Monique Heyden - Product | Startup

What I do

Digital product delivery

I lead with cross-functional teams to build user-centred products that are technically sound, shippable and scalable.

Product leadership

I create the vision and long-term strategic direction for products, underpinned by guiding principles that direct teams towards a unified mission.

Building product teams

I build high-performing, cross-functional product teams and establish systems for an autonomous product delivery.

Discovery and design

I design products customer love by fostering a culture of experimentation and learning using lean methodologies.

Growth strategies

I integrate product-led growth strategies within sales-led B2B SaaS companies, guiding cross-functional teams to effectively transition and execute.

Product strategy

I build my product strategy and roadmaps on customer data and market insights to drive business growth and product-market fit.

Experience timeline

Head of Product Management (and Product Design)

Root, Cape Town

Nov 2023 — today

Drove product vision, strategy, roadmap and product design, including market analysis, build/buy/partner strategy.
Led and developed a product organisation of 16 team members across 4 cross-functional teams (product management, product design, engineering), ensuring alignment and operational excellence.
Built successful partnerships with senior leaders and other key stakeholders to jointly shape the product strategy and to ensure aligned product delivery and successful go-to-market execution.
Augmentation of sales-led go-to-market motion with product-led strategies for scalable growth and global expansion.
Drove an 5.5-point increase in CSAT (from 79.5 to 85) through agile practices and customer feedback processes.
Led key initiatives for global expansion, supporting an annual revenue growth and profitability milestones.
Full responsibility for executing the product vision and ensuring the success of the entire product portfolio. Key launches include:
Business processes optimisation and automation of the Root billing system. resulting in:
84.6% reduction of billing incidents.
75% reduction in # manual billing interventions.
91.5% reduction in operational time for premium collections.
Root Private Stack: 440% increase in infrastructure gross profit margin through Root Private Stack, an infrastructure option for large scale clients.
SOC 2 compliance: Delivery of key security measures, ensuring Root’s cloud platform met global industry standards.
Collection Modules: Launched Collection Modules, the successor to Root's monolithic billing engine, offering a secure, flexible solution that allows clients to customise premium collection strategies and integrations with payment providers.

Senior Product Manager (Team Lead)

Root, Cape Town

Aug 2021 — Oct 2023

First Product Manager, assuming product responsibilities from CEO/Co-Founder; established the product management and design function at Root. From seed stage to series A.
Led end-to-end execution of product strategy following SVPG Product Operating Model principles, encompassing discovery, strategy, planning, and delivery.
Drove customer-centric innovation, product roadmap prioritisation, market analysis, and data-driven decision-making.
Led 4 cross-functional product teams across engineering, design, and research, fostering autonomous decision-making while maintaining strategic alignment.
Transformed product execution by establishing OKR process integrated with empowered product teams, bridging business objectives with continuous product discovery and delivery cycles.
Developed comprehensive product enablement and support strategies, ensuring adoption across enterprise customers.
Full product portfolio responsibility. Key launches:
Root Embed: A B2B2C solution for digital and partner-based insurance. Read more.
80% shorter time to market for digital channels.
Root Data Adapter: Root’s latest data tool enabling clients to integrate their internal BI tools with Root via AWS Athena. Read more.
67 % Feature adoption rate in dthe first 12 months.
User Groups: Enabling insurers to drive growth through brokers, intermediaries and Third-Party Administrators.
Add-on marketplace: Forging key strategic partnerships with tech providers to boost customer value.
Root Developer Hub: Launched developer docs for client self-help and scalability.
Building team competence, quality, and processes for product management, research, design and delivery.

Mentor (Freelance)

CareerFoundry, Berlin

Jul 2021 — today

Mentor for the the CareerFoundry programs Product Management, Product Design and User Experience Design.
Mentored 30+ career changers in for 4-6 months during their CareerFoundry programs.
Guided students in developing technical skills and professional soft skills.
Delivered career advice, including portfolio development and interview preparation.

Product Manager & Designer (Team Lead)

The Training Room Online, Cape Town

Apr 2017 — Jul 2021

Built and led a product team of 10 team members across product management, product design and engineering, and external technology partners.
Managed product and design strategy, overseeing budgets, driving agile development, and enhancing user experience.
Full product responsibility of the internal EdTech portfolio and custom client implementations. Key launches include:
Design and development of TTRO's first EdTech product MYRIAD X.0, a next generation digital learning environment (NGDLE).
Launch of the On The Money Literacy app of Old Mutual, a leading pan-African financial services group.
Launch of the national learning platform DBE Cloud aiming to bring quality education into over 27,000 schools in South Africa.
Launch of ECDmobi, an early childhood development app, in collaboration with UNICEF and the Department of Basic Education South Africa.
UX Design mentor for the Incubation Centre 4, an initiative to empower young South African tech entrepreneurs.

UX Designer & Technical Writer

SAP, Walldorf

Apr 2016 — Mar 2017

Developed technical documentation, videos, and UX copy for the Annotation Modeler (SAP Web IDE) and its Service API.
Defined future features and optimised UX for based on customer feedback and usability tests.
Led UX workshops and usability tests (e.g., TechEd).

UX Designer (Working student)

EXA AG, Walldorf - part-time

Nov 2013 - Jun 2015

User experience design, user research and usability testing for EXA solutions.
Development of marketing strategies for the acquisition of new employees and the positioning of EXA software.

What I do

My go-to tools

Experience timeline

My favourite books

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