Product Manager & Operations Lead

I build products that scale,
teams that align,
and systems that win.

Product leader with experience across fintech, startup operations, growth strategy, and technical execution. I turn ambiguity into clear roadmaps, measurable outcomes, and products customers love.

Fintech Experience Cross-Functional Leadership User Research & Delivery
₦100M+
Revenue Generated
1,000+
People Impacted
4+
Years Experience
30%
Drop-off Reduced
About Me

Product thinking with technical depth.

I'm Matthew Akintola, a Technical Product Manager who combines product strategy, execution discipline, and operational thinking to build products that create real business value.

My background spans fintech operations, startup growth, community-led ecosystems, and technical systems — giving me the ability to bridge business goals with engineering execution at every stage of the product lifecycle.

I operate at the intersection of strategy and execution. Whether defining a product vision, managing cross-functional teams, or iterating based on user data, I stay focused on what drives meaningful impact.

Matthew Akintola — Technical Product Manager, smiling in professional attire
Matthew Akintola
Technical Product Manager

Core Strengths

  • Roadmaps & Prioritization
  • Stakeholder Management
  • Agile Delivery
  • User Research
  • Data-Led Decisions
  • Operational Scaling
Experience & Impact

Real work. Real outcomes.

Delivered across fintech operations, product strategy, and growth initiatives — here's where I've created measurable value.

Product & Operations Lead

Planned and delivered a 6-feature product roadmap, turning regulatory requirements and user complaints into clear engineering tasks. Cleared cross-team blockers across a 15-person team using structured Slack workflows, and worked with the CTO to simplify the KYC/AML sign-up flow — cutting drop-off by 30%. Also owns and manages merchant onboarding end-to-end.

Associate Product Manager

Drove 20% customer retention growth through usability improvements on a personal website product. Shipped 2 key features for a rural farmer marketplace — price negotiation and direct farm pickup — both on time. Ran 23+ user interviews and surveyed 53 respondents with local language translation, leading to 2 major product pivots that reduced onboarding friction.

Operations Manager

Led 22 riders to deliver 300+ packages per month with an average delivery time of 30 minutes. Collected structured feedback from riders and customers that drove a 30% increase in successful deliveries. Scaled operations from Akure to cover all of Ondo State and into Osun and Ekiti States, generating over ₦100 million in revenue.

Community & Growth Manager

Grew the platform from 300 to 1,000 users through targeted community programs, contributing to a 70% improvement in retention. Ran content experiments — including Game Time and Education Space formats — that grew weekly space attendance by 40%.

Capabilities

How I create leverage.

From vision to execution — the capabilities I bring to every product challenge.

Strategy

Translate ambiguous goals into clear product roadmaps, prioritized backlogs, and actionable execution plans.

Execution

Lead cross-functional teams from discovery and concept through to launch and post-launch iteration.

Analytics

Use data and metrics to prioritize decisions, validate hypotheses, and continuously optimize product performance.

User Experience

Build intuitive user journeys grounded in research, testing, and a deep understanding of user behaviour.

Operations

Design and implement operational systems that scale efficiently alongside product and business growth.

Communication

Align executives, engineers, designers, and customers around a clear, shared product vision and direction.

Systems & Stack

Tools I use to deliver.

Jira Trello ClickUp Slack Microsoft Excel Power BI Google Sheets ChatGPT Claude WordPress Notion Figma (Review)
Case Studies

How I think through problems.

A look at two product challenges and the structured approach I took to solve them.

Fintech · Payments

Reducing Failed Transactions

Diagnosed friction across payment flows by mapping the full transaction journey and conducting stakeholder interviews. Identified three key bottlenecks — timeout errors, poor retry logic, and missing feedback states — and proposed a monitoring dashboard combined with intelligent retry systems. The result: a measurably higher payment success rate and a significantly smoother user experience.

SaaS · Retention

Improving User Retention

Combined continuous feedback loops, a redesigned onboarding sequence, and data-informed feature prioritization to address the root causes of early churn. Mapped the user activation journey, identified the moments where users dropped off, and redesigned key touchpoints. Drove a 20% improvement in 30-day retention, reducing drop-off and increasing sustained product engagement.

Let's Build

Need a Product Manager who can think, build, and execute?

Open to PM roles, fintech opportunities, startup teams, and product consulting engagements.