Principal Product Manager

Building products
that move
the needle.

12+ years leading AI, data, and platform products across healthcare, enterprise SaaS, and consumer goods — from zero-to-one to global scale.

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12+
Years of Product Leadership
Healthcare · Enterprise SaaS · Consumer Goods · Fintech
74%
Attrition Reduction
31%
Search-to-Booking Lift
5×
Web Traffic Growth
About

Product leader.
Platform thinker.

Industrial engineer by training. Product strategist by calling. Entrepreneur by instinct.

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"I build products that solve hard problems — and I love doing it."

I'm a Principal Product Manager with over 12 years of experience turning complex systems into products people actually want to use. My background spans AI-powered platforms, healthcare data infrastructure, enterprise SaaS, and consumer brands — with one common thread: I build things that matter.

At Ascension Healthcare, I owned the product strategy for an enterprise data platform serving millions of patients, led the transformation of provider search with semantic AI and RAG, and drove a strategic integration with UnitedHealthcare. At PepsiCo, I delivered a machine-learning-powered revenue management platform used by global markets. Earlier, I co-founded a fast-casual restaurant concept that sold to two Houston food halls and ran product across a European fintech from Belgium.

I earned my degree in Industrial Engineering from Bilkent University — ranked in the top 0.07% nationally — and have since added a Harvard Medical School certification in mind-body medicine. I believe the best products come from understanding people deeply and building systems that serve them with precision and care.

Healthcare Technology AI & Machine Learning Data Platforms Enterprise SaaS Platform Strategy FHIR & Interoperability Revenue Management Zero-to-One Agile / SAFe
Results by the numbers

Impact that
compounds.

Selected outcomes from 12 years of product ownership across five companies.

74%
Customer attrition reduced
BBVA / Garanti Bank — data-driven retention programs + decision tree automation
31%
Search-to-booking conversion lift
Ascension Healthcare — AI/ML-powered provider search platform
5×
Web traffic increase
Ascension — cross-functional vendor partnerships and third-party integrations
64%
Customer satisfaction improvement
Ascension — KPI framework with iterative process refinement
35%
Faster data time-to-market
Ascension — automated data pipeline cutting ingestion cycle time
33%
Market share increase
Rydoo — customer-centric per diem product driving top app store rankings
25%
Data onboarding time reduced
PepsiCo & Rydoo — automated workflows replacing manual onboarding
130%
User engagement growth
BBVA — loyalty programs and personalized marketing campaigns
Selected Projects

Work that
defines the craft.

Click any project to expand the full case study.

01
Ascension Healthcare 2022–Present Data Platform Healthcare
Enterprise Data Layer Services (EDLS)
The foundational data platform powering an entire digital healthcare ecosystem — unifying patient and provider data across Epic, Cerner, Athenahealth, and beyond.
→

The Challenge

Ascension's digital products were built on fragmented, siloed data systems that couldn't scale. Patient and provider experiences were inconsistent across regions and care settings, slowing the development of every downstream product.

What I Built

  • Defined product vision for a centralized FHIR-compliant data architecture serving multiple products and use cases
  • Led EHR integration across Epic, Cerner, and Athenahealth — spanning acute, ambulatory, and hospital settings
  • Drove multi-state, multi-environment deployment supporting millions of patient records
  • Partnered with engineering to prioritize scalability, reliability, and API-first design

Outcomes

Platform
Enabled Ascension One and all downstream patient/provider apps
  • Unified patient & provider experience across applications
  • Scalable integration across regions and care settings
  • Reduced dependency on fragmented legacy systems
  • Faster development cycles for all downstream products
02
Ascension Healthcare 2022–Present AI / ML Search
AI-Powered Physician Discovery Platform
Transformed a keyword-based provider directory into a semantic AI search platform using vector embeddings, RAG, and natural language understanding — driving a 31% jump in search-to-booking conversion.
→

The Challenge

The existing system matched patients to physicians using rigid taxonomies and keyword matching. It couldn't understand user intent, missed providers with relevant expertise, and produced results that frustrated patients and drove them away.

What I Built

  • Led product discovery to identify the limitations of taxonomy-driven search
  • Defined the AI architecture strategy: semantic search + vector embeddings (nearest-neighbor) + RAG
  • Translated advanced ML concepts into a clear, actionable product roadmap for engineering and data science
  • Ensured support for both patient-facing experiences and internal analytics use cases

Outcomes

+31%
Search-to-booking conversion rate
  • Dramatically improved patient-to-provider matching accuracy
  • Enabled natural language queries replacing keyword guessing
  • Laid the foundation for conversational AI healthcare experiences
  • Improved discovery across specialties and conditions
03
Ascension Healthcare 2022–Present Partnership Interoperability
Provider Data Integration with UnitedHealthcare
Led a cross-organizational product initiative with one of the nation's largest payers to unify provider data, streamline scheduling, and build API-driven infrastructure for cross-system care coordination.
→

The Challenge

Provider data was inconsistent and siloed across payer and provider systems. Scheduling workflows were fragmented and patient navigation across the care continuum was full of friction — requiring a complex multi-org alignment to fix.

What I Built

  • Defined integration priorities and detailed product requirements for both organizations
  • Facilitated alignment across engineering, legal, business stakeholders, and UnitedHealthcare partner teams
  • Identified gaps in communication, ownership, and delivery transparency — and built accountability frameworks
  • Drove clarity and momentum across a complex, multi-organization delivery environment

Outcomes

Strategic
Foundation for scalable payer–provider data exchange
  • Improved scheduling experiences for patients across both systems
  • Greater consistency and reliability of provider data
  • Scalable collaboration model between payer and provider organizations
  • Reduced friction in cross-system workflows
04
PepsiCo via Kin + Carta 2021–2022 ML Platform Revenue Ops
Net Revenue Management Platform
Replaced manual, fragmented promotional planning with a machine-learning platform that automated calendar creation, optimized pricing, and drove measurable margin improvement across global markets.
→

The Challenge

PepsiCo's promotional planning was manual, slow, and inconsistent across markets. Pricing decisions were made without ML-backed insight, leaving significant revenue on the table and creating operational inefficiencies at global scale.

What I Built

  • Owned the product end-to-end: from data ingestion pipelines to user-facing ML-powered calendar recommendations
  • Led cross-functional teams across globally distributed markets
  • Defined a data-centric product strategy ensuring ML models were supported by high-quality, well-structured data
  • Reduced data onboarding time by 25% through automated workflow templates

Outcomes

+20%
Operational efficiency improvement
  • Increased revenue through more effective promotional strategies
  • Improved profit margins via pricing optimization
  • Higher sales conversion driven by better targeting
  • More efficient inventory planning, reducing overstock and waste
05
BBVA / Garanti Bank 2015–2017 Data Analytics Fintech
Commercial Card Retention Platform
Built a data-driven retention engine using multi-variable decision trees and behavioral analytics — reducing customer attrition by 74%, growing sustained engagement by 130%, and slashing retention costs by 55%.
→

The Challenge

Commercial card customers were churning at an unacceptable rate with no systematic approach to identify at-risk accounts or calculate the optimal cost to retain them. Decisions were reactive and manual.

What I Built

  • Designed a decision tree using expense history, customer lifecycle data, and closure reasons to score retention value
  • Built a SAS program to automate retention calculations, reporting, and weekly executive dashboards
  • Created and A/B tested monthly and seasonal campaigns to boost card usage
  • Trained the 20-person sales team on retention strategy and commercial card product nuances

Outcomes

74%
Reduction in customer attrition
  • 130% increase in sustained user engagement
  • 55% reduction in total retention cost
  • Named Most Valuable Employee (2016)
  • Scalable reporting model adopted across the department
06
Rydoo (Sodexo / Xpenditure) 2017–2019 Product Launch SaaS
Rydoo Platform Launch & Per Diem Module
Led the merger of two fintech travel apps (Xpenditure + iAlbatros) into a unified expense platform, then built the Per Diem module covering 20+ countries — contributing to a 33% increase in market share.
→

The Challenge

Sodexo acquired two separate travel and expense apps with overlapping features, different databases, and different users. The merged product had to launch clean, coherent, and on time — while simultaneously building new global compliance features.

What I Built

  • Analyzed common features across both apps and defined a keep/merge/discard framework
  • Aligned data schemas across both databases into a unified platform architecture
  • Built the Per Diem compliance module supporting 20+ countries and their unique tax deductibility rules
  • Improved user processing time by 20% through A/B testing and behavioral UX analysis

Outcomes

+33%
Market share increase
  • Rydoo launched on schedule in June 2018 with zero critical regressions
  • Top app store rankings in multiple markets
  • Per Diem module became a key differentiator driving enterprise sales
  • 40% boost in feature delivery efficiency via improved KPI framework
07
Founder 2018–2021 Zero-to-One Consumer
Pot80s — Fast Casual Restaurant Concept
Co-founded, built, and sold a pioneering fast-casual food concept with an inclusive, health-forward menu. $20K+ revenue in 10 months. Concept acquired by two Houston food halls.
→

The Challenge

Identified a gap in the fast-casual market: no options that were simultaneously inclusive of all dietary needs, culturally diverse, affordable, and health-forward. Built a concept from scratch to fill it — without external funding.

What I Built

  • Designed the full product: menu architecture, supply chain, pricing model, and brand identity
  • Secured full investor funding through data-driven pitch presentations
  • Recruited, hired, and led the operational team through launch and scale
  • Drove 50% month-over-month revenue growth in year one through market analysis and customer feedback loops

Outcomes

$20K+
Revenue in first 10 months
  • Concept acquired by Railway Heights Food Hall
  • Concept acquired by Politan Row Food Hall
  • 50% month-over-month revenue growth in year one
  • Full proof-of-concept for a zero-to-one consumer product
Career

A decade of
deliberate growth.

From fintech in Belgium to healthcare AI in Texas — always building, always leading.

2022 Present
Ascension Healthcare · Austin, TX
Strategy Product Manager
Owned product strategy across enterprise data infrastructure, AI-powered physician search, and strategic payer partnerships. Led cross-functional teams spanning engineering, data science, clinical, and business stakeholders at one of the nation's largest non-profit health systems.
+31% search conversion 5× web traffic 64% CSAT improvement EDLS platform UnitedHealthcare partnership
2021 2022
Kin + Carta (PepsiCo) · Plano, TX
Senior Product Manager
Embedded with PepsiCo to lead an ML-powered Net Revenue Management platform, working with globally distributed engineering and data science teams across multiple international markets.
ML platform delivery +20% efficiency 25% faster data onboarding
2018 2021
Product of the 80s (Pot80s) · Houston, TX
Co-Founder & Director of Product Development
Built and scaled a fast-casual restaurant concept from scratch — managing product development, operations, funding, hiring, and growth strategy. Sold the concept to two Houston food halls.
$20K+ revenue 2 acquisitions 50% MoM growth
2017 2019
Rydoo (Sodexo) · Mechelen, Belgium
Product Manager
Led web product management through the merger of Xpenditure and iAlbatros, and owned the Per Diem compliance module for 20+ countries. Drove on-time launch of the unified Rydoo platform.
+33% market share 20+ country compliance On-time launch
2015 2017
BBVA / Garanti Bank · Istanbul, Turkey
Product Marketing Manager — Payment Systems
Managed the commercial card retention program and built data-driven loyalty and marketing systems serving 20 cross-functional team members. Named Most Valuable Employee (2016).
74% attrition cut 130% engagement growth MVP 2016
Education & Credentials

Rigorous foundations.
Lifelong curiosity.

Top 0.07% nationally. Engineering by training, healthcare by calling.

2015
Bilkent University
B.S. Industrial Engineering — Full Merit Scholarship
Ranked in the top 0.07% of 1.5 million candidates in Turkey's national university entrance exam. Coursework included optimization, stochastic modeling, simulation, production planning, pricing strategy, and innovative product design — the analytical backbone of every product decision I make today.
"Top 0.07% nationally — the analytical rigor behind every product decision."
2024
Harvard Medical School
Mind-Body Medicine Certificate
Completed Harvard's CME program integrating meditation, cognitive skills, genomics, and neuroimaging of contemplative states — deepening my understanding of patient outcomes and health behavior that informs my healthcare product work.
2022
Scaled Agile, Inc.
SAFe Product Owner / Product Manager (POPM)
Advanced certification in the Scaled Agile Framework, complementing 10+ years of hands-on Agile delivery across enterprise and startup environments — with a focus on backlog management and cross-functional alignment.
2017
Media Academy
Digital Media Certificate
Comprehensive training in digital content creation and production — skills directly applied to brand building at Pot80s and digital product management across SaaS platforms.
2016
Banks Association of Turkey
Digital Banking & Future of Payment Technologies
In-depth training covering digital wallets, mobile payments, tokenization, and next-generation payment infrastructure — foundational to my work in fintech product management at Garanti BBVA.
Let's Connect

Open to
the right role.

I'm actively exploring Principal Product Manager opportunities where I can drive platform-level impact — particularly in healthcare technology, AI/data products, and enterprise SaaS. I bring 12+ years of proven outcomes and a passion for building things that genuinely improve lives.

in
LinkedIn
linkedin.com/in/meryem-aydinol
@
Email
aymeryem@gmail.com
ig
Instagram
@enlighten.kitchen