London, Gb

Product Leadership: Led domestic and international product management for a suite industry-leading B2B SaaS education technology (EdTech) product lines within the K-12 market.Cross-Functional Team Leadership: Recruited, led, and developed a distributed team of fourteen product managers, business analysts, and technical writers, fostering collaboration and achieving strategic objectives.Product Growth: Achieved a $20M increase in Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) through the implementation of a localization strategy, driving substantial growth in international markets.Innovation Leadership: Pioneered a platform strategy and co-created a partner program, enhancing product defensibility and ensuring sustained competitiveness in the market.Award: Recognized with an innovation award for successfully transitioning the division from a Waterfall to Scrum SDLC, contributing to increased efficiency and adaptability.

London, Gb

Product Leadership: Led the PowerSchool SIS product line, recognized as the most widely used student information system (SIS) in North America.Team Leadership: Developed and guided a team of three business analysts in a highly collaborative, fast-paced, and user-centric development environment, fostering innovation and excellence.User and Market Research: Conducted user interviews, surveys, and competitive product research to discern key challenges and identify opportunities for development, ensuring a user-centric approach.Award: Recipient of the Best Student Information System award from eSchool Reader.

Cupertino, California, Us

Team Leadership: Provided leadership and development for a co-located team of nineteen support engineers and technical writers, fostering collaboration and continuous improvement.Technical Leadership: Managed the prioritization of all customer-reported defects, scoping of maintenance releases, and the creation of help content and release notes, ensuring a seamless customer experience.Business Process Optimization: Drove efficiency in sustaining engineering and support operations through various initiatives, including CRM workflow optimization, establishment of a comprehensive customer knowledge base, and standardization of hotfix and software release practices.Award: Recipient of the Employee of the Year award for outstanding efforts in streamlining business and development operations, contributing to enhanced organizational effectiveness.