# Cesar Villa-Garcia > Product @ American Express | Co-Founder @ INIT | ex-Microsoft, JPMorgan | OMSCS @ Georgia Tech Location: New York, New York, United States Profile: https://flows.cv/cesarvillagarcia Hey there! 👋 I’m a product manager with 6+ years of experience spanning product management, software engineering, and nonprofit leadership. I’ve led cross-functional teams, shaped product strategy, and launched impactful, value-driven capabilities across consumer experiences, advertising, and developer platforms. I’m passionate about crafting experiences that empower people and organizations to reach their goals, bringing a blend of technical, product, and design expertise to deliver intuitive, high-impact solutions. As a product manager, I’ve owned end-to-end product development from discovery and design to delivery and go-to-market. I’ve delivered solutions that improved customer satisfaction, increased user engagement, and improved operational efficiency across teams. I thrive in complex environments where collaboration, user insight, and data-driven decisions drive outcomes. Earlier in my career, I was a full-stack software engineer, building portfolio management tools and working across the development lifecycle. Before that, I was a graphic designer focused on branding and digital marketing for mission-driven organizations. My foundation in design and engineering have made me a versatile and empathetic product manager who can align stakeholders, prototype ideas, and bring visions to life. Outside of work, I’m the Co-Founder of INIT, an ed-tech nonprofit with a mission to build the next generation of tech leaders. Through our university chapters and employer partnerships, we’ve supported over 10,000 students in landing internships and full-time roles - advancing economic mobility through access, education, and opportunity. I’m excited to connect with others who are passionate about building great products, advancing equity in tech, or exploring new ideas. Whether it’s to collaborate, share experiences, or explore opportunities, feel free to reach out! ## Work Experience ### Manager, Product Management - Amex Ads @ American Express Jan 2025 – Present | New York, New York, United States American Express Ads is a new digital advertising platform designed to help brands connect with American Express’ 34 million U.S. Consumer Card Members. Brands can serve high-spending Card Members relevant, contextual ads in the moments they are likely to engage, shop and spend with the brands they love. • Own the product roadmap of Amex’s new advertising capabilities (with a focus on targeting and attribution), ensuring alignment with strategic priorities of the Digital Advertising team • Lead the design, development, and deployment of these new ad capabilities, collaborating across multiple Amex platforms (Amex Travel, Resy, Amex App) and functional teams (product, technology, marketing, control management, legal) • Translate business requirements into actionable tech specifications (features, user stories) for engineering teams • Closely track delivery of each capability, prioritize engineering effort when necessary, and manage an active backlog • Lead regular standups with tech owners to ensure timely delivery of capabilities as well as tech leadership updates to highlight progress and potential blockers • Help resolve tech issues that arise and proactively identify opportunities to automate processes • Spearhead assessments of external tech solutions to fill internal capability gaps and own the end-to-end third-party lifecycle management (TLM) associated with these new vendors • Enact comprehensive compliance / risk processes & controls when launching new capabilities • Lead the annual tech resourcing & budgeting process for the Digital Advertising team and actively manage tech funding to ensure proper utilization ### Product Manager - Amex Developer Portal @ American Express Jan 2023 – Jan 2025 | New York, New York, United States American Express Developers (AED) is a marketplace for developers to find the latest Amex API products and integrate them into their solutions in a secure and reliable way. AED provides a platform for Amex teams to take their products to market quickly and easily, making them available to thousands of developers. • Lead product strategy and delivery for customer support and insights features used by 10K+ API integration developers, reducing resolution time by 66% (from 15 days to 5) and increasing developer satisfaction from 75 to 79% within the first year • Own the full product lifecycle - from discovery and customer research to strategy, roadmap, cross-functional execution, go-to-market, and KPI tracking - launching five features in the first year • Built American Express Developers' first developer experience feedback program using surveys, interviews, help desk tickets, and usage metrics - surfacing key pain points that directly informed roadmap prioritization and improved usability and satisfaction across critical developer journeys • Present quarterly updates to senior product and engineering leadership on strategy, roadmap, progress, risks, and performance metrics, driving visibility, alignment, and informed decision-making • Streamlined backlog management by implementing structured grooming practices using Jira and Confluence, improving cross-team alignment and reducing average bug resolution time by 75%, from 2 months to 3 weeks • Created and rolled out a standardized PRD template that streamlined collaboration between design and engineering teams, reducing design-to-development handoff time by 50% and improving clarity, alignment, and execution across the product lifecycle ### Co-Founder & CEO @ INIT Jan 2021 – Present | Miami, Florida, United States INIT is an ed-tech non-profit with a mission to build the next generation of leaders in technology. INIT achieves this by establishing chapters across colleges and universities, providing community support, technical + career development programs, and access to opportunities through employer partnerships. • Lead product strategy and delivery for INIT’s chapter-based model and programs, scaling operations to 7+ chapters and enabling over 5,000 members to secure jobs in technology through technical training, career readiness, and strategic employer partnerships • Defined and launched six technical and career programs, conducting user research, testing program design, and iterating based on feedback • Manage 2 full-time employees and collaborate with 6 chapter leads to deliver consistent experiences and scale impact • Secured $1.5M+ in funding by aligning program outcomes to funder goals, partnering with 50+ companies including Google, Meta, and Amazon • Present quarterly performance reports to funders, using metrics to demonstrate engagement, job placement, and program growth ### Program Manager @ Miami Hack Week Jan 2021 – Jan 2024 | Miami, Florida, United States Program Manager for Miami Hack Week's Student Experience ### Product Manager @ Microsoft Jan 2021 – Jan 2023 | New York City Metropolitan Area Azure IoT Central is a ready-made UX and API surface for connecting and managing devices at scale, delivering reliable data for business insights. It preassembles platform as a service (PaaS) offerings, bringing together each service beneath it for an easy-to-configure, comprehensive, and secure IoT offering. • Led product strategy and delivery for dashboard and raw data view features for 50+ enterprise customers operating 100K+ devices, reducing time to configure devices by 25% and increasing developer CSAT to 75% within the first year • Own the full product lifecycle - from discovery and customer research to strategy, roadmap, cross-functional execution, go-to-market, and KPI tracking - launching four features • Analyzed feature adoption and usage data to inform roadmap decisions, influencing prioritization and presenting key insights to senior leadership • Managed public developer feedback forums and three high-value customer accounts, conducting regular feedback sessions that directly shaped backlog priorities and roadmap direction • Spearheaded internship engagement for Microsoft’s Hispanic ERG, mentoring 150+ interns and organizing inclusive community-building events across the company ### Marketing Manager @ FIU Alumni Association Jan 2020 – Jan 2022 | Miami, Florida, United States Led marketing and design efforts for the FIU Young Alumni Network ### Software Engineer II @ JPMorgan Chase & Co. Jan 2020 – Jan 2021 | New York City Metropolitan Area J.P. Morgan Global Liquidity draws on rigorous proprietary credit and risk management, paired with the resources and expertise of our global investment platform, to deliver effective short-term fixed income strategies designed to help clients navigate shifting markets and evolving regulatory regimes. • Developed full-stack portfolio management application using technologies such as JavaScript, React, and Java, resulting in a 40% increase in productivity for 30 portfolio managers handling over $3 billion in investments for Fortune 500 companies • Drove software development lifecycle including planning, design, implementation, testing, deployment, and support, partnering with two software engineers in an agile environment with weekly sprints and daily stand-ups • Designed user experience by defining requirements, conducting user research, developing user personas and stories, designing wireframes, creating prototypes, and performing usability testing, improving usability over legacy portfolio application • Groomed backlog to prepare user stories for sprint planning and prioritize business-critical features, resulting in 90% of portfolio managers migrating to the new application within the first month of availability and 95% expressing satisfaction with the application ### Software Engineer I @ JPMorgan Chase & Co. Jan 2019 – Jan 2020 | New York City Metropolitan Area ### Program Manager @ Spotify Jan 2018 – Jan 2019 | Miami, Florida, United States Spotify x Youth Marketing Program - Talent Ambassador • Developed talent program to create pathways for under-represented college students from FIU into early-in-career opportunities at Spotify, reaching over 500 students through activities such as information sessions, workshops, office hours, and other activations • Defined program goals and strategy, managed budget, developed content, executed activities, formed partnerships, and collected data, exceeding application number goals by 300% and presenting results to senior leadership in the early-in-career team ### President @ INIT FIU Jan 2014 – Jan 2018 | Miami, Florida, United States President of INIT FIU, the largest student organization for technology at Florida International University ### Software Engineer Intern @ JPMorgan Chase & Co. Jan 2018 – Jan 2018 | Greater Chicago Area ### Web Developer @ Florida International University Jan 2017 – Jan 2018 | Miami, Florida, United States ### Computer Science Tutor @ Academic Success Initiative Jan 2017 – Jan 2017 | Miami, Florida, United States ### Software Engineer Intern @ Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. Jan 2016 – Jan 2016 | Miami, Florida, United States ### Program Manager @ Google Jan 2015 – Jan 2016 | Miami, Florida, United States Program Manager for the Google igniteCS program at Florida International University ### Application Developer @ Florida International University Jan 2014 – Jan 2016 | Miami, Florida, United States ### Graphic Design Intern @ Miami Film Festival Jan 2010 – Jan 2010 | Miami, Florida, United States ## Education ### Master of Science - MS in Computer Science Georgia Institute of Technology Jan 2023 – Jan 2025 ### Bachelor of Science - BS in Computer Science Florida International University Jan 2014 – Jan 2018 ### Associate of Arts - AA in Graphic Design Miami Dade College Jan 2010 – Jan 2012 ## Contact & Social - LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/cesar-villa-garcia - Website: http://weareinit.org --- Source: https://flows.cv/cesarvillagarcia JSON Resume: https://flows.cv/cesarvillagarcia/resume.json Last updated: 2026-03-29