John Ickes Email & Phone Number

Canton, Ga, Us

Canton, Ga, Us

Within this role I’ve guided product strategy and vision, delivering to market new B2C / B2B SaaS products expected to drive multimillion-dollar revenue growth.I develop product prototypes to attain buy-in and investment approval, build impact vs effort matrix for roadmap prioritization, define initial product requirements, collaborate with staff engineers on architecture and tech stack, and own risk management and stakeholder engagement.I refine product go-to-market plans by uniting executives, external stakeholders, marketing, sales, and other cross-functional teams on budgets and timelines. I also plan future features and phases by monitoring key analytics, industry trends, technical innovation, A/B testing results, and customer feedback.KEY OF ACHIEVEMENTS:◾ Managed a cross-functional team of up to 25 members, including heads of engineering, design, customer success, and marketing as well as the executive team and primary stakeholders to develop a go-to-market strategy and ensure the successful delivery of dozens of major releases.◾ Resolved complexities between product and engineering to assure goals alignment and prioritize solutions.◾ Fortified security and enhanced analytics by unifying authentication and authorization processes across all products, ensuring regulatory compliance while delivering customization and scalability.◾ Led cross-departmental effort to identify and implement a new subscription billing solution to meet the needs of our customers, allow for metered usage, tax integration, improved forecasting, and increase NRR.◾ Led customer engagements to foster collaboration, strengthen relationships, grow “champions”, and evangelize current and planned software solutions.◾ Defined and implemented processes for requirements gathering, vision development, design, prototyping, and functional specification authoring, resulting in 30%+ improvement in product velocity and throughput.

I partnered with staff engineers to address skill and resource gaps within the development department to better match needs and enhance overall efficiency. Then turning focus to standardization and best-practices expectations to provide resource flexibility between development teams and roles within those teams.I organized and led an architecture committee of senior engineers to drive cross-team collaboration and ensure optimal product development. I also developed new decision-making workflows, provided hands-on leadership to development teams during critical phases, and streamlined deployment processes by implementing CI/CD pipelines.KEY ACHIEVEMENTS:◾ Consistently explored and integrated new technologies and methodologies to advance products, empower developers, wow customers, and challenge the status quo.◾ Managed day-to-day technical direction of engineering teams, balancing technical debt, new development, emerging technologies, and future innovation, while optimizing for ROI and cost efficiency.◾ Boosted overall productivity by over 20% after implementing comprehensive data analysis (DORA+) into our engineering processes and continuously optimizing resource utilization and workflows based on findings.◾ Instituted formal review processes for product roadmaps and secured stakeholder approval of vision and mockups before development, significantly reducing rework and increasing feature adoption.◾ Introduced AI to automate reviews of smaller pull requests resulting in 22% more time for development and mentoring.

Canton, Ga, Us

As both CEO and Head of Product and Engineering, I revitalized the tone and direction of the company while providing strategic guidance on products, technology, and new business opportunities prior to selling the company.Within this role, I balanced cultivating new business opportunities within the existing customer base with uncovering opportunities to acquire new customers. I also mentored engineers, product managers, and design leads and introduced initiatives that fostered employee and team growth. I oversaw web and mobile application development and the implementation of robust security initiatives.KEY ACHIEVEMENTS:◾ Strategically positioned the company for acquisition by optimizing financial performance, streamlining operations, and enhancing market presence, culminating in a successful sale.◾ Spearheaded the company’s move to Azure and Azure DevOps to increase the power and potential of our technology stack, improve uptime, and provide additional services to our customers.◾ Built a culture of empowerment for employees. Understanding that not all paths are linear, we mentor, coach, and seek opportunities for growth. Pushing each other to success and putting others before self.◾ Crafted a competitive product strategy and roadmap, balancing demands from multiple departments and stakeholders, leading to a 28% YoY increase in customer satisfaction.◾ Saved non-profit customers millions in ad spend and boosted donations by creating a custom-built CRM solution for both technical and non-technical users to migrate thousands of public location-based websites.

Canton, Ga, Us

I was promoted to refine and approve new projects that aligned with strategic vision while supporting ongoing projects.I strengthened customer relations and satisfaction throughout project lifecycle and facilitated smooth execution of projects by communicating effectively with and guiding product managers. I also interviewed and hired new employees, conducted performance reviews with constructive feedback, and optimized team performance by overseeing team leads.

Canton, Ga, Us

I oversaw cross-functional teams in completing projects on-time and within budget constraints.This involved establishing product requirements by consulting with customers to understand their needs and identifying opportunities for improvement and innovation. I established product roadmaps that aligned with strategic objectives and managed product budgets. I also led team sprints, refined backlogs, and partnered with design teams to create prototypes.

Canton, Ga, Us

Primary software developer for large-scale projects as Senior Software Engineer with Devnext—leading end-to-end development lifecycles including architecture, design, development, testing, release, and ongoing support.EARLIER CAREER HIGHLIGHTS:◾ Founder and CEO of E3 Consulting with success in developing and implementing a national Medical Transcription system still utilized today and engineering custom Touchscreen Communication system for large ships.◾ Additional 6 years of software engineering experience with 3M, Dun & Bradstreet, and BST Global.