David Mendez

CEO

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia18 yrs 9 mos experience

Most Likely To SwitchAI ML Practitioner

Key Highlights

Led AI-powered knowledge systems transformation.
Revitalized online website builder with new features.
Award-winning mobile app development experience.

Stackforce AI infers this person is a SaaS Product Manager with expertise in AI and instructional design.

Contact

Skills

Core Skills

Ai Product ManagementKnowledge ManagementAgile Project ManagementProduct ManagementProject ManagementInstructional Design

Other Skills

AI systemsElasticsearchRAG technologyLMS managementP&L managementDocument ingestionAgile methodologiesScrumBacklog managementProduct strategyVendor managementSoftware developmentAgile methodologyProduct developmentCustomer feedback

About

Driven and innovative professional with extensive experience in leading and managing the developments of software applications. Proven track record for conceptualizing and spearheading the development of groundbreaking technologies. Accomplishments: ·Managed project development for a series of web based applications and mobile apps (iOS and Android). ·Lead a team of developers to update an online website builder used to generate and edit websites. ·Won an award from a professional organization for my work on a mobile app.

Experience

18 yrs 9 mos

Total Experience

4 yrs 8 mos

Average Tenure

6 yrs 4 mos

Current Experience

Pronto software

2 roles

Manager of Pronto Education

Promoted

May 2021 – Present · 5 yrs · Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Leading knowledge engineering and AI-powered knowledge systems at Pronto Software, transforming traditional education management into strategic knowledge asset development. Collaborating with Cloud infrastructure teams, built and deployed production AI systems including RAG-enabled chatbots serving customers, support teams, and staff, while managing knowledge-focused Elasticsearch databases, embedding models, and automated document ingestion pipelines.
Architect and maintain live AI chatbot infrastructure utilizing RAG technology and Elasticsearch for customer, support, and staff knowledge access
Engineer automated document ingestion and retrieval systems to transform company intellectual property into strategic AI-ready knowledge assets
Deploy ISO training content and manage distribution infrastructure for internal staff and resellers, ensuring standardized brand representation
Oversee customer learning strategy managing thousands of courses and external LMS platforms to drive product adoption and customer success
Lead internal L&D programs and staff development initiatives across the organization
Manage full P&L responsibility including yearly budgets, staff salaries, and consultant expenditures
Act as internal AI consultant, promoting RAG data integration across product, support, and sales departments
Select and implement embedding models and manage database infrastructure for high-speed, relevant knowledge retrieval

AI systemsElasticsearchRAG technologyLMS managementP&L managementAI Product Management+1

Iteration Manager

Jan 2020 – Aug 2021 · 1 yr 7 mos · Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Led agile transformation and Scrum practices at Pronto Software, focussing on team development, backlog management, and process optimisation. Guided cross-functional teams through forming and norming stages while serving as Scrum Master, partnering closely with Product Managers to deliver high-quality software solutions through disciplined agile methodologies.
Facilitated team forming and norming processes to establish high-performing cross-functional development teams
Managed and prioritised product backlog in collaboration with Product Managers to ensure strategic alignment and delivery excellence
Served as Scrum Master, leading daily stand-ups, sprint planning, retrospectives, and sprint reviews
Enforced Scrum practices and agile principles to optimise team velocity and product quality
Removed impediments and blockers to enable team productivity and continuous delivery
Coached team members on agile methodologies and self-organisation practices
Coordinated cross-team dependencies and facilitated communication between stakeholders
Tracked and reported sprint metrics, burndown charts, and team performance indicators

Agile methodologiesScrumBacklog managementAgile Project Management

Online education services

Product Manager

Sep 2017 – Jan 2020 · 2 yrs 4 mos · Melbourne, Australia

Support students through their educational journey by providing best in bread software. Internally, we’ve developed software along with vendor provided software solutions by working closely with research, analytics, student operation, academic, marketing, and sales teams.
·Communicate product strategy with executive team and other stakeholders
·Maintain and improve current software products by working closely with the research and data analytic teams to address students’ pain points with platforms.
·Manage over fourteen vendor relationships, ensuring they are meeting turnaround times, and quality of work standards.

Product strategyVendor managementSoftware developmentProduct Management

A la mode, inc.

Product Manager

Sep 2014 – Jun 2017 · 2 yrs 9 mos · Oklahoma City Metropolitan Area

Manage a team of front and back-end developers, and quality assurance professionals in the development of an online website builder. Using the Agile methodology, I lead front and back-end developers, and quality assurance professionals team through all stages of product development to revitalize corporate online web builder. Used Agile methodology to update premiere product with new in-demand features, functions and themes.
·Create and drove a multi-year road map listing major development milestones for the website builder.
·Manage and maintain a Product Backlog that I groomed weekly based on stakeholder feedback.
·Host bi-weekly Sprint Reviews where stakeholders (execs, marketing, sales, tech, etc.) were given a demo of my teams completed PBIs and could ask questions and give feedback.
·Lead a team of developers and quality assurance professionals to update the backend of our website builder so that it exports HTML websites versus Flash.
·Oversee the conversion of 15,000 customer’s websites from outdated Flash to HTML 5 while receiving only 8 support calls in the first month of release.
·Listened and utilized customer feedback to redesign and refine the website builder product.
·Lead, plan, organize, and coordinate with the executive team, marketing, sales, and tech to ensure the release of company's Mobile-Friendly themes was a success while delivered within an extremely tight turnaround.
·Call and talk directly with our customers to get feedback for each product release. These calls resulted in a better understand of what our customers expect from our website builder.
·Incorporated analytics mechanisms into our online website builder to evaluate the usefulness of new features and gauge customer acceptance levels.

Agile methodologyProduct developmentCustomer feedbackProduct Management

Serco

2 roles

Technical Project Leader

Promoted

May 2007 – Sep 2014 · 7 yrs 4 mos

Lead teams of instructional designers, programmers, and graphic artists in the development of instructor-led training courses, instructional software and mobile applications. Extensive experience with the initiating, planning, launching, executing, and closing of projects. Participated in writing several contract proposals.
My responsibilities at Serco focused on Courseware Design and Development and Mobile App Development.
COURSEWARE DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT
Delivered industry-leading courseware that required to be taken as training material for thousands of military personnel.
·Deployed SCORM compliant courses to a variety of LMSs such as SCORM Cloud, ALMS, Moodle, etc.
·Setup and deployed a Moodle LMS and added features based on client and user feedback.
·Delivered multiple HTML courses to over 100,000 learners via the ALMS.
·Converted multiple Flash based courses into HTML.
·Developed over 100 reusable templates in Lectora to decrease course development time for IDs by 20%.
·Played a pivotal role in a development team to convert over 80 SCORM 1.2 courses to SCORM 2004.
·Lead the development of many prototype technology products, some of which provide additional revenue streams.
MOBILE APP DEVELOPMENT
Initiated and developed the mobile app division into a steady stream of income for the branch.
Utilized Agile management style to provide guidance and direction for the teams. Delivered innovative new training methodology through fun and user friendly mobile applications.
·Defined the apps’ purpose and scope.
·Provided justification of the apps’ usefulness and benefits to all stakeholders.
·Appointed the projects teams to see the projects to completion.
·Outlined and modified a completion plan based on key stakeholder requirements.
·Released final products to both iOS and Android mobile app stores.
·Gathered user feedback and implement changes based on users’ needs and backlog features

Courseware designMobile app developmentSCORM complianceProject Management

Instructional Designer

May 2007 – Jul 2011 · 4 yrs 2 mos

Designed and developed instructional software and instructor-led training courses using a variety of industry leading software applications. Managed the production of content for web-based and instructor-led training projects to ensure the delivery of consistently high-quality materials on schedule, within budget, and to defined standards for the US Army Defense Ammunition Center that are utilized by over 30,000 trainers each year. Provided training and ongoing mentoring to staff an colleagues. Collaborated with various team members and client subject matter experts in the development of engaging and effective solution designs.

Instructional designTraining course developmentContent productionInstructional Design