Max Eskell

Entrepreneurial and accomplished leader with 20+ years' experience in strategy, product and leadership in Amazon, Scale-Ups and McKinsey.

Creates world-class products: built and led multiple highly successful products, including Zopa savings, Monese Business and Joint accounts, Amazon's distribution technology for living room devices, Sendclouds App store and Shipping AI, and military intelligence products.

Leads and develops talent: through personal leadership, mentoring, and coaching learned in challenging military operations, supported individuals, managers, and directors to build lifesaving and world-class products and experiences in demanding and regulated environments.

Leader of advanced analytics, including the use of AL/ML in fraud identification (Monese, Sendcloud), UI bug identification (Prime Video), customer advice and recommendations (Sendcloud). Customer service optimisation (Sendcloud), cross-sell/up-sell/pricing (Sendcloud).

Strategy: identified and analysed opportunities in complex environments by applying exceptional analytical skills acquired supporting blue-chip firms for McKinsey and two of Europe's top scale-ups.

SENDCLOUD (B2B, SAAS), UK & NETHERLANDS 2022 – DATE

VP PRODUCTS

Responsible for product strategy and execution.

• Spearheaded new product vision, strategy, and roadmap, which resulted in a new company strategy. 
• Created and owns four cross-company strategic initiatives.
• Achieved a 30% YoY revenue growth in active shipping volume post-COVID through re-pricing, improvements and new product releases. Achieving profitability. 
• Leads a team of 39 people, including product directors, UX and Research.
• Created Smart Shipping (AI/ML) strategy and team, launching new ML features. 

AMAZON (B2C), LONDON 2020 – 2022

PRODUCT LEADER

• Formulated strategic visions and plans for Amazon Prime’s approach to living room devices.
• Orchestrated prioritisation across four Amazon engineering teams, enhancing the company's footprint in the living room sector and maintaining operational excellence for sixty million daily active users.
• Extended distribution infrastructure to other Amazon businesses (e.g., IMDB TV, HALO), resulting in millions of new users and billions in accelerated revenue. 

MONESE (B2C), LONDON, LIBSON & TALLINN 2018 – 2020

HEAD OF PRODUCT AND PRODUCT ENGINEERING

Executive lead responsible for product performance, governance and processes to the CEO and the Board.

PRODUCT STRATEGY - BUILDING THE RIGHT PRODUCT

• Responsible for core payments (BACS, FPS, SWIFT, FAST) and core banking system, added SEPA and FAST
• Launched distinctive features and new businesses (e.g., business banking), driving a +300% increase in active customers to 2 million over twelve months.
• Implemented a new pricing strategy, escalating revenue and optimising organisational processes from three to 16 teams (160+ people).

ZOPA (B2C), LONDON & BARCELONA 2017 – 2018

PRODUCT DIRECTOR AND HEAD OF SAVINGS

Senior leader responsible for a brand-new digital bank's technical and business build.

PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT:

• Built Zopa’s bank, including all technical (inc payments) and business aspects
• Identified strategic products through meticulous market and customer research, ensuring seamless delivery.

MCKINSEY, LONDON 2015 – 2017

CONSULTANT & SENIOR PRODUCT OWNER

• Specialised in Digital, Finance, and Technology, creating revenue-generating platforms and supporting clients in building digital products.
• Led significant transformations, applying Lean and TPS, resulting in a 30% increase in new car sales for a European car brand.
• Propelled three new businesses, optimising revenue and customer value through innovative pricing and proposition strategies.

BRITISH ARMY 2004 – 2015

• Led multiple teams worldwide in high-risk conditions, executing highly challenging operations and projects.
• Developed acclaimed AI software products to forecast threats and managed bomb disposal teams in multiple countries.

INDEAD Product Executive Course, 2020

Oxford Said Fintech, with Distinction

Executive MBA, Warwick Business School, 2015 – with Distinction

BEng Engineering, Cranfield University, 2003

Level 7 Diploma in Strategic Leadership and Executive Management (ILM)

Certifications: Platinum Edge qualified Scrum Master, PRINCE2, APMP, and Lean Six Sigma qualified.