Product Owner for complex products in automotive, logistics and aviation. 10 years of delivery for German OEMs and DHL, from discovery to rollout, with AI built into the process. Based in Cologne.
Thomas Lee
Selected work
- 01
Took a service product from concept to rollout in an enterprise setting, and cut defect analysis effort by around 30% with AI.
- Client
- German automotive OEM, via DRIVE Consulting
- Role
- Product Consultant, freelance
- Period
- Nov 2023 – Sept 2026
- Context
- Interdisciplinary service product spanning vehicle, backend and app development.
- Technical conception and specification for the upcoming vehicle generation
- Refinement and coordination with 6 delivery teams
- Test management and acceptance testing of delivered functionality
- Defect management and technical defect analysis for current and legacy generations
- Introduced AI-assisted defect analysis (GitHub Copilot connected to GitHub, Jira & Confluence) for triage, clustering and root-cause pre-analysis, reducing analysis effort by approx. 30%
- Optimised product processes with AI, e.g. drafting and reviewing user stories, defects, acceptance criteria and test cases
- Enabled the team to use AI in daily work through shared prompts, guidelines and best practices
- 02
Rolled out a digital pre-inspection service to three new markets and moved it to the cloud.
- Client
- German automotive OEM, via Experience One
- Role
- Proxy Product Owner, freelance
- Period
- Oct 2022 – Sept 2023
- Context
- Digital Pre-Inspection Service: market rollouts and new system integrations.
- Breakdown of strategic goals (epics) into user stories and tasks
- Specification with functional and technical requirements; facilitation of backlog refinements
- Established rollout and governance processes
- Coordination with stakeholders on open topics, dependencies and risks
- Daily support to the product team and review of delivered items
- Pre-analysis and categorisation of defects
- Three market rollouts, three system integrations and migration from on-site to cloud infrastructure
- 03
Took TRILUX from an open question to product vision, strategy and a clickable MVP concept.
- Client
- TRILUX, via U-Experten
- Role
- Product Manager, freelance
- Period
- Sept 2022 – Sept 2023
- Context
- Discovery for brand loyalty and community, plus a hybrid metaverse summit experiment.
- Project governance, controlling and planning of the discovery phase incl. remote and on-site workshops
- Led workshops, working sessions and iterations with clients and stakeholders
- Delivered product vision, problem statement and strategy incl. target group and KPIs
- Defined MVP user stories, key features and hypotheses
- High-level concept incl. click dummy (MVP and post-MVP) and estimation of MVP costs
- Project management of a hybrid (metaverse) participation solution for the TRILUX Tech-Summit
- Coordination with third-party agencies and orchestration of the technical team on-site
- 04
Shipped two major improvements to the BMW Group New and Used Car Stock Locator.
- Client
- BMW Group, via Interone
- Role
- Proxy Product Owner
- Period
- Jan 2021 – Aug 2022
- Context
- Continuous development of the Stock Locator to improve user experience and sales.
- Breakdown of strategic ideas and goals (epics) into iterations and user stories
- Specification with functional and technical requirements; facilitation of backlog refinements
- Coordination with stakeholders on open topics, dependencies and risks
- Daily support to the product team and review of delivered items
- Pre-analysis and categorisation of defects
- Introduced a new results page layout (left-hand filters) and financial offers integration
- Community lead for the Düsseldorf office from October 2021
Focus
- Automotive
- Logistics
- Aviation
- AI in product work
Earlier
- Oct 2018 – Dec 2020
Senior Associate Program Management @ Publicis Sapient
- Deutsche Post DHL: service consolidating all group delivery products (B2C and B2B), rolled out to 17+ markets as project manager and scrum master for a 16-person international team
- Deutsche Post DHL: migration to cloud infrastructure and a new CI/CD pipeline, cutting the CMS release cycle from 3–4 months to 1 month
- Jan 2017 – Sept 2018
Associate Program Management @ Publicis Sapient
- Credit Suisse: QA coordination and test phases for the responsive corporate homepage relaunch
- Aegean Airlines: program lead for native iOS & Android apps and mobile check-in with a team of 9; introduced notifications, MyAegean profile and payable seats
- Nov 2016 – Dec 2016
Junior Project Manager @ D-Sire
- Seasonal campaign components for Aktion Mensch, from creation to launch
- Feb 2016 – Aug 2016
Junior Associate Program Management @ Publicis Sapient
- Account reporting, project calculation and team staffing
- Sept 2012 – Sept 2015
Junior Project Manager & Management Assistant in Wholesale and Foreign Trade @ ETL Paul Schlegel GmbH