Andrew Sears

Principal Product and Growth Manager - Generative and Agentic AI @ Perceptyx

About

I'm a design-minded, future-focused product leader who's passionate about technology and human flourishing. My perspectives on design, tech, and ethics have been published by The Independent, AI Policy Exchange, and others. I began my career in the nonprofit and political advocacy space, consulting for NGOs and organizing for campaign finance reform. Over time, I realized that many of the social issues I cared about were related to technology. Since pivoting my career toward tech, I've: - Helped cutting-edge blockchain companies bring successful new products to market - Led design sprints for rapid experimentation and prototyping at IDEO's innovation lab, focused on the intersection of social issues and emerging technologies - Driven portfolio-wide innovation at IBM, negotiating with executive-level stakeholders to break down barriers and foster cooperation across dozens of teams - Owned the full product lifecycle at Humu, shepherding products from discovery to continuous data-driven improvement and delivering SaaS products that make people happier at work When I'm not working, I'm probably making music or jumping on the trampoline with my kids. You can keep up with my latest work here on LI or at my website: https://andrewsears1.wixsite.com/mysite-3. Areas of expertise: - Design Thinking / Human-Centered Design - Cloud Computing (AWS, Azure, Kubernetes, Red Hat OpenShift, etc) - Platform strategy - Agile product development - UX Design strategy - SaaS (Software as a Service) - Product Management - People Management

Country

United States

City

Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill Area

Industry

Computer Software

Skill

Product Marketing, Generative AI, Artificial Intelligence for Business, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Software as a Service (SaaS), Social Media, Teamwork, Research, Interpersonal Communication, Customer Service, Public Speaking, Microsoft Office, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, PowerPoint, English, Employee Evaluation, Communications Management, Interpersonal Communication Abilities, Typing Speed: 98 WPM

Experience

Principal Product and Growth Manager - Generative and Agentic AI

Perceptyx

2025-3 - Present · 1 yr 7 mos

I own the full product lifecycle for Activate, Perceptyx's award-winning AI coaching agent. I also focus on GTM strategy across our broader EX Agent suite.

Senior Product Manager - AI Coaching

Perceptyx

2023-8 - 2025-3 · 1 yr 8 mos

Advisor

All Tech Is Human

2019-2 - 2024-1 · 5 yrs

All Tech Is Human is a collaborative, multidisciplinary hub that tackles the thorniest tech issues. Our mission is to help co-create a more thoughtful future towards technology.

Senior Product Manager

Humu, a Perceptyx Company

2022-9 - 2023-8 · 1 yr

Mountain View, California, United States

*Acquired by Perceptyx* I collaborated with dozens of brilliant people to position Humu for a successful acquisition by Perceptyx. I owned the full product lifecycle for Humu's flagship product suite, collaborating with my colleagues in design, engineering, customer success, and marketing on everything from green-field discovery through go-to-market strategy, launch, and continuous improvement.

Senior Product Manager: Platform Strategy and Cloud Services

IBM

2021-1 - 2022-9 · 1 yr 9 mos

Durham, North Carolina, United States

I design and deliver visionary platform and UX strategies across IBM's software offerings in AI, Automation, and Security. Over the past couple years, I've: - Coordinated across a team of 60 engineers, designers, executives, ad other stakeholders to implement a unified UX strategy, design system, and application framework across a $2B product platform; drove the strongest revenue growth in a decade. - Owned the roadmap for portfolio of highly technical cloud-native services, leading a product team of 30 developers and 12 designers through new launches and iterative releases. - Led a team of engineers, designers, sellers, and marketers to define a common user journey for IBM SaaS offerings.

Product Manager: Platform UX

IBM

2020-6 - 2021-1 · 8 mos

Durham, North Carolina, United States

Led the delivery of a unified Platform Administration Portal, managing the entire product lifecycle, including strategic planning, business case creation, customer interviews, competitive research, iterative design and development, and influencing product teams to integrate their applications with the portal.

CoLab Fellow, Venture Design

IDEO

2019-2 - 2019-4 · 3 mos

Greater Boston Area

I worked with the IDEO CoLab team to design & prototype innovative solutions using emerging technologies. Led design thinking workshops and sprints, from initial user interviews through empathy mapping, ideating, experimentation, and prototyping.

Senior Consultant, Emerging Technologies

The Front Lines

2018-4 - 2018-7 · 4 mos

Greater San Diego Area

Marketing & strategy consulting for venture-funded startups, predominantly in the blockchain space.

Junior Consultant, Emerging Technologies

The Front Lines

2017-11 - 2018-4 · 6 mos

Greater San Diego Area

Strategy Consultant

Self-Employed

2016-6 - 2017-10 · 1 yr 5 mos

Greater Los Angeles Area

Provided strategy and fundraising consulting for social ventures & technology startups. Clients included a major regional hospital, a global social venture, & a tech-for-social-good startup incubator.

Director of Campaigns

Rescue California Foundation

2015-6 - 2016-5 · 1 yr

Los Angeles, CA

Responsible for the overall performance & strategic vision a political advocacy startup, which I grew from 7 to 35 employees. I directed 2 statewide campaigns that collectively achieved 5 million online media hits (placements in USA Today, Politico, Vice News, & others), generated 257,000 grassroots petition signatures, & impacted policy outcomes with the introduction of SB-1107 in the CA State Senate. I cultivated strategic partnerships with nationally-renowned advocacy organizations, including Change.org, Represent.Us, and MayDay.Us.

Director of Operations & Training

Rescue California Foundation

2015-2 - 2015-6 · 5 mos

Manager of Membership Development

Rescue California Foundation

2014-5 - 2015-6 · 1 yr 2 mos

Marketing Intern

Convergent Sourcing

2014-3 - 2014-4 · 2 mos

Xiamen, China

Authored market research report, conducted competitive analysis, and designed marketing materials for a multinational sourcing firm based in Xiamen, China.