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Product Consultant

Nobody knows
what to build—especially with AI.

That's usually where I come in. I help companies move from ambiguity to a working product—strategy, design, and build. Not decks. Not workshops. Things that ship.

Start a conversation See the work

Amazon Sr. TPM · 9x top performer · Think Big, still in the code

12 years building AI and data products at

Amazon Venmo Ford Blue Cross

$240M+ in cost avoidance. 319% conversion lifts. Products that ship.

Sound familiar?

You might need me if…

01

You have a vision but no roadmap

Leadership is bought in on the "what" but nobody has figured out the "how." You need someone who can turn a pitch deck into a product plan with real architecture behind it.

02

Your team is shipping but not learning

Features go out. Metrics don't move. There's no system to connect what you're building to what customers actually need. You need a feedback loop, not more velocity.

03

AI is everywhere in your roadmap but nowhere in production

Your team has prototyped a dozen AI features but nothing's made it past demo day. You need someone who's shipped LLM pipelines and intelligent systems at scale — not another proof of concept that lives in a notebook.

04

You're stuck between build and buy

The build vs. buy decision is paralyzing the team. You need someone who can evaluate the trade-offs honestly and make a recommendation they'd stake their name on.

05

Your PM team is capable but needs a gear shift

They're smart but junior, or experienced but stuck in feature factory mode. You need someone who's developed hundreds of product managers — not a training deck, but real mentorship from someone who's done the job at every level.

06

The last consultant left you a deck

Beautiful slides. No prototype. Nothing shipped. You're looking for someone who stays until it ships — not someone who disappears after the "strategy phase."

07

You're a small team with a big idea and no product leader

You have engineers. You have funding. You don't have someone who can define what to build, in what order, and why. You need a product leader who can own the full picture — strategy through shipped product — without a six-month hiring process.

08

You want AI in your product but don't know where to start

You know AI should be part of what you're building, but you can't tell what's feasible from what's hype. You need someone who can scope what's real, build a proof of concept, and show you exactly where AI moves the needle — before you commit a roadmap to it.

Selected work

The Work

Enterprise AI

Building an AI Knowledge Platform After 7 Years of Failure

Thirty systems, seven years of failure. I built an enterprise AI knowledge platform by starting where nobody else did — with the people.

The Challenge

Seven years of failed attempts. Content authors paying a daily 'toggle tax' across 30+ disconnected systems. Every new leader left behind a proposal that went quiet. Nobody trusted the next try would be different.

My Role

Owned strategy end-to-end. Aligned 2 VPs and 8+ senior stakeholders. Built high-fidelity prototypes with real design system components using AI-assisted development — code that became the starting point for engineering.

The Outcome

63% reduction in content defects. 79% faster time to publish. 30M customer contacts eliminated — $240M in cost avoidance.

63% defect reduction 79% faster publishing 30M contacts eliminated
Read the full story →
Data & AI

Enterprise Data Strategy: 22 Datasets in 8 Weeks

A team spent three years landing one dataset. I changed the question — meet the data where it is, not where you wish it was.

The Challenge

Three years, one dataset. $18B+ in risk exposure with no visibility. The previous team fought to change upstream data sources. I asked a different question: what if we meet the data where it is?

My Role

Owned product strategy, roadmap, and architecture. Built actual ETL flows — not just whiteboard architecture. Assembled tiger team focused on shipping, not planning.

The Outcome

22 datasets in 8 weeks vs. 1 in 3 years. First-ever Total Cost of Risk dashboard. Solution became a replicable archetype generating $323K in additional revenue in its first month.

22x faster delivery $18B+ portfolio visibility First-ever risk dashboard
Read the full story →
Fintech

From Zero Personalization to $300M in Monthly Volume

Seventy million users, every one treated the same. We didn't need a grand strategy — we needed a series of small, fast wins.

The Challenge

Zero personalization for 70M users. Years of sending everyone everything had trained customers to ignore us — communication fatigue nobody had diagnosed. Data science had talent but no strategy to aim at.

My Role

Built the strategy from zero. Designed wireframes. Partnered with data science on propensity models. Trained the team to run experiments independently.

The Outcome

319% lift in first-time conversions. $300M/month in incremental payment volume. Went from "we should do personalization" to a core product capability.

319% conversion lift 70M+ users personalized Small wins, massive impact
Read the full story →
Start a conversation

How it works

What it’s like

Listen

I start curious, not clever.

I don't walk in with a hypothesis. I walk in with questions. On one project, I spent three weeks sitting with content authors at their desks — not interviewing them in a conference room, watching them work. That's where I found the real problem nobody had articulated. The listening isn't just research. It's how I earn the trust to actually change things.

Day-in-the-life sessions, stakeholder alignment, problem archaeology, trust-building

Build

I build alongside your team, not above them.

I don't hand off a strategy doc and disappear. I prototype fast using AI-assisted development — real components, real code your engineers can start from. On every project, the moment people can touch something instead of read about it, the conversation changes. I drive it through to production, not just to demo day.

System design, rapid prototyping, AI-assisted development, production delivery

Stay

I don't vanish after launch.

The first version is never the final version. I stick around to see what users actually do, adjust what isn't working, and train your team to run it without me. On one engagement I trained the data science team on the product strategy framework so they could ship the next round of experiments independently. I leave it better than I found it — and I leave your team stronger.

User feedback loops, iteration, knowledge transfer, team enablement

From people I've worked with

What they say

“After 7 years, countless proposals, you used your expertise in people and systems to solve problems we never thought possible.”

Senior Manager, Content Operations & Strategy

“He can get as technical as you need him to, whiteboard and come up with a solution that makes sense, then also present to VPs and above all in the same day.”

Principal Software Engineer

“Jon builds with a truly collaborative spirit, understanding our goals, requirements, and prioritization model and works backwards from our team as a customer. His combination of technical aptitude, emotional intelligence, and work ethic are a powerful combination that delivers results.”

Director, Software Engineering

“Jon's strength is bringing people together. He seeks collaboration in an open manner that begets cooperation. His product vision is commendable, and easily inspires teams to work towards aggressive goals.”

Head of Product Management

Background

About Jon

12 years

product & technical leadership

9x top performer

across Amazon, Venmo, Ford & Blue Cross

Builder

strategy through shipped product

I've done every job between ‘we should build this’ and ‘it's live’ — product strategy, system design, prototyping, shipping. That's why nothing gets lost in translation. Along the way I've mentored hundreds of product managers, from first-time PMs to senior leaders stuck in feature-factory mode. I've shipped marketplace platforms, LLM pipelines, and personalization engines at Amazon, Venmo, Ford, and Blue Cross.

Right now I'm building an AI Family Planner — a full-stack consumer product I'm developing with the same AI-assisted workflow I bring to client work. I consult because I genuinely enjoy solving hard product problems, especially the ones where nobody knows what to build yet. The best way to stay sharp is to keep building.

Technical Fluency

Python SQL JavaScript AWS LLM Pipelines Systems Architecture

Education

University of Michigan

Applied Generative AI, 2026

Eastern Illinois University

B.S. Management Information Systems, Cum Laude

Knowledge

The Catalog

Not a blog. A working library of skills, lessons, and artifacts from 12 years of shipping products — organized so you can find what's useful.

Skill Lesson Artifact Case Study Memory
Browse the catalog →

Contact

Let’s talk

Got a hard product problem? Not sure where to start? I'm happy to listen. No pitch, no pressure — just a conversation about what you're trying to build.

Book a call

Email

jon@jonlewis.ai

Phone

773.636.8882

LinkedIn

/in/lewisjn

How I work

Advisory retainers

Ongoing strategic access for teams navigating product and AI decisions.

Fractional leadership

Embedded part-time for teams that need senior product leadership without a full-time hire.

Project sprints

Scoped engagements with clear deliverables and timelines.

Team development

PM coaching and mentorship for teams that need to level up how they think about product.

Every engagement starts with a conversation. No pitch. Just fit.