Product Lead | Driving Strategy, Growth & Scalable Platforms | Fintech • Marketplaces • AI
Germany / Egypt
Product Lead with 10+ years of experience delivering measurable business impact across fintech, marketplaces, SaaS, and e-commerce platforms in European and MENA markets. Proven track record of scaling products, improving conversion and revenue metrics, and leading cross-functional teams to execute high-impact product strategies. Combines technical fluency with strong business acumen to transform complex problems into scalable solutions.
Shenouda Bertel
Product Lead — Payments, Platforms & Growth | Product-First Founder Shipping AI-Powered SaaS
Egypt • Germany • Open to Relocation & Global Remote
+20 122 5232025 • ShenoudaB@gmail.com • linkedin.com/in/ShenoudaB
EXECUTIVE PROFILE
Product leader with 10+ years of experience driving revenue growth, platform scalability, and customer-centric innovation across fintech, marketplaces, and SaaS in European and MENA markets. Built and scaled payment infrastructure processing €50M+ annually across multi-country operations, delivered double-digit conversion and revenue improvements through experimentation-driven product development, and reversed customer satisfaction from NPS −7 to +16 across a 6-country B2B marketplace. Since late 2023, I've been building independently — shipping four live products (AI career tools, agricultural intelligence, church presentations) and founding a 120-feddan farming operation, while deepening expertise in AI-powered product development and platform strategy. Now seeking a senior product leadership role where I can apply both the operational rigor of scaling European platforms and the execution speed of a founder.
SELECTED IMPACT
- Scaled payment infrastructure to €50M+ annual GOV across 3 EU markets
- Drove 10%+ conversion lift through systematic experimentation (15+ A/B tests, 4.5M users)
- Reversed customer sentiment: NPS −7 → +16 across 6 European markets
- Delivered 66% YoY revenue growth for carrier billing platform
- Built and launched 4 live SaaS products as a solo founder
- Reduced payment disputes 10% and processing costs 5% through PSP optimization
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
FOUNDER & PRODUCT LEAD — Independent Ventures
Nov 2023 – Present
After my last corporate role, I combined a selective senior PM search across Europe with hands-on product building — deepening my technical skills in AI-powered development, shipping multiple products end-to-end, and founding an agricultural business. This period sharpened my strategic product thinking, execution speed, and full-stack technical fluency.
WiseYield — AI Agricultural Intelligence Platform
Live — wiseyield.co — First Harvest Program open for first 100 farms at 50% off
- Designed and built full-stack SaaS platform using Next.js 15, multi-AI provider integration (OpenAI, Claude, Gemini), and real-time agricultural data pipelines for crop intelligence, yield forecasting, and weather-integrated decision support
- Developed 4-tier pricing model (€22–€149/mo + Enterprise), interactive demo, and go-to-market strategy targeting EU, MENA & Global farm operations — positioned around measurable ROI: yield optimization, waste reduction, and market timing
- Running early-access program to validate product-market fit; conducting product discovery with farm owners, agronomists, and export buyers across MENA's $1.4B+ precision agriculture market (11.7% CAGR)
ResumeMD — AI-Powered Career Platform
Live — resumemd.pro — 30+ users
- Built and launched a full SaaS product from zero: AI-powered Markdown-to-PDF resume builder positioned as "the missing step in the AI workflow" — paste ChatGPT/Claude output, pick from 32 ATS-optimized templates, download polished PDF in 60 seconds. Freemium model (Free forever + Pro at $9/mo) with AI job tailoring, cover letter generation, application tracking, and multi-format export (PDF, DOCX, HTML)
- Designed freemium business model and product-led growth funnel targeting job seekers who use AI tools to generate resume content
- Developed AI job tailoring feature: users paste a job description, and the platform generates optimized resume suggestions with per-suggestion accept/reject workflow and match scoring
- Architected local-first privacy-centric architecture with optional cloud sync — a key differentiator in the resume builder market
CopticSlide — Church Presentation Platform
Live — copticslide.com — Worship presentation platform for Coptic Orthodox churches globally
- Identified an underserved niche: Coptic Orthodox churches worldwide lack purpose-built presentation tools supporting trilingual liturgy (Coptic, Arabic, English) with RTL support — built full platform with PDF/PPTX upload, mobile remote control, presenter notes, QR sharing, and 30+ Coptic-themed templates
- Shipped multilingual platform (Arabic, English, German) with freemium model (Free → Pro at $12/mo → Enterprise), now in early-adopter phase with live showcase presentations
VENI Farms — Premium Organic Desert Agriculture
venifarms.co — 120-feddan organic estate in Egypt's Kharga Oasis, targeting 15+ export markets
- Founded export-oriented organic farming operation on virgin desert land (zero chemical history) — cultivating premium Medjool & Saidi dates, medicinal & aromatic plants (peppermint, moringa, chamomile, hibiscus), pomegranates, olives, alfalfa, and barley
- Designed 3 B2B partnership models (Distribution, Private Label, Contract Growing) targeting EU and Gulf premium buyers, with full traceability and certification compliance (USDA Organic, EU Organic, ISO 22000, GlobalGAP)
- Built sustainability-first operations: precision drip irrigation (85% water efficiency), solar-powered facilities, and organic-from-day-one practices on untouched soil
Professional Development & Continuous Learning
- Completed 9 product certifications during this period, including AI, Product Strategy, Analytics, Product-Led Growth, Discovery, Roadmapping, and Launches — primarily through Product School and Pendo.io (Nov 2023 – Nov 2024)
- Self-directed deep dive into AI-powered product development and agentic systems — building production applications with Claude Code, Cursor, multi-AI architectures, and LLM workflow orchestration
METRO MARKETS — Düsseldorf, Germany
Wholly-owned subsidiary of Metro AG (€31B revenue, 622 stores, 21 countries). Europe's leading B2B online marketplace for the HoReCa industry — scaling from 1 to 6 EU countries with 1M+ products and 800+ sellers during my tenure.
Product Manager — Orders, Delivery & Returns | Jun 2022 – Nov 2023
Owned post-purchase platform strategy across European markets. Led a squad of 5–8 engineers and designers, with cross-functional stakeholders from logistics, operations, seller success, and customer service.
- Identified post-purchase experience as the primary driver of B2B customer churn; led cross-functional initiative across DE, ES, IT, and PT markets to redesign delivery tracking, returns workflows, and proactive communication — resulting in NPS turnaround from −7 to +16 (+23 points) and 20% customer satisfaction improvement
- Engineered scalable logistics tracking platform achieving 99% valid tracking rate and 90%+ on-time delivery across all operating countries, directly enabling marketplace expansion to new markets
- Designed and shipped real-time seller performance analytics dashboard, giving 800+ marketplace sellers visibility into delivery KPIs — reducing seller support tickets and improving operational accountability
- Built executive-level delivery performance reporting suite used by leadership for investment decisions on logistics infrastructure
Product Manager — Payments | Nov 2021 – Jun 2022
Owned payment strategy, PSP integrations, and financial workflow optimization across EU markets.
- Identified Sofort as a high-intent payment method underserved in B2B; launched across DE, ES, and IT markets — captured 5% of total transactions and €50M GOV within 12 months, becoming the fastest-adopted new payment method on the platform
- Reduced disputes and chargebacks 10% by redesigning fraud prevention workflows and optimizing PSP routing rules
- Lowered overall payment processing costs 5% through provider renegotiation and smart routing strategy
- Doubled seller payout frequency by re-engineering billing and settlement systems, directly improving seller cash flow and marketplace retention
- Led regulatory-compliant e-invoicing initiative across multi-country operations, ensuring financial compliance while maintaining seamless checkout UX
Product Manager — Checkout | Feb 2021 – Nov 2021
Owned checkout funnel optimization and conversion performance across all active markets.
- Increased checkout conversion 5% through systematic UX audit, flow simplification, and targeted A/B experiments on friction points identified through behavioral analytics
- Built end-to-end behavioral analytics funnel across all markets using event tracking and cohort analysis — uncovering high-impact drop-off points that informed the GTM expansion roadmap
- Delivered discount code system that drove measurable increases in order frequency and average order value during promotional campaigns
- Coordinated design, engineering, and operations teams to streamline the purchase journey from cart through order confirmation
RAKUTEN DEUTSCHLAND — Bamberg, Germany
Japan's largest e-commerce company (1.4B+ global members). German marketplace: 5th largest in Germany with 5,500 retailers and 4.5M active users.
Product Manager — Checkout & Conversion | Dec 2018 – Jan 2021
Owned the "User Conversion Unit" — Cart, Checkout, Risk/Fraud — managing a squad of 5–8 across engineering, design, and QA.
- Achieved 10%+ conversion lift by designing and executing 15+ A/B experiments on high-traffic checkout flows across 4.5M active users — identifying and shipping 3 high-impact changes that became permanent platform features
- Led migration to Kubernetes microservices architecture, reducing API response times 10% and improving checkout reliability — a critical enabler for platform scalability
- Built full-funnel analytics framework (Adobe Analytics + Kibana) that became the standard reporting tool for product and marketing teams to identify drop-off points and measure experiment impact
- Managed backlog prioritization, roadmap planning, and OKR delivery across cross-functional teams; regularly presented product strategy and results to senior leadership
MONDIA MEDIA — Cairo, Egypt
Digital payments and content platform operating across MENA and Europe.
Product Development & Operations Lead (MondiaPay) | Aug 2017 – Jul 2018
- Led full product lifecycle for MondiaPay, a direct carrier billing (DCB) platform enabling secure mobile payments for telecom operators and financial institutions
- Delivered 66% revenue growth within one year by expanding merchant integrations, optimizing payment flows, and improving transaction success rates — while maintaining profitability margins
- Defined product vision, roadmap, and feature prioritization strategy; managed cross-functional execution across engineering, operations, and carrier partnerships
PRODUCTTANK CAIRO
Founder & Organizer | 2017 – 2018
Founded the Cairo chapter of the world's largest product management community (Mind the Product network). Built a local ecosystem of product leaders through monthly meetups, speaker events, and workshops.
EARLIER CAREER
Co-Founder & Product Manager — Pass App (2015–2017): Led product from ideation through market launch to successful VC exit. Defined the PASS ecosystem for secure digital access management.
Technical Product Manager — E7gezly (2014–2015): Directed ticketing and booking platform strategy for regional and international markets.
Arpuplus (2007–2014): Progressed from Software Developer → Product Supervisor, launching telecom VAS platforms and managing product teams.
EDUCATION
MBA — Strategic Management & Entrepreneurship | Victoria University, Switzerland
BBA — Information Systems | Sadat Academy for Management Science, Egypt
CERTIFICATIONS
PMP • PMI-ACP • Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO)
Product School (2023–2024): Product Discovery (PDC) • AI (AIC) • Product Strategy (PSC) • Product Analytics (PAC) • Product-Led Growth (PLGC) • Product Launches (PRLC) • Product Roadmapping (PRC)
Other: McKinsey Product Academy Fundamentals • Pendo Product Management • Optimizely One Explorer • Becoming an AI-First Product Leader (LinkedIn Learning)
TOOLS & TECHNOLOGIES
AI & Agentic Systems: Claude, Claude Code, GPT, Gemini, Cursor, Copilot, Prompt Engineering, LLM Workflows, Multi-AI Architectures
Product & Discovery: User Research, Customer Interviews, Competitive Analysis, Pricing Strategy, A/B Testing, Experimentation Frameworks
Data & Analytics: SQL, GA4, Adobe Analytics, Power BI, Kibana, Funnel Analytics, Cohort Analysis
Architecture Literacy: APIs, Microservices, Kubernetes, Cloud Systems, System Design Collaboration
Execution: Jira, Confluence, Agile/Scrum, OKR Frameworks, Stakeholder Management, Product Analytics Platforms