A global engineering consultancy at peak revenue, facing an industry-wide slowdown that would soon lead to global headcount reduction. The mandate ran on two tracks: grow the Brazil PM practice (capability, career paths, delivery quality) alongside the Head of Product, and serve as Technical Product Manager for a C2C marketplace platform. With hiring off the table, growth had to come from making existing PMs better and building repeatable capability that could survive organizational pressure.
The challenge
Practice side. The Brazil PM function needed more trained PMs, stronger practices, and better career pathways. All this during a year when the consultancy was reducing headcount globally.
Product side. A C2C marketplace where feedback from users and stakeholders was collected but not systematically channelled into the product lifecycle.
The solution
Practice. Capability building through individual mentorship and structured training, since new headcount wasn't coming.
Product. Bi-weekly feedback loops systematically capturing input from users, stakeholders, feature requests, evaluation notes, and usage data, directly feeding the product lifecycle.
My role
Technical Product Manager spanning internal practice leadership and external client delivery.
Strategy and approach
Practice growth. Hands-on mentorship (5 PMs individually) and structured training (8 workshops on discovery, delivery, stakeholder management, career progression). With no room to hire, the practice bet on making its existing PMs better.
Marketplace. Replaced ad-hoc feedback collection with structured bi-weekly loops using Figma and Jira. This created a direct pipeline from user insight to product decision.
Cross-functional alignment
- Partnered with Head of Product on strategy and roadmap execution.
- Collaborated with engineering and design teams on feedback integration.
- Engaged with product leadership on both internal and external partner strategies.
- Contributed to pro-bono initiatives for small agriculture businesses.
Stakeholder trust
The practice growth happened during the consultancy's most difficult year. Holding delivery quality and growing capability while the organization restructured around the team meant constant triage across morale, priorities, and resource constraints.
Results
- 80%+ growth in PM practice size.
- 5 product managers mentored with career guidance.
- 8 training workshops on discovery and delivery.
- 45%+ increase in feature relevance for C2C marketplace.
- 50+ use cases with test plans, cutting clarification cycles 60%+.
- Contributed to a disability inclusion study.
- Built digital platforms for agriculture businesses (pro bono).
Why this worked
Capability scales differently than headcount. Five individually mentored PMs with stronger discovery, delivery, and stakeholder skills created more impact than five additional hires would have, and the workshops turned that mentoring into reusable institutional knowledge. When the market contracted further, that depth held.
Structured feedback changed the marketplace product. The C2C platform had plenty of user and stakeholder input. None of it was systematically connected to the product lifecycle. Bi-weekly feedback loops in Figma and Jira created a direct pipeline from insight to decision. Feature relevance improved 45%+ because the roadmap finally reflected what users were actually asking for.
The practice grew 80% in the year the industry shrank, without hiring its way there.