Richard Strauss

Product Leader

AI & Digital Innovation

Driving next-gen experiences in B2C & B2B2C markets

I'm Richard Strauss, a senior product leader with 9+ years of experience building and scaling digital products across eCommerce, loyalty, and SaaS. I specialize in generative AI, platforms, and experimentation — currently leading AI-driven product initiatives at AIR MILES.

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Richard Strauss - Product Leader
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Years Experience
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Digital Properties
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Companies

About Me

Professional Experience

My journey in product leadership, building and scaling SaaS platforms from conception through high growth across B2C and B2B2C markets.

Senior Product Manager

AIR MILES

Toronto, ON

2024–Present

Leading product strategy and development across AIR MILES Receipts and Rewards platforms. Driving LLM, OCR, and ML integration to power intelligent automation and personalized redemption experiences.

Key Achievements

  • •Implemented LLM-powered offer matching, improving match rates by 20%
  • •Rebuilt the mobile app in Flutter to improve velocity and cross-platform efficiency
  • •Delivered rebrand and UX redesign in collaboration with marketing and design
  • •Deployed machine learning for reward recommendations to improve engagement

Skills Applied

Product StrategyMachine LearningPersonalization

Technologies Used

LLMsOCR TechnologyFlutterML

Group Product Manager

PAR Ordering (menu.app)

Remote (US-based)

2021–2024

Reported to the CPO and led a team of 4 PMs across ordering, menu management, loyalty, and platform integrations for enterprise restaurant brands.

Key Achievements

  • •Launched enterprise loyalty platform that contributed to securing national QSR accounts
  • •Built custom ordering API that unlocked a new revenue stream via white-labeled apps
  • •Shipped performance improvements including gradual loading, reducing drop-off by 10%
  • •Delivered loyalty adapter to streamline integration with third-party providers

Skills Applied

Enterprise SaaSB2B2CAPI-first StrategyLoyalty & Commerce

Technologies Used

APIseCommerceLoyalty SystemsEnterprise Platforms

Founder

Como

Toronto, ON

2020–2022

Conceived and launched a mobile restaurant discovery platform based on social recommendations. Led product design, development, and go-to-market strategy.

Key Achievements

  • •Designed, built, and launched full-stack platform in under 6 months (solo)
  • •Developed social recommendation algorithm and user-generated content model
  • •Shipped React Native apps for iOS & Android, powered by MERN stack
  • •Conducted user research, built roadmap, and led growth experiments

Skills Applied

Founding/0→1Social PlatformsConsumer AppsFull-stack Development

Technologies Used

React NativeNode.jsMongoDBMERN Stack

Senior Product Manager & Head of Experimentation

Loblaw Digital

Toronto, ON

2015–2019

Led product strategy across Loblaw's digital portfolio, including Canada's largest grocery and apparel businesses. Created a centralized experimentation program used by 26+ teams.

Key Achievements

  • •Owned eCommerce roadmap for JoeFresh.com, Canada's top apparel site
  • •Built and scaled experimentation CoE supporting 26+ digital properties
  • •Led cross-functional team of 7 → drove experiment-based product delivery
  • •Managed complete redesign and relaunch of digital storefronts

Skills Applied

Digital RetailA/B Testing at ScaleRoadmap OwnershipCross-functional Leadership

Technologies Used

eCommerceAnalyticsTesting PlatformsDigital Retail

Skills & Technologies

Expertise across four core domains with measurable proficiency levels, spanning product management, cutting-edge AI, technical development, and platform tools to build and scale impactful SaaS products.

Product Management

Product Strategy9+ years
Roadmap Planning8+ years
User Research7+ years
A/B Testing6+ years
Analytics8+ years
Stakeholder Management9+ years
Team Leadership5+ years
Go-to-Market4+ years

Generative AI & LLMs

OpenAI API1+ years
Langchain1+ years
Python2+ years
Prompt Engineering1+ years
RAG Systems1+ years
LLM Applications1+ years
OCR Technology1+ years
Machine Learning3+ years

Development & Technical

JavaScript6+ years
React4+ years
React Native4+ years
Node.js4+ years
Express3+ years
MongoDB4+ years
Mongoose3+ years
API Design5+ years

Tools & Platforms

Google Analytics8+ years
Adobe Analytics4+ years
JIRA9+ years
Confluence7+ years
Aha!3+ years
UserTesting5+ years
Figma3+ years
31+
Skills & Tools
9+
Years Experience
4
Core Domains

Featured Projects

A showcase of current product leadership work including AI-powered platforms, restaurant technology solutions, and social mobile applications that drive business impact and user engagement.

AIR MILES Receipts screenshot

AIR MILES Receipts

Intelligent receipt scanning and offer-matching platform powered by OCR and LLMs.

LLMsOCRMLAI Strategy
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Kauwela Poke screenshot

Kauwela Poke

Built a full-stack eCommerce platform for restaurants — online ordering, loyalty, delivery integrations, and mobile/web apps.

APIsReact NativeMulti-channel Ordering
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Como (Founder) screenshot

Como (Founder)

Mobile restaurant discovery app based on social recommendations. Designed and shipped full-stack product in 6 months.

React NativeNode.jsMongoDBSocial Features
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Interested in seeing more of my work or discussing a project?

Let's Work Together

Let's Connect

I'm passionate about generative AI and seeking opportunities to build impactful products with this technology. Let's discuss how we can work together.

Get In Touch

Location

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Find Me Online

LinkedIn

Professional profile

Medium

Gen AI & LLM insights

Ready to work together?

Whether you have a product opportunity in mind, want to discuss generative AI applications, or just want to connect, I'd love to hear from you.

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