John Ajah

Senior Product Manager
Orpington, UK.

About

Senior Product Manager with 14+ years of experience leading cross-functional teams and scaling products from concept to maturity in fast-paced startup and enterprise environments. Proven track record of building and launching five products that served over 8 million users, generated $10M+ in revenue, and saved $1.1M in operational costs. Expertise spans product operations, A/B testing, internal systems automation, and process optimization across fintech, health tech, and B2B SaaS platforms.

Work

Closer Health
|

Product Lead

UK, Remote, UK

Summary

Leading product development and beta testing for an AI-powered women's health platform, driving user acquisition and monetization strategies.

Highlights

Led development and beta testing of an AI-powered women's health platform, acquiring over 600 organic users.

Conducted extensive product experiments, including wireframe testing and user research studies, to validate market demand for personal productivity optimization features within a cycle-tracking product.

Managed go-to-market strategy for monetization, targeting a 60% conversion rate of existing users within 3 months of paid app launch.

Utilized Meta Business Suite to create targeted advertising campaigns, driving user acquisition and engagement for Closer offerings.

PrimaryBid
|

Product Manager

UK, Hybrid, UK

Summary

Managed product initiatives and operations automation for a fintech platform, enhancing efficiency and compliance while supporting global expansion.

Highlights

Engineered and deployed an internal operations automation system, improving operational efficiency by 66.7% and eliminating millions in potential regulatory fines by automating manual asset transfer processes across 6 cross-functional teams.

Directed a complex cross-functional program to develop and roll out an improved payment processing queuing system, handling millions of payment transactions and replacing an unreliable legacy system on the PrimaryBid SaaS platform.

Redesigned payment service architecture, cutting new payment provider integration time from 3 months to 3 weeks, a 75% reduction.

Led a company-wide product initiative for global expansion, enabling multi-currency payment operations for PrimaryBid's platform rollout in Nordic, EU, and US capital markets.

Integrated BigQuery and Looker for enhanced data tracking and reporting, providing real-time process performance visibility and company-wide transparency.

Cutsruct Technology
|

Head of Product

Nigeria, Remote, Nigeria

Summary

Led product and engineering teams to deliver SaaS procurement solutions, achieving significant cost and time savings for enterprise clients.

Highlights

Built and managed a high-performing product and engineering team, delivering a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) within 16 weeks.

Spearheaded 0-to-1 development of a SaaS procurement platform, saving enterprise clients 20% in cost and 15% in time for construction material purchases.

Managed go-to-market strategy for the beta platform, onboarding 10 suppliers and processing 3 transactions within the first week post-launch.

Riby HQ
|

Head of Product

Nigeria, Hybrid, Nigeria

Summary

Directed product development and rollout initiatives for a benefit administration platform, impacting millions and driving financial inclusion.

Highlights

Led 0-to-1 development and launch of a benefit administration platform, delivering over $30M in government benefits to 3.5 million individuals with zero fraudulent transactions.

Managed a large-scale rollout program, scaling the platform to onboard over 1.3 million companies within 30 days of launch, serving distressed businesses.

Drove product initiatives, enabling financial inclusion for 800,000 previously excluded Nigerians through strategic portfolio scaling.

Spinlet
|

Head of Product & Business Operations

Nigeria, Hybrid, Nigeria

Summary

Led technical architecture migration and new service development for a music distribution platform, significantly improving performance and revenue.

Highlights

Led a technical architecture migration from monolithic to microservices, improving streaming experience by 75% and platform uptime by 29%.

Built and launched a 0-to-1 content licensing service, generating over $4M in revenue (over $160,000 MRR) between Q4 2016 and Q3 2018.

Designed, tested, and developed a music distribution service, integrating with 150+ digital platforms to enable over 100,000 music artists to distribute licensed content globally.

Education

Strayer University
Virgina, United States

MBA

Business Administration

Grade: 4.0 CGPA

Covenant University
Sango-Ota, Ogun, Nigeria

B.Eng.

Electrical Electronics Engineering

Grade: 4.41 CGPA

Skills

Cross-Functional Leadership

Strategic Planning, Initiative Leadership, Team Leadership, Program Management.

Product Operations & Program Management

Cross-functional Leadership, A/B Testing & Experimentation, Internal Systems Automation, Process Optimisation, Stakeholder Management, Product Strategy, Product Development, User Experience Enhancement.

Data-Driven Execution

SQL, PostgreSQL, Test Design, User Research, Market Analysis, BigQuery, Looker, Performance Analytics, Feedback Analysis, Data Tracking, Reporting.

Technical Product Management

API Strategy & Development, Cloud Platforms (AWS, GCP), Microservices Architecture, RESTful APIs, CI/CD Pipeline Management, Payment Systems Architecture, Technical Architecture Migration.

Enterprise Software Delivery

B2B SaaS, Compliance & Risk Management, Payment Systems, Regulatory Requirements, Go-to-Market Strategy, Fintech, Health Tech, Capital Markets.