Professional headshot of Sam

Sam Dowd

(774) 217-3235

Lynnfield, MA

Experienced Product Development/Program manager with a particular focus on stakeholder relationships and technical chops.

About Me

I have been a product manager in some form for the last 9 years.  

Over those years I have worked with existing and new teams to advance develop and continuously improve processes, build strong relationships, and develop a reputation as the product leader within an organization. I have worked hard to develop technical skills like programming languages and concepts that bridge the gap between business stakeholders and development teams. I have also excelled at, and been recognized for, the traditional Product Management functions like user experience research and roadmapping as well as more day-to-day operations like backlog grooming, requirements gathering, release planning, and more.

My education, both formal and informal, has been critical to my success. Having a Masters in Education Technology/Instructional Design has informed how I approach my customers, and tailor experiences to their needs, and, with my business education, deliver concrete results for strategic initiatives while earning the trust of my colleagues and partners. Throughout my career, I have dedicated myself to gaining knowledge in a variety of areas in and out of my field. I am a Certified Scrum Product Owner, a novice software developer, and on the side, a pretty proficient handyman, and constantly improving golfer.

I am passionate about how technology can be used as a tool to bring experiences to life for diverse user groups. I have taken very distinct care to build great relationships with the developers I work with to understand their unique mindset and approach to building software so that I can develop them and the team to produce at a very high level and be the best team across our organization.

I have proven myself in each role that I've had as someone that can be trusted, someone who can be counted on for creative solutions, and a true partner and advocate with/for our customers.

Professional Experience

Product Manager

Immuta

September 2020 - April 2021

Boston, MA

  • Transitioned the Immuta product and business processes to focus on a SaaS model for corporate (<$1b in annual revenue) customers
  • Rallied the team around the initiative and brought organization, focus, and crisp communication to a scattered and siloed effort
  • Increased weekly free trial starts by 200% and tripled opportunity conversions in six months

Product Owner

Education First

April 2019 - May 2020

Cambridge, MA

  • Delivered front end upgrades that increased engagement by 20% and reduced related support calls by 40%
  • Quarterly prioritized over 30 project requests into a backlog and roadmap to meet strategic objectives and maximize ROI
  • Introduced Scrum techniques; doubling the team’s velocity in 3 months.
  • Led the discovery and planning process for introducing microservices, noSQL databases, and enhanced logging

Sr. Technical Product Owner

Harvard University

September 2017 - April 2019

Cambridge, MA

  • Managed 3 backlogs and a variety of stakeholders including developers, executives, and business analysts
  • Onboarded over 150 of the first API consumers across the university community
  • Implemented IAM, CI/CD, reporting, performance enhancements and modularization for API development

Technical Product Manager

McGraw-Hill Education

June 2013 - January 2017

Boston, MA

  • Gained valuable technical knowledge of programming languages and concepts to better understand technical options and tradeoffs
  • Kicked off a new team in California and delivered our first product early, with limited resources, and in collaboration with conflicting stakeholders
  • Planned three 4-month cycles of product development and delivered on commitments for each cycle
  • Engaged in technical investigation and planning to ensure implementation matched stakeholder requirements
  • Strengthened the involvement of the development team in the development of user stories and strategic roadmapping
  • Drove a small team through iterations of two customer facing data visualization products and a data collection, storage, and output pipeline

Technology Consultant

Harvard Business School

March 2012 - June 2013

Boston, MA

  • Led a school-wide IT effort to ensure a flawless start of school by shepherding over 200 tasks to completion across 4 departments and involving over 60 stakeholders.
  • Developed a brand new self-service training and support site, and led training and support efforts for a new Executive Education Learning Management System.
  • Built relationships with faculty and staff across the School, at all levels of the organization, through group and individual trainings as well as software and hardware consultations.
  • Served (and recognized) as a tireless advocate for the user in product development, implementation, and support.

Technology Integration Specialist

Hopkinton Public Schools

September 2011 - March 2012

Hopkinton, MA

  • Worked with a senior teacher to transition her flagship product from basic poster presentations to incorporate digital/multimedia technologies
  • Improved the usage of the Language Learning Lab by enabling more cohesive hardware and software for teachers and students saving valuable classroom time
  • Guided instructors in shoulder to shoulder sessions to re-develop their interaction with the district's Learning Management System (Moodle)

Education

Harvard University Extension School

September 2012 - May 2017

Framingham State University

September 2011 - May 2014

Sacred Heart University

September 2007 - May 2011

Skills and Interests

Technical

Vue.js
Microsoft Azure
Amazon Web Services
Rest APIs
Python
Javascript

Professional

Team Building/Formation
Agile Software Development
Product Strategy
User Experience Research
Scrum
Stakeholder Management

Other Interests

Golf
Home Improvement
Electronics
Home Automation

Contact Information