Product Management · People Leadership · Strategic Alignment

Ryan
Smith

Senior product leader and aspiring Director with a track record of building product-led organizations, aligning strategy to business outcomes, and shipping products that matter.

10+
Years in Product
16
Team Members Led
4
Orgs Impacted
0→1
Products Shipped
Currently: Senior Manager, Product Operations at Camis Inc. - leading three teams, defining product strategy, and driving a product-led culture. Targeting Director-level roles.

Experience

Apr 2025 - Present
Camis Inc.
Senior Manager, Product Operations
Reservation and park management solutions for government-operated systems
  • Responsible for departmental objectives across three teams aligned to product-led business strategy
  • Spearheaded a Product Roadmap overhaul delivering transparency across ideation, prioritization, development, and execution
  • Co-founded the "Roadmap Committee" - a senior leadership team integrating executive business objectives with product-led initiatives
  • Directed a department of 16 personnel including two direct-reporting managers
  • Championed AI-enabled Quality Assurance and automation improvements
Jul 2024 - Apr 2025
Camis Inc.
Senior Product Manager
  • Orchestrated migration of Camis' entire advanced reporting suite from Tableau to Microsoft PowerBI
  • Championed Rollout Plans - a cross-functional process ensuring measurable, consistently successful product launches
  • Architected Camis' first true Product Vision through a highly collaborative leadership workshop
  • Mentored a team of Product Managers on experimentation, research methods, and outcome-centric development
Aug 2022 - Jul 2024
VendorPM
Senior Product Manager
PropTech startup specializing in bid procurement, vendor management and compliance
  • Owned several 0-1 initiatives including enterprise reporting suite overhaul and data warehouse integration
  • Championed customer discovery methods: personas, user journeys, interviews, and questionnaires grounded in empathy
  • Prioritized the product backlog around customer outcomes and maximized business value
  • Mentored PMs on product development process improvements
Jan 2021 - Aug 2022
Axonify Inc.
Product Manager
Learning management technology specializing in microlearning for frontline industries
  • Owned and executed content theme strategies aligned to real industry problems and quality standards
  • Identified revenue-generating opportunities including 3rd party reseller agreements and e-learning monetization
  • Defined success metrics and managed the product backlog with emphasis on sustainable PM skills
Aug 2018 - Jan 2021
Camis Inc.
Product Release Manager
  • Owned the product release process and held final sign-off on product readiness
  • Directed a release management lifecycle with KPIs measuring success of each release
  • Managed risk factors affecting release scope, schedule, and quality
Oct 2015 - Aug 2018
Camis Inc.
Product Manager - Payments
  • Directed cross-functional engineering team for e-commerce integrations handling millions of transactions per year
  • Championed organization-wide adoption of Agile product development practices
  • Shipped fully integrated gift-card solutions for Ontario and Michigan State Parks systems
  • Overhauled a suite of financial reporting solutions

Notable Achievements

// Strategy

Architected the collaborative creation of Camis' first-ever Product Vision statement, promoting a product-led culture across the organization.

// Platform

Strategically planned and executed a complete rebuild of reporting platforms at two organizations, revealing insights that allowed leaders to action their data.

// Revenue

Discovered, negotiated, and launched a content reselling partnership agreement that generated a new revenue stream.

// Leadership

Recruited back to Camis citing industry, cultural, and leadership merits to bring product leadership stability and consistency of execution.

// Payments

Directed a 0-1 gift card payment solution for large-scale clients used by tens of thousands of users, including a robust reporting solution.

// Community

Two-term elected Board of Directors Vice Chair for a local not-for-profit, responsible for governance of a ~$1M budget.

Product Philosophy

I believe the best product teams are ones where everyone - engineers, designers, executives - genuinely understands and cares about the customer. My job is to make that possible.


I build bridges: between discovery and delivery, between data and intuition, between what customers say and what they actually need. And I do it with a bias toward action, always in service of the broader strategic direction.

01
Customer Empathy First

Problem discovery is the highest-leverage work in product. I invest heavily in understanding the underlying why before jumping to solutions.

02
Outcome Over Output

Roadmaps answer to outcomes, not features. I keep teams laser-focused on the metrics that signal genuine customer and business value.

03
Transparent Prioritization

Everyone deserves to understand why we're building what we're building. Clarity in prioritization creates confidence across the organization.

04
Sustainable Excellence

Great product teams are built, not assembled. I invest in people, process, and culture so execution quality compounds over time.

05
Strategy as a Shared Language

Direction without alignment is just a memo. I work to embed strategic context into every team decision, so the whole organization moves as one.

Stack & Skills

Product Practice
Product Strategy Roadmapping Discovery & Research User Interviews Customer Personas OKRs / KPIs Agile / Scrum Release Management Backlog Prioritization
Tools & Platforms
Jira Confluence ProductBoard Figma Microsoft PowerBI Tableau Amplitude Salesforce Slack
Leadership
People Management Cross-functional Alignment Executive Communication Team Building Mentorship Financial Analysis Stakeholder Management

AI & Side Projects

I believe product leaders who can build have an edge. These projects aren't just hobbies - they're proof of concept that curiosity, AI fluency, and end-to-end product thinking produce real, shipped software.


Each one was ideated, scoped, designed, and shipped using a Claude-assisted workflow - the same iterative, outcome-focused approach I apply professionally.

TeaserPools teaserpools.com

A full-stack NFL pick'em pool web app built with React, Supabase, and Vercel. Replaced a manual email-based system with authenticated user accounts, automated scoring, spread-aware logic, leaderboards, and admin tooling.

View Live App
rsmithpm.com this site

Designed and built this portfolio site from scratch using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript - no templates, no page builders. Hosted on Vercel with a custom domain.

Education & Credentials

BSc Hons, Biological Sciences
University of Guelph
Certified Product Manager
Pragmatic Institute
CFA Level II Candidate
CFA Institute
Canadian Securities Course
Canadian Securities Institute

Get In Touch

Open to conversations about Director of Product roles, senior leadership opportunities, or advisory engagements.