From Product Analyst to Senior Platform Manager
AI Guild Competency Profile No 23210719
We highlight her career progression from an entry-level role in digital product analytics to a senior platform manager (globally) in e-commerce. Data literacy and management skills form the foundation for this career path, which does not require extensive programming knowledge or experience. However, analytics skills are essential.
She is the Platform Manager
She manages the daily operations of a global e-commerce platform used by both businesses and consumers. She coordinates the orders and fulfillment system with 15 colleagues and is also actively involved in test automation and post-production monitoring.
Career path
As an economics graduate, she started her career in the digital side of a corporate business, gaining exposure to the software development lifecycle and product analytics from the beginning. Good software collects data, which then becomes a key feature of the product. Product analytics monitors usage, interaction, and performance to optimize and refine the product through updates or modifications. This role is built around data, tracking user interaction, and also offers a perspective to see how the entire business is becoming more data-driven within the platform economy.
Product analytics is an excellent foundation for platform management. Why? Because it combines the three essential elements for building a successful platform.
Focusing on the user and customer, understanding what keeps them engaged and buying.
Aligning product and software development with business objectives such as revenue, cost, and profit.
Attention to quality and detail, e.g., testing alternatives with users (A/B testing), and release management.
Ready to lead an e-commerce platform
Data drives the platform economy, and data literacy is essential. Moving into a Senior platform manager role demands management and people skills, making this position challenging because it directly affects a company's bottom line. Operational stability and scalability are crucial. Especially in a B2B environment, you must manage people effectively both within the company and among customers, requiring negotiation and closing skills to keep everyone aligned.
Breadth of competence
An e-commerce platform differs from a social media platform because it is mainly transactional (order and fulfillment). However, the required skills are pretty similar, and she has all the essential foundational skills.
Data: Experience with product analytics generally, including business intelligence such as KPI reporting and dashboards, major languages like SQL, and relevant tools such as Tableau.
Product: A hands-on role in product development as an owner, with experience in, for example, translating functional requirements, managing product releases, and conducting UX/UI testing.
SDLC: Ongoing involvement in the software development lifecycle, with growing responsibility for managing key areas such as testing, incident management, and SLAs (service-level agreements).
Management experience in various areas, such as client contracts, business processes, and stakeholder engagement.
Depth of expertise
While data drives a platform, the expertise needed to manage it effectively is of a different kind, focusing on meeting business goals, managing deployment, and supporting the team. As a result, she has gained the deep expertise required as a Senior Platform Manager, including leading cross-functional teams.
Business objectives: Focusing on the bottom line, including areas like operations management and business process improvement.
Platform deployment: Experience with DevSecOps best practices, incident management, test automation, and service-level agreements (SLA).
Managing clients and stakeholders, including closing deals and ensuring quality assurance.
Questions for the reader
If you have read this far, you may have questions or comments. Please leave them below, and I will respond.
Additionally, I have a few questions for you.
How do you view the connection between product and platform in the data economy, and to what extent is experience in a product role essential to platform management?
What is your experience with platforms, and how data-driven are the platforms you have contributed to?
Building your competency profile
Suppose you are recognized as a Senior or have 3+ years of experience in the field. In that case, you can build your competency profile to advance your career to Lead, Director, and Principal. You can choose
In-person day workshop (e.g., Berlin, or another European data metropolis) with a maximum of ten peers, and an individual follow-up to review your final draft competency profile and action plan.
Online 1-to-1 coaching (anywhere) with dedicated support until your competency profile is complete and ready for use for your promotion talk.
AI Guild
AI Guild members are experts and leaders in Data & AI, e.g., Analytics Engineering, Business Intelligence, Computer Vision, Data Analytics, Data Engineering, Data Science, Deep Learning, Machine Learning, MLOps, NLP, and Prompt Engineering.
