Monali Gaikwad
Senior Manager, Product & Operations
Bengaluru,KA
Summary
Product and Operations Leader with 20 years experience in designing scalable customer experience solutions and developing high-performing teams across North America, Europe, and APAC. Delivered over 20+ chatbot, IVR, and self-service products, achieving more than $4M in cost savings and improvements in customer experience metrics. Translated customer insights into actionable roadmaps, secured leadership investment, and fostered process optimization through agile methodologies and performance tracking.
Overview
6
6
Certifications
19
19
years of professional experience
Work History
Independent Consultant
Others
08.2023 - 12.2025
- Events Lead, Women in AI Canada | Lead planning and execution of hackathons, mentoring sessions, and career fairs for the AI community
- Consultant, Central Alberta Dermatology | Delivered clinic setup on schedule and within budget by managing staff hiring, facility preparation, and equipment procurement
- Operations Lead, The Next Innings | Facilitate mentoring and career development sessions that support new immigrants in securing careers in Canada
- Project Management Mentor, Parkdale Center for Innovation | Mentor entrepreneurs in the Google Project Management course on applying course concepts to their ventures
Senior Manager, Product & Operations
EBay
05.2022 - 03.2023
- Oversaw eBay Canada's customer experience initiatives, aligning stakeholder priorities with business strategy to enhance delivery effectiveness.
- Led establishment of French phone customer support in less than 3 months, satisfying long-standing customer requirement from 17 years ago and reaching 100% query resolution.
- Engaged with PayBright and BNPL provider to uncover and resolve system and process vulnerabilities shielding $500k in fraud exposure within payments platform.
- Managed complete lifecycle of AI chatbot implementation on Kore.ai from strategic planning through post-launch review, resulting in 5% drop in assisted contacts and annual savings of $150K.
- Led conversational AI rollout for eBay Canada in English, partnering with Helpbot teams and subject matter experts to ensure process and content accuracy prior to go-live.
- Elevated seller registration success by 5% via collaboration among engineering KYC verification, category management, and onboarding teams to eliminate drop-offs in registration process.
- Developed strategic initiatives optimizing customer experience on eBay platform, driving engagement and satisfaction.
- Investigated market trends in French language support to guide product positioning and strategies focused on enhancing customer experience.
- Collaborated with stakeholders to streamline operational processes, enhancing overall efficiency and minimizing costs.
Product Operations Manager, Customer Service Produ
EBay
04.2017 - 03.2022
- Managed JIRA workflows, work plans, scope, and stakeholder alignment for a global cross-functional team, delivering 15+ product launches across Online Help, HelpBot, and IVR platforms and saving $10M
- Directed user testing programs for HelpBot performance, synthesizing feedback into product iterations that reduced drop-offs by 5%
- Directed user testing programs to monitor HelpBot performance and synthesized feedback into product iterations that reduced HelpBot drop-offs by 5%
- Led a 4-person NLP team through analytical review of the bot engine, designing and automating bot health metrics that increased containment and intent recognition by 10%
- Developed 2021 HelpBot AI roadmap and operational framework, aligning conversational AI investment with organizational strategy and enhancing overall product effectiveness
- Mentored analysts and content specialists on product operations best practices and presented metrics and performance trends to leadership
- Mentored analysts and content specialists on product operations best practices, presenting actionable metrics and performance trends to leadership
Product Operations Analyst, Self-Service Products
EBay
04.2014 - 03.2017
- Owned the self-service product portfolio across APAC, managing budgeting, scheduling, scope, change management, and risk tracking throughout the project lifecycle
- Standardized project documentation, including charters, plans, user stories, PRDs, BRDs, and status reports, enhancing alignment and knowledge sharing across teams
- Saved $250K by launching Alternate Number Authentication on IVR for eBay India, contributing to a $300K Operational Excellence goal
- Coordinated with engineering on requirement gathering and UAT planning, and improved usability and adoption by leading the redesign of content and system experiences
- Coordinated with engineering on requirement gathering and UAT planning, leading redesign of content and system experiences to improve usability and adoption
- Led customer service channel strategy for APAC sites, collaborating with Global Customer Service leaders to align objectives and enhance service delivery
- Improved delivery predictability by championing agile adoption and standardizing sprint rituals across teams
English Language Content Specialist (APAC)
EBay
07.2011 - 03.2014
- Managed the Customer Service Knowledge Base and content across Australia, India, Malaysia, Philippines, and Singapore, analyzing content metrics to reduce churn and contacts by 5%
- Centralized customer feedback through focus groups and won eBay's Global Customer Experience Best of the Best Award (2014), awarded to 1 in 10recipients, for shaping global online help strategy
- Aligned APAC stakeholders with Global Customer Service leaders on channel strategy and content roadmap, enhancing collaboration and consistency.
- Authored training manual on focus group methodology and user behavior analysis, facilitating support for new initiatives and product launches.
- Onboarded and trained regional teams across AU, PH, and IN on content management systems while enforcing governance and publishing standards.
- Managed the Customer Service Knowledge Base and content across Australia, India, Malaysia, Philippines, and Singapore, analyzing content metrics to reduce churn and contacts by 5%
- Centralized customer feedback through focus groups and won eBay's Global Customer Experience Best of the Best Award (2014), awarded to 1 in 10recipients, for shaping global online help strategy
- Aligned APAC stakeholders and Global Customer Service leaders on channel strategy and content roadmap
- Authored a training manual on focus group methodology and user behavior analysis to support new initiatives and product launches
- Onboarded and trained regional teams across AU, PH, and IN on Content Management Systems and enforced governance and publishing standards
ADDITIONAL EXPERIENCE
Various
10.2006 - 07.2011
- Senior Analyst, WNS Global Services | Managed daily operations and content delivery for a 10-person team supporting Patch.com, a hyperlocal AOL property; promoted to Senior Analyst within 6 months and received the Rising Star Award (2010)
- Consultant, Ingenero | Authored technical, requirement analysis, and business documents; performed software testing and delivered training for employees on international assignments
- Technical Writer, Praxis Technologies | Created courses and modules for Microsoft Learning, including content, visuals, and gamification design
- Features Writer, CHIP Magazine (Infomedia 18) | Authored articles on emerging technologies and identified story opportunities through industry networking
- Freelance Writer, JAM!| Wrote feature articles and interviews and edited content for print publication
- Phone Banking Officer, ICICI Bank | Supported customers on online trading and order execution across NSE and BSE
Education
Bachelor of Computer Engineering
University of Mumbai
Mumbai, India 04.2001 -
Skills
Product Management
Product Strategy
Project Management
Data Analytics
Market Research
A/B testing
Customer Experience
Process Optimization
Agile & Scrum Methodologies
Cross-Functional Leadership
Stakeholder Management
Business Requirements
Process Documentation
Team Development
Accomplishments
- Nominee – Community Catalyst of the Year 2024 – Women in AI
- Spot Award for spearheading business continuity initiatives in the APAC region during the pandemic 2020 - eBay
- Spot Award for launching Call Me in India 2015 – eBay
- Global Customer Experience - Best of the Best – 2014 - eBay
Certification
Certified ScrumMaster
Tools
- Jira, Confluence
- Smartsheet, MS Project
- MS Office & Google suite
- DialogFlow, Kore.ai, Copilot
- Advanced Excel, SQL, Tablea
- PowerPoint, Visio & Figma
Timeline
Independent Consultant
Others
08.2023 - 12.2025
Senior Manager, Product & Operations
EBay
05.2022 - 03.2023
Product Operations Manager, Customer Service Produ
EBay
04.2017 - 03.2022
Product Operations Analyst, Self-Service Products
EBay
04.2014 - 03.2017
English Language Content Specialist (APAC)
EBay
07.2011 - 03.2014
ADDITIONAL EXPERIENCE
Various
10.2006 - 07.2011
Bachelor of Computer Engineering
University of Mumbai
04.2001 -