Maria Makarova

Product Management Consultant

Product People

Jan 2024 - Current (2 years 9 months)

Consulting across SaaS and marketplace scale-ups through Product People — one of Europe's leading product consultancies (0.5% acceptance rate, 60K+ community). Work across multiple concurrent engagements in fast-paced, ambiguous environments, owning discovery, roadmap definition, and cross-functional delivery from day one. Clients include JetBrains, FreeNow, QS Quacquarelli Symonds, and CTS Eventim.

Product Manager | Strategic Support to Head of Product (via Product People)

QS Quacquarelli Symonds

Jan 2025 - Jan 2026 (1 year 1 month)

Global higher education company best known for the QS World University Rankings, reaching tens of millions of students annually. Operates digital platforms and events connecting 50,000+ universities and institutions worldwide with prospective students.
• Defined and owned the 2026 product roadmap across multiple teams, introducing structured discovery frameworks (JTBD, Opportunity Solution Trees) that replaced ad-hoc prioritisation.
• Built a repeatable roadmap operating model — translating strategy into PRDs, delivery plans, and cross-functional alignment across Product, Engineering, and Design.
• Facilitated 5+ cross-functional leadership workshops, reducing decision-making latency during a high-change organisational transi

Product Manager (via Product People)

QS Quacquarelli Symonds

Jan 2025

• Led 0→1 MVP delivery for a student engagement product, defining scope, UX, and cross-functional alignment from concept to launch.
• Designed and shipped core features (Smart Nudges, MyHub flows), improving engagement and retention across onboarding journeys.
• Conducted user research (17 interviews, 4 Maze tests, ~900 users), defining MVP KPIs and shaping product direction.
• Achieved ~40% engagement rate and 75% qualified lead conversion, validating product-market fit signals early.
• Ran structured discovery and validation cycles, combining qualitative research and product analytics to iterate on product strategy.
• Collaborated closely with Design and Engineering to optimize onboarding flows and reduce friction

Product Manager (via Product People)

FREENOW

Jan 2025

Leading European mobility platform operating in 150+ cities across 9 markets, serving millions of users monthly. Multi-modal marketplace focused on optimizing driver supply, demand, and operational efficiency.
• Owned Driver Enablement product delivery across ~10 European markets, ensuring scalable onboarding, compliance readiness, and operational continuity at launch.
• Scaled On-Car Advertising automation from manual handling to ~95% automated — using rule-based decisioning, QA guardrails, and continuous monitoring to reduce operational overhead.
• Stabilised and expanded Document Validation automation to 28% globally (UK 44%, Poland 38%) through deep ticket analysis, simulation frameworks, and controlled rollouts — improvi

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Pricing Product Management Consultant (via Product People)

Jan 2024 - Jan 2025 (1 year 1 month)

One of Europe’s leading ticketing and live entertainment companies, operating in 25+ countries and selling 300M+ tickets annually. Builds data-driven platforms for pricing, distribution, and large-scale event operations.
• Led development of a dynamic pricing and demand prediction platform — defining a 4-phase roadmap from data ingestion to MVP for event managers across 12+ international markets.
• Reduced pricing model error from MAPE 85% to 45% within 3 weeks by improving data quality, aligning inputs, and optimising algorithm performance.
• Built a cross-market reporting prototype (BigQuery + GA4 + Looker Studio) adopted by 50+ internal stakeholders, cutting manual reporting effort by ~35%.
• Re-established product di

Product Management Consultant (via Product People)

JetBrains

Jan 2024 - Jan 2025 (1 year 1 month)

Global developer tools company serving 15M+ users and 88 of the Fortune Global Top 100 companies. Leader in IDEs like IntelliJ IDEA, with growing focus on AI-powered developer tools and enterprise solutions.
• Led product discovery and strategy for JetBrains AI Enterprise — defining the 2025 roadmap by benchmarking 10+ enterprise AI tools and identifying key differentiation opportunities.
• Structured fragmented enterprise insights from 2,000+ feedback entries across 14+ clients into ~100 opportunities and ~20 prioritised feature requests — enabling data-driven roadmap decisions at scale.
• Defined B2B segmentation across 6,000+ enterprise accounts, aligning Product, GTM, and Engineering on high-value customer segments and mu

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Product Marketing Executive

Nov 2023 - Oct 2024 (1 year)

Online motorsport education platform with a global audience of 15,000+ students and professionals. Provides specialized engineering training and has built a digital community of 18K+ followers through content-driven growth.
• Owned go-to-market strategy for 10+ product launches, driving 25% quarterly sales uplift and contributing to sustained revenue growth across a global EdTech audience.
• Grew organic traffic 30% through SEO strategy and site optimisation — including landing page redesigns that improved conversion alongside traffic quality.
• Scaled social and email audience by 20% in 3 months through content-led growth, producing launch videos and campaign assets that drove sign-up and sales uplift of 35% during seasonal

Growth Product Manager - US market

Brainly

Apr 2022 - Nov 2023 (1 year 8 months)

helped me get this job

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B2B Marketing and Sales Manager

Nov 2020 - Apr 2022 (1 year 6 months)

B2B cybersecurity SaaS company providing Information Rights Management (IRM) solutions to enterprise clients in 20+ countries. Protects sensitive data across global organizations, with clients spanning finance, government, and enterprise sectors.
• Managed enterprise accounts generating $100K+ in contracts, with 20%+ conversion rates and 500% ROI through account-based marketing and automated segmented campaigns.
• Drove 15% lead growth and 25% sales efficiency improvement through webinars, B2B events, SEO, and a website chatbot, owning the full inbound and outbound funnel.
• Acted as Channel Account Manager for the French market — acquiring new partners, managing VAD relationships, and expanding international market presence.

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Content Strategist & SEO

Dec 2019 - Jul 2020 (8 months)

Global food and travel experience company operating in 10+ major cities across Europe and the US. Hosts thousands of international guests annually, focusing on premium gastronomic and cultural experiences.
• Grew organic traffic 18% and boosted lead conversions 15% through SEO content strategy, A/B testing, and evergreen content across a global food and travel platform.

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Project Manager for BasquEAT

Mar 2019 - Nov 2019 (9 months)

Regional economic development organization supporting thousands of local businesses and international trade initiatives. Facilitates partnerships between Spanish producers and global distributors, promoting export and market expansion.
• Led internationalisation of local food and drinks SMEs across EMEA — forged 20+ partnerships, secured 25+ key accounts, and organised trade events for 100+ attendees.

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SEO Marketing and Events Manager

Sep 2017 - Feb 2018 (6 months)

London-based experimental gastronomy studio working with corporate clients, premium events, and research institutions. Partners with Oxford Professor Charles Spence to explore gastrophysics and the multi-sensory science of food through immersive dining experiences.
• Drove brand engagement strategy for a London-based gastronomy studio (Oxford collaboration) — secured partnerships with Uber Eats, Chivas, and Siemens; grew organic traffic 65% via SEO.

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Maria Makarova

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