Santhosh Kumar AP
Manager - Product Management
Chennai
Summary
Results-driven product management professional with 11+ years of experience building and scaling HRMS platforms used by global organizations. I focus on solving complex people and process problems through scalable systems, strong product thinking, and close collaboration with engineering and customers. Experience spans platform architecture, AI-led features, and global product expansion.
Overview
11
11
years of professional experience
Work History
Manager – Product Management (Zoho People - HRMS)
Zoho Corporation
12.2018 - Current
- Own product strategy and execution for Zoho People, a full-suite HRMS platform, driving core modules across employee lifecycle, performance, and engagement.
- Defined and executed the product roadmap across multiple HR modules, balancing customer needs, business priorities, and engineering bandwidth.
- Converted complex HR and organizational workflows into clear product requirements, user stories, and scalable system designs.
- Worked closely with customers, support, and sales teams to prioritize features that improve adoption and retention.
- Led cross-functional teams across engineering, design, and GTM to deliver high-impact features end-to-end.
- Maintained a dynamic product backlog, ensuring continuous delivery, aligned with market demand.
- Key Product Contributions
- Platform and Customization Framework
- Built a flexible customization framework enabling organizations to configure workflows across modules, including Performance, Employee Management, LMS, Assessments, and Employee Engagement.
- Designed and scaled workflow engine capabilities with:
- Event-based action triggers.
- Multi-level approval flows.
- Contextual notifications.
- Extensible custom functions for advanced automation.
- Enabled customers to automate HR processes without engineering dependency, significantly improving product stickiness and enterprise adoption.
- Platform and Architecture
- Redesigned multi-organization management, allowing enterprises to manage multiple entities within a single account.
- Introduced flexible role-based access controls, reducing role duplication, and improving security and usability.
- Employee Engagement & Experience
- Launched the Employee Engagement suite (eNPS + surveys) to help organizations measure and improve employee sentiment.
- Integrated Rewards and Recognition with third-party platforms, strengthening ecosystem capabilities.
- Learning, Assessment, & AI
- Built and launched the Assessment module, integrated across LMS, onboarding, and performance workflows.
- Driving AI-powered capabilities:
- Automated assessment and course creation.
- Skill gap analysis and recommendations.
- Personalized course suggestions.
- AI-assisted performance normalization to reduce bias.
- Performance and Talent Management.
- Leading the development of OKR-based performance management, improving goal setting, and tracking.
- Building position management, succession planning, and PIP workflows to support talent lifecycle decisions.
- Integrations, APIs, and Compliance
- Improved REST APIs, making integrations more reliable and scalable.
- Led compliance initiatives for GDPR, HIPAA, and WCAG, enabling global adoption.
- Global Expansion.
- Delivered UAE market-specific features, and currently driving localization for the US and Japan markets.
- Other highlights.
- Represented the Zoho HR Suite at GITEX 2023 in Dubai.
Associate Business Analyst
Infosys Limited
12.2014 - 11.2018
- Contributed to winning the Ford engagement through POC development and solution design.
- Worked on SAP SPP (Service Parts Planning) for supply chain optimization.
- Identified process gaps and delivered automation and workflow improvements.
- Built monitoring solutions to improve system reliability and operational visibility.
- Collaborated directly with clients to refine business requirements and improve systems.
- Key Impact
- Supported acquisition and scaling of the Ford supply chain program.
- Developed an automated monitoring tool for batch job tracking.
- Contributed to maintaining CMMI Level 5 standards.
Education
B.E - Computer Science and Engineering
Nandha Engineering College
Erode01-2014
Skills
Product roadmapping
Cross-functional teamwork
Complex Problem-solving
Stakeholder management
Competitor research
Product positioning
Feature prioritization
KPI tracking
Data-driven decision making
Timeline
Manager – Product Management (Zoho People - HRMS)
Zoho Corporation
12.2018 - Current
Associate Business Analyst
Infosys Limited
12.2014 - 11.2018
B.E - Computer Science and Engineering
Nandha Engineering College