Hi, I’m
Smita Minakshi
Bengaluru
Summary
Director of Product Management and Customer Engagement Strategy
Strategic thinker with 16 years of experience, building and scaling enterprise SaaS and Platform Services. As part of the Office of the CPO at SAP Ariba, I partner with executive leadership and strategic customers to shape product direction, drive AI-led innovation, and influence cross-portfolio roadmap decisions. Known for bridging customer needs, business priorities, and technical execution to deliver scalable, high-impact solutions.
Overview
1
Certification
16
years of professional experience
Work History
SAP Ariba
Director, Product Management & Customer Experience
04.2026 - Current
Job overview
- Drive executive customer engagement initiatives across EMEA and India regions, that strengthen relationships with strategic customers, partners, and senior leadership teams.
- Partner closely with global stakeholders across Product, Engineering, Sales, Marketing, Customer Success, and Chief of Staff organisations to ensure alignment, effective execution, and measurable outcomes.
- Translate complex customer feedback, business challenges, and market signals into strategic insights and recommendations that support executive decision-making and continuous improvement of customer engagement models.
SAP Ariba
Senior Product Specialist, Outbound
10.2023 - 03.2026
Job overview
- Functional expert for AI / ML innovations including SAP AI copilot Joule, across SAP Ariba Procurement portfolio.
- Increased enterprise adoption of AI-led features by ~25% by partnering with Solution Advisory and strategic customers to map key pain points to existing product capabilities, driving clearer value realization
- Influenced roadmap prioritization for AI capabilities by synthesizing insights from customer engagements, highlighting unmet needs and shaping future product investments
- Enabled faster customer value realization for new capabilities by driving Early Adopter programs that aligned product innovations with real-world customer use cases and feedback
- Functional expert for SAP Ariba Intake Management and SAP Ariba Category Management
SAP Ariba
Senior Product Specialist, Inbound
05.2020 - 09.2023
Job overview
- Product Manager for SAP Ariba Platform Services
- Drove cross-LoB execution of a hub and spoke model Master Data Consumption Service on SAP BTP, helping SAP Procurement apps achieve a "single version" of SAP One Data Model
- Drove execution of HANA NSE, reducing total HANA memory consumption by ~30% in addition to cutting back on 2 million Euros of HANA compute.
- Successful completion of Chromium Edge deprecation across SAP Ariba suite of applications
SAP Ariba
Senior Developer
06.2016 - 02.2019
Job overview
- Developed and maintained Java Spring Boot microservices, enabling scalable and modular application architecture
- Applied Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) to proactively identify risks and improve system reliability
- Played a key role in supporting the SAP HANA team’s transition to Agile, helping adopt Scrum practices and improve delivery workflows
- Streamlined deployment processes, reducing time-to-market for new features and updates.
Prowareness
Principal Development Specialist
05.2014 - 05.2016
Job overview
- Led development and delivery of new feature capabilities within a telecom application, focusing on scalable design and efficient implementation
- As Scrum Master, coached the development team and Product Owner on Agile/Scrum practices, improving team productivity and delivery predictability
Misys Software Services
Software Engineer
07.2010 - 05.2014
Job overview
- Developed platform for Misys banking software solutions using Agile methodologies to enhance product functionality and user experience.
Education
Sapthagiri College of EngineeringBangalore
Bachelor of Engineering from Information Science And Engineering
06-2010
Skills
- Strategic Customer Engagements
- Stakeholder Communication
- AI / ML Innovations
- Decision-making
- Escalation Management
Additional Information
190766US01 - AUTONOMOUS INTELLIGENT DATA PIPELINE COMPARATOR
Certification
- PSM1 Certification - Dec 2017
- PSPO1 Certification - Feb 2020
Timeline
Director, Product Management & Customer Experience
SAP Ariba
04.2026 - Current
Senior Product Specialist, Outbound
SAP Ariba
10.2023 - 03.2026
Senior Product Specialist, Inbound
SAP Ariba
05.2020 - 09.2023
Senior Developer
SAP Ariba
06.2016 - 02.2019
Principal Development Specialist
Prowareness
05.2014 - 05.2016
Software Engineer
Misys Software Services
07.2010 - 05.2014
Sapthagiri College of Engineering
Bachelor of Engineering from Information Science And Engineering