Jake Bacon

Product Lead | Head of Product

Can work in or around Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague, Utrecht

1 recommendation

Suggested rate €1,000 / day
Experience 7+ years

Propose a project The project will begin once you accept Jake's quote.

This freelancer is available full-time but hasn't confirmed their availability in over 7 days.

Propose a project The project will begin once you accept Jake's quote.

Location: Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Can work onsite in your office in

around Amsterdam and 10km
Around Rotterdam and 10km
Around The Hague and 10km
Around Utrecht and 10km

Project length

Between 3-6 months
≥ 6 months

Business sector

Banking & Insurance
Digital & IT
E-commerce
Education & E-learning
Entertainment & Leisure

+21 autres

Company size

1 person
2-10 people
11 - 49 people
50 - 249 people
250 - 999 people

+2 autres

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English

Native or bilingual

Product Manager

I have a passion for digging into customer problems and solving them with modern technology. I create, scale and optimise products that matter. I focus on delivering key data-driven outcomes, building exceptional teams, and quickly adapting to new learnings to accomplish this.

Over my career, I have generated substantial value for all of the organisations I have worked with, totalling approximately.
- Revenue generated through product development and optimisation €35+ million
- Cost Savings (OPEX) generated through workflow efficiencies and automated technical solutions €22+ million.

My personal and professional experiences have taught me the following about myself:

I can successfully scale up products in revenue and deliver tools that reduce organisations overhead costs by multiple millions of euros.
- I am customer-centric; I put the customer at the centre of all that I do
- I excel in the ideation and execution of big ideas
- My gut instinct is good, but I am data-driven and seek data for my decisions

I can align and lead world-class product teams, supporting the team on their growth journeys.
- I love to win but winning as a team gives me greater joy
- I speak tech and business
- I motivate through setting a positive example and making everyone feel a sense of ownership over the outcome

I educate, refine and drive myself towards self-improvement
- I am constantly learning because I never settle
- I stay calm when faced with adversity and enjoy the challenge of overcoming it
- I focus on making high-quality decisions rather than having an opinion on everything

I enjoy meeting new people, hearing new and diverse perspectives. Reach out if you want to talk to me about emerging tech, creating software products or video games.

Prometheus Consultants

Head Of Product / Director - As a freelancer

United Kingdom

April 2020 - Today (2 years and 10 months)

Prometheus Consultants guarantee high impact consultancy services for your organisation. Specialising in Product Management & Business Management consultancy. Igniting the spark, to realise your next great product.

adidas - Adidas Group

Senior Product Manager - As a freelancer

Amsterdam, North Holland, Netherlands

May 2020 - July 2021 (1 year and 2 months)

Lead Product Manager for the UX Foundations area, which owns the design systems and tools to globally support digital design practices across adidas. adidas is the largest sportswear manufacturer in Europe, and the second-largest in the world, after Nike.

Achievements
• Drove 100% global product sell-through globally and premium product feel validated through continued user research by inventing Theming for Beyonce's Ivy Park product development, a solution to enable differentiated elevated experiences at scale across all top tier brands and celebrity collaborations, with no manual development changes required.
• Delivered cost savings of €3.5 million globally through workflow optimisations and reduced asset creation rework by launching PEXD, a tool allowing content testing and page building at the design stage, using production elements, components and the design system. The solution also became the new front end for the global CMS, allowing enhanced live content preview.
• Achieved a 15% (€1.9 million) user productivity improvement compared to the legacy system by releasing the Digital Guidelines Platform (DGP); this platform enables users to design, develop and operationalise adidas and Reeboks digital products consistently across all touch-points.
• Worked with executive leadership to facilitate the formulation of new business ideas and functionality and document the functional and technical requirements of new products
• Generated detailed documentation, communicated these requirements to the appropriate teams and ensured timely cross-functional execution.
• Developed deep relationships with stakeholders throughout the business and ensured alignment with the organisations broader strategy.

Product Management Product Ownership Product Development Business Cases Go-to-market Strategies Data-Driven Cross-Functional Team Lead Leadership Agile Scrum Kanban User Stories User Requirements Product Lifecycle Product Roadmap Lean Startup Stakeholder Management Product Growth Product Strategy Launch Strategy Release Strategy User Research Design Systems Product Requirements Document Press Release Technical Product Management Computer Science Software Engineering Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC) Solution Architecture UML A/B Testing Usability Tests Smoke Tests User Interviews Competitive Analysis Surveys Assumption Mapping Product Market Fit Quantitative Data Analysis Qualitative Data Analysis

eDreams ODIGEO - Edreams Odigeo

Senior Product Manager

Barcelona Area, Spain

December 2019 - March 2020 (3 months)

Senior Product Manager led the product development of the eDreams App for the Discovery upper funnel area. eDreams ODIGEO is one of the world's largest online travel companies and one of the largest European e-commerce businesses.

Achievements
• Accomplished a conversion rate increase of 1.6% and a bounce rate of reduction of 3.2% by redesigning the flight search user journey, reducing UX barriers and creating an efficient user flow. We first validated the design with user research techniques, using interviews and usability testing. Once we built a suitable confidence score, we pushed live the A/B test, which required two weeks to reach statistical significance.
• Monitored KPI’s daily to understand the product performance and trends over time. Identified and proposed product improvements based on data and market perspectives.
• Created and tracked schedules for a multitude of deliverables, funnelling all data into the strategic roadmap. Captured and prioritised backlog of business goals, features, and technology enhancements.
• Participated in agile rituals such as daily stand-ups, grooming, planning and retrospectives.
• Worked with a dedicated team of software engineers, designers and user researchers to scope, plan, and execute the short-term discovery and development queues.
• Partnered with the design team to develop a cohesive user experience across all touch-points.

Product Management Product Ownership Product Development Business Cases Go-to-market Strategies Data-Driven Cross-Functional Team Lead Agile Scrum Kanban User Stories User Requirements Product Lifecycle Product Roadmap Lean Startup Stakeholder Management Product Growth Product Strategy Release Strategy Launch Strategy User Research Design Systems Product Requirements Document Press Release Technical Product Management Computer Science Software Engineering Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC) Solution Architecture UML A/B Testing Usability Tests Smoke Tests User Interviews Competitive Analysis Surveys Assumption Mapping Product Market Fit Quantitative Data Analysis Qualitative Data Analysis

Adidas

Product Manager

Herzogenaurach, Bavaria, Germany

April 2017 - January 2020 (2 years and 9 months)

Product Manager leading product development for .com e-commerce upper funnel Landing Pages globally for adidas and Reebok. adidas is the largest sportswear manufacturer in Europe, and the second-largest in the world, after Nike.

Achievements
• Achieved a conversion rate increase of 1.9% (€1.7 million) in 24 hours for Kanye West's Yeezy product line by A/B testing a new hype mechanic; we created a homepage takeover with a countdown timer, Yeezy font, no assets, and with no explanation of what it was counting down to. The marketing strategy was positively featured in digital news outlets such as HypeBeast and praised for its mysterious and fresh design.
• Increased page load performance by 48%, reducing the page load time to 1.6 seconds from 3+ seconds by building the Landing Pages onto a new React-based solution, delivering an updated UI globally on 100+ Landing Pages.
• Established revenue generation of €7.2 million attributed to the development of new digital campaign features built for the FIFA World Cup e-commerce campaigns, delivering new features and 18 campaign pages in only eight weeks.
• Delivered a cost saving of 35% (€1.75 million) a year by creating the first co-located, completely internal, cross-functional product team, which substantially increased product development velocity.
• Worked with the director of product and the broader product org to define a roadmap and prioritise based on impact and business need.
• Cultivated a deep understanding of our users throughout their lifecycle and advocated for solutions based on their needs and pain points.

Product Management Product Ownership Product Development Business Cases Customer Journey Coaching Go-to-market Strategies Data-Driven Cross-Functional Team Lead Agile Scrum Kanban User Stories User Requirements Product Lifecycle Product Roadmap Lean Startup Stakeholder Management Product Growth Product Strategy Release Strategy Launch Strategy User Research Design Systems Product Requirements Document Press Release Technical Product Management Computer Science Software Engineering Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC) Solution Architecture UML A/B Testing Usability Tests Smoke Tests User Interviews Competitive Analysis Surveys Assumption Mapping Product Market Fit Quantitative Data Analysis Qualitative Data Analysis

Unisys - Unisys

Business Analyst / Product Owner

London, United Kingdom

August 2015 - September 2016 (1 year and 1 month)

Business Analyst leading client operations directly on-site of the Unisys Law Enforcement Application Framework (U-LEAF) the solution documents and logged evidence and intelligence related to criminal investigations while facilitating the secure sharing of information across organizational boundaries. Unisys Corporation is a global information technology company that provides IT services, software, and technology.

Achievements
• Led the on-site client operations defined & prioritized the product roadmap to develop a national security and intelligence software solution.
• Founded a stakeholder committee board with nationally nominated representatives, reducing stakeholder complexity and touch-points by 80%. Increased product development idea contribution from end-users by 30%.
• Leveraged knowledge of Agile & DevOps to deliver a proposal for an organizational change to support moving to an agile operating model. Once implemented, this created a velocity increase of 40% and reduced operational costs.

Network Rail

Systems Engineer

Milton Keynes, United Kingdom

October 2014 - August 2015 (10 months)

Network Rail is the owner and infrastructure manager of most of the railway networks in Great Britain. Network Rail is an "arm's length" public body of the Department for Transport with no shareholders, which reinvests its income in the railways.

Achievements
• Data analysis of the UK's railway network. Requirements definition and road-map definition for enhancements to increase consumer & business KPI's.
• Delivered data analysis, modelling and performance enhancements to the train operating companies, increasing efficiency by 15%, positively impacting KPI's and increasing revenue.
• Undertook the role of Product Owner for the internal VISION tool to coordinate and define the requirements for delivering the new re-platformed tool.

Lockheed Martin

Graduate Systems Engineer

Havant, United Kingdom

July 2013 - October 2014 (1 year and 3 months)

Lockheed Martin is aerospace, arms, defence, information security, and technology corporation with worldwide interests.

MailMark: Royal Mail Mailmark is the next generation of mail, providing business customers with a whole new level of mailing intelligence, reporting and visibility. Based on a new barcode system that’s been made possible by Royal Mail’s recent investment into letters automation.

SkyKeeper: In a complex battlefield where multiple assets must be carefully coordinated to work together for best effect, achieving the right level of situational awareness for the Land Commander is a crucial discriminator. The capability is a fully scalable system from early entry small form factor to a large scale wide-area networked system. The integration of advanced ground radars with real-time data from air surveillance assets. Successfully deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan for where it provided 24/7, high availability, high-reliability protection of the UK Forces.

Achievements
• Designed scalable systems and sub-systems and documented system and solution architecture artefacts within the Enterprise Architect tool.
• Optimized engineering metrics reporting, improved data accuracy and shortened the reporting cycle by 87% to 1 hour from 1 day by implementing visual basic scripting automation and metric standardization across the business unit.
• Drove an effort to introduce automated testing into the department, reducing manual testing workload by 35%.

Jake is a great Senior Product Manager and Producer. We really love to work with him. Working with him is an opportunity to come across, a self-driven, respectful professional with teamwork spirit. Jakes combines his incredible talent for positioning issues and communications skills with an extraordinary sense of strategy and timing. He is committed and always keeps the focus on the deliverables. Last but not least: he is a really nice guy and fun to work with!

BSc Applied Information Technology

University of Reading

2013

• Awarded Entrance Scholarship, 1 of 277 Recipients for High Achievement at College of Triple Distinctions (360 UCAS Points).
• Awarded Systems Engineering Department ‘Best Presentation’ for Software Engineering Project.

Syllabus:
• Programming • Software Engineering
• Computer Science Fundamentals
• Enterprise Architecture
• Systems Engineering
• Project Management
• Advanced Databases
• Entrepreneurship
• Software Testing
• System Integration
• Computer Networking
• Information Security

Jake Bacon

Product Lead | Head of Product

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