Usman Khalid

Manchester · United Kingdom · usman-khalid_@hotmail.co.uk

I am a Dynamic Product Manager and Solutions Consultnat with experience in leading cross-functional teams to deliver innovative IT solutions and drive product success. Proven track record in shaping product strategies, creating roadmaps, and executing go-to-market plans that align with both business objectives and customer needs. Adept at managing the full product lifecycle, from ideation through to product lunch and delivery within time and budget, while continuously improving processes and driving user engagement. Passionate about customer-centric design and fostering collaboration across teams to deliver impactful, market-leading products.

Experience

Product Manager and Solutions Consultant (PreSales Engineer)

Open Text
  • Defined and prioritised product features and enhancements through detailed analysis of client feedback, competitive benchmarking, and market research, increasing user engagement by 20% for ITSM and monitoring platforms.
  • Owned and maintained the product roadmap, balancing customer requirements, business objectives, and technical constraints to ensure alignment with strategic goals and timely delivery.
  • Led agile ceremonies including sprint planning, backlog grooming, and retrospectives using Jira and Confluence, driving continuous improvement and enhanced team velocity.
  • Collaborated with cross-functional teams—engineering, QA, UI/UX—to deliver high-quality product releases, reducing product defect rates by 15% and improving system stability.
  • Spearheaded user story creation and definition of acceptance criteria, ensuring clear requirements and smooth handoffs to development teams, accelerating feature delivery cycles by 10%.
  • Championed a user-centred design philosophy, integrating customer journey mapping and usability testing into product development to boost AI feature adoption by 30%.
  • Conducted regular stakeholder engagement sessions to gather insights, prioritise backlog items using MoSCoW and RICE frameworks, optimise resource allocation and maximise ROI.
  • Delivered tailored product demonstrations and proof-of-concept solutions that supported over £1M in mid-market deals, shortening the sales cycle by 25%.
  • Utilised data analytics and KPI tracking tools to monitor product performance, guiding data-driven decisions that increased key metrics such as feature adoption and customer retention.
  • Coordinated release planning and go-to-market strategies with sales, marketing, and customer success teams to ensure successful product launches and customer onboarding.
  • Integrated automation & observability tools into product workflows to optimise monitoring capabilities & system downtime.
  • Managed risk and change through structured impact analysis and mitigation planning, maintaining product quality and delivery timelines amid evolving requirements.
    • Nov 2022 - Present

    Junior Technical Consultant

    Proact IT UK
  • Automated ticket escalation workflows using Python, reducing manual effort by 20 hours weekly and converting operational issues into prioritised product backlog items.
  • Created an internal Knowledge Base that cut recurring issue resolution times by 30%, informing product enhancements to improve support efficiency.
  • Collaborated with product and engineering teams to enhance monitoring and observability, reducing downtime by 15% and guiding data-driven product decisions.
  • Managed system updates and deployments in production, ensuring zero-impact releases aligned with product roadmaps and optimised user experience.
  • Applied agile principles to support continuous delivery and improvement of IT operations, facilitating better communication between technical teams and stakeholders.
  • Utilised monitoring tools and data analytics to identify pain points in ITSM workflows, providing actionable insights that informed product backlog prioritisation.
  • Engaged in cross-functional collaboration with product and engineering teams to recommend product feature enhancements based on operational feedback and client needs.
  • Managed production system changes to ensure seamless user experience and alignment with client requirements, supporting product stability and customer satisfaction.
    • Nov 2021 - Nov 2022

    Microsoft Certified Trainer & Assessor

    Risual
  • Delivering Microsoft accredited courses
  • Coaching and mentoring apprentices in level 3/level 4 IT apprenticeships. Elevate IT proficiency by instructing accredited Microsoft courses and enhancing apprentice skills
  • Guide apprentices through IT challenges, fostering a supportive learning environment.
    • July 2021 - Nov 2021

    Education

    University of Salford

    Bachelor of Science
    Computer Science - Cyber Security

    Grade: 2:1 (69%)

    2018 - 2021

    Personal Projects

    AWS Cloud Resume Challenge (This online CV/Resume)

    This website is stored in AWS S3 and utilises a CloudFront distribution to serve the website globally. The domain name for the website was acquired from AWS Route53. The SSL certificate for it was obtained from Amazon Certificate Manager and the domain was configured in Route53

    I used the AWS DynamoDB to create and deploy a DynamoDB table and item within the table. This table was created to store the website visit count.

    I created a Lambda function in Python which updates the view count value in the DynamoDB table item I created. I also created a JavaScript function which calls the Lambda function URL which then triggers it to do the update and retrieve the latest value.

    CI/CD for the front end. My GitHub repo stores the website code and is the source for the pipeline created in GitHub Actions. Once a change is made and pushed into Git, the pipeline will retreive the new files and then deploy them to S3.

    Programming Languages & Tools used in This Project:
    • HTML,CSS,Javascipt
    • Python
    • AWS (S3, DynamoDB, IAM, CloudFront, Route53, Certificate Manager, Lambda)
    • GitHub & GitHub Actions
    • Terraform
    Link to the cloud resume project

    Sami3 - Arabic Podcast Discovery Platform - Product Management Project

    Led end-to-end product management for Sami3, a mobile-first Arabic podcast discovery platform, addressing key user pain points such as dialect relevance and content fragmentation to enhance user retention.

    Conducted comprehensive multi-region user research and persona analysis to inform data-driven prioritisation of features and define the MVP scope using MoSCoW methodology.

    Designed and delivered personalised content filters and a creator submission portal, increasing user engagement and boosting repeat app usage.

    Applied iterative agile delivery and cross-cultural design thinking principles to continuously refine the product, achieving measurable improvements in user satisfaction and market fit.

    Collaborated with UX and engineering teams to translate complex user requirements into clear user stories and acceptance criteria, accelerating development velocity.

    Leveraged product analytics to track KPIs such as active users and content consumption, driving strategic roadmap decisions that aligned with user needs and business goals.

    Link to the product management project

    Skills

    Programming Languages/Tools & Speaking Languages
  • Python
  • AWS
  • Terraform
  • Git/GitHub/GitHub Actions
  • CI/CD
  • HTML/CSS
  • SQL
  • Monitroing Tools
  • ITSM Tools
  • Arabic
  • Urdu/Punjabi

    • Interests

    In my free time, I am deeply engaged in various activities that enrich both my personal and professional life. I have a passion for Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, which not only keeps me physically fit but also instils discipline and perseverance. Additionally, I am dedicated to learning Arabic, which enhances my communication skills and cultural understanding

    Volunteering at the local community centre allows me to give back and support those in need. I also actively help organise fundraisers and events at the local community centre, fostering a sense of unity and providing an enjoyable experience for all participants. These activities reflect my commitment to continuous learning, community and teamwork.

    Certifications

  • Coming Soon!