DEEPA RAO KODAVANTI
Toronto,Canada
Summary
Senior Product Manager with 14+ years in the tech industry, specializing in Retail and Ecommerce, with an emphasis on Search and Personalization. Expertise lies in driving product vision, design, and execution to boost user engagement and business impact. Proven leadership in managing cross-functional teams to deliver innovative products, with a successful track record in developing and optimizing search solutions and personalized experiences. Excels in leveraging data-driven insights to fuel user engagement and business growth, and skilled in handling complex projects, stakeholder communication, and strategic planning.
Overview
17
17
years of professional experience
Work History
Senior Product Manager, E-Commerce (Search & Personalization)
Walmart Canada
01.2023 - Current
- Led the development and launch of innovative ML/AI search features, resulting in a +4.23% increase in Search Engagement. This contributed to a Search CSAT score of 5.92 and a reduction in negative search feedback from 15% to 13%, significantly boosting conversion and customer satisfaction
- Conducted user research, market analysis, and competitor studies to identify industry trends and opportunities, shape product strategy, and drive KPIs.
- Worked in tandem with business, international product, engineering, and data teams to continuously improve search performance and refine the user experience.
- Administered A/B testing for new search features, utilizing business and market feedback to enhance product design and functionality. This data-driven approach led to insightful decision-making
- Effectively collaborated with business and international product partners to strategically plan, prioritize, and deliver key personalization features. This enhanced the customer journey by offering context-driven product recommendations and experiences, resulting in successful business outcomes. As a result, over 25% of Add-to-Carts are now attributable to personalization strategies.
- Oversaw search and personalization analytics dashboard, providing actionable insights for continuous product improvement.
Product Manager, E-commerce (Shop, Search, Personalization)
Walmart Canada
01.2021 - 01.2023
- Defined and drove the product vision and strategy for the Shop, Search, and Personalization portfolios, resulting in an increase in Search User engagement, ATCs from personalized recommendations, and PIP ATCs.
- Collaborated effectively with the business, international product, and international engineering teams, ensuring timely feature releases that drove business outcomes and enhanced customer satisfaction.
- Conducted comprehensive market research to pinpoint critical product gaps and customer issues.
- Utilized this research to shape the development of a strategic product roadmap, focusing on implementing effective solutions, which improved Search and Personalization KPIs and increased Visitor NPS.
- Responsible for monitoring the results of A/B tests for new feature releases, creating insights to facilitate data-driven decision-making for the business, and providing guidance on 'go/no go' scenarios.
- Prioritized and managed the delivery of a roadmap encompassing over 30 key features, significantly enhancing customer satisfaction and business impact.
Associate Product Manager, Digital Marketing
Walmart Canada
01.2020 - 01.2021
- Led a project to develop an in-house self-serve dashboard, providing visibility to marketing campaign performances across various channels for Walmart Media Group (WMG) and advertisers. This tool aids in campaign optimization and media spending planning.
- Regularly liaised with leadership and the e-comm marketing team to comprehend business cases and shape the product roadmap and vision.
- Researched and analyzed various Ad products, data sources, and business values to prioritize feature requirements.
- Drove the project in collaboration with cross-functional teams like Medianet, MARS agency, the engineering team, and the business team.
- Managed the backlog, drafted epics/stories, prioritized the backlog, and participated actively in the agile development process to ensure successful sprint completion.
- This project safeguarded $9.7M in gross revenue from top strategic vendors, ensured transparency with media vendor partners regarding Ad Spend, and built trust.
Associate Product Manager, E-Commerce Search
Walmart Canada
01.2018 - 01.2020
- Oversaw the enhancement of machine-learning ranking services for improved search and personalization, working directly with businesses to determine needs, create a product roadmap, and prioritize features. I also collaborated directly with engineers for execution and delivery.
- Successfully conducted hypothesis-based A/B tests using expo to validate the strategic fit and viability of ideas, in conjunction with business, engineering, analytics, and UX teams.
- Responsible for managing and monitoring the product KPI dashboard, deriving meaningful analytics insights for making decisions on feature launches.
- Managed product backlog created user stories, and prioritized sprints with engineering. Improvements to the ranking service (popularity, newness, brand detection, work break feature) and personalization significantly increased KPIs (Click through rate, Add to cart, Orders, Conversion Rate, etc.) and user experience.
Technical Business Analyst, Retail, Location MDM
Walmart US
01.2014 - 01.2018
- Led the development of an in-house UI application, the Enterprise Location Master portal, centralizing Walmart location information including super centers, distribution centers, and neighborhood markets.
- Managed all location data in a Cassandra database and constructed web services for in-house use, facilitating location data search, modification, and addition.
- Participated in the entire design lifecycle of the portal, from initial conception to final execution, including business requirement gathering. Spearheaded agile product management operations such as sprint planning, backlog grooming, prioritization, defect triaging, UAT testing, and coordination
- Devised test plans and strategies while overseeing performance testing, test report generation, and defect management. Conducted a wide range of testing including business functionality, user interface, smoke, integration, end-to-end, system, production validation, regression, web service, application, Unix-based, and database testing
- Possess hands-on expertise with tools including JIRA, Visio, PowerPoint, HPALM, Teradata, DB2, DBEAVER, Apache Cassandra, SQL, Soap UI, Fiddler, Postman, CA LISA, SOAP and REST Web services, Apache Solr, and HP Load Runner.
Technical Business Analyst, Retail
Walmart US
01.2012 - 01.2014
- Managed 'Consistent Paycheck,' a Unix application designed to enhance visibility for hourly store associates and managers regarding additional shift opportunities through an online scheduling system and mobile app.
- Collaborated with business stakeholders to establish requirements and convert them into agile user stories.
- Developed screen prototypes, wireframes, and mock-ups to aid comprehension and discussions across cross-functional teams, enabling business needs to be met through incremental feature rollouts.
- Conducted cross-platform (web and smartphone apps) product functionality analysis and identified existing gaps.
- Accountable for the creation of test scenarios, application testing, test reporting, defect management, and metric tracking.
SAP Ariba Functional Consultant, Retail
Walmart India
01.2009 - 01.2012
- Contributed to the design and customization of the Ariba spend management tool to assist in Buyer and Analysis functions.
- Created various documentation, including product, system specification, migration, technical design, training documents, and use case diagrams.
- Conducted application testing and functional testing
- Managed the production go-live support for the UK and US regions.
- Engaged with business stakeholders to refine product requirements and translated these into stories for the development team's consumption.
Content Manager
Shell India
01.2008 - 01.2009
- Regularly updated, maintained and curated original content on the website using Web Publisher tool
- Authoring, editing, publishing, repurposing, linking of web pages
Education
Master’s degree - Software Engineering
Birla Institute of Technology And Science
Pilani, Rajasthan01-2011
Bachelor’s degree - Computer Science
Pydah College For Women
01-2007
Skills
- Product Management & Strategy
- Strategic Planning & Execution
- Cross-functional Coordination
- Domain & Technical Knowledge
- Data Analysis
- A/B Testing & Optimization
- KPI Measurement & Tracking
- User Research & Insights
- Problem Solving & Analytics Skills
- Innovation
- Negotiation & Relationship Building
- Stakeholder Management
- Risk Management
- Competitor Analysis
- Business Acumen
- Product Design & Development
- Dev, QE and Product background
- Ecommerce Search
- Personalization
- Frontend Features
- Digital Marketing
- Excellent Communication & Presentation Skills
Timeline
Senior Product Manager, E-Commerce (Search & Personalization)
Walmart Canada
01.2023 - Current
Product Manager, E-commerce (Shop, Search, Personalization)
Walmart Canada
01.2021 - 01.2023
Associate Product Manager, Digital Marketing
Walmart Canada
01.2020 - 01.2021
Associate Product Manager, E-Commerce Search
Walmart Canada
01.2018 - 01.2020
Technical Business Analyst, Retail, Location MDM
Walmart US
01.2014 - 01.2018
Technical Business Analyst, Retail
Walmart US
01.2012 - 01.2014
SAP Ariba Functional Consultant, Retail
Walmart India
01.2009 - 01.2012
Content Manager
Shell India
01.2008 - 01.2009
Master’s degree - Software Engineering
Birla Institute of Technology And Science
Bachelor’s degree - Computer Science
Pydah College For Women
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