Rob Kerr

07969784239 rkerr90@gmail.com LinkedIn robertkerr.co.uk London, SE27

Product leader and founder with a decade building consumer and 0-1 ventures, from personalised print-on-demand ecommerce through to public consumer platforms. I built and sold Giant Sparrows, a bootstrapped print-on-demand personalisation business that reached profitability and worked with content owners including MoMA, the British Museum and Tate Modern. Since then I have led consumer product at the BBC (a new iPlayer "Live" vertical) and owned product across a FTSE 250 utility. For the last two years I have worked hands-on as an AI-native builder, prototyping and shipping working products fast. I move easily between strategy and the build itself.

Independent Product Leadership & Interim Sept 2022 – Present
Hands-on product consultancy and interim leadership across AI, consumer, climate and enterprise sectors.
IFRS Foundation Feb 2026 – Present  ·  Interim Product Director & AI Lead

Leading AI-native product development inside an international standards body: building their AI Navigator and eval suite, automating cross-team workflows, and building the product team's capability to work with modern AI tooling.

BBC Feb 2023 – Aug 2023  ·  Interim Group Product Manager, BBC iPlayer

Launched a new "Live" vertical. Created the vision and shipped a live highlights feature for Glastonbury across web and TV, then refined it on test data that lifted weekly active usage and secured resource for launch on the core TV platform.

Vocovo Oct 2024 – Mar 2025  ·  Product Consultant

Hired to embed modern product management at a UK retail technology scale-up. Delivered a new product roadmap and operating model, and coached a team of Product Owners and Product Managers.

Canairy.ai Feb 2024 – Aug 2024  ·  Fractional Product Lead

Fractional product expert to founders of a pre-seed edge-AI startup building an environmental monitoring platform. Focused on product strategy, experimentation and shaping a commercially viable, data-driven platform.

Career break Apr 2025 – Dec 2025

Time out to support a family member; used it to build fluency in AI product tooling — prototyping platforms, prompt engineering, agents.

Utility Warehouse Sept 2020 – Aug 2022
Head of Product, Partner Network

Owned the Partner product line for a FTSE 250 multi-utility provider supporting a network of over 60,000 Partners.

  • Delivered a new Partner product strategy, won board endorsement and funding, and executed it across 24 months.
  • Shipped a native Partner app that increased the primary activation milestone by 5x and conversion by 2x versus control.
  • Conceived and delivered the company's first production ML service — a switching-propensity model built on third-party datasets — demonstrating pragmatic integration of AI for commercial value.
  • Delivered 10,000 new Partner subscriptions and supported annual customer growth from 4% to 16%.
  • Shifted the organisation from feature-driven delivery to OKR-driven product management with continuous discovery and experimentation.
Case study
Sense_ Jul 2018 – Aug 2020
Product Director (0-1 venture)

Led product for an AI-driven sensor platform ("Google Analytics for physical space") that optimises space, energy use and occupant comfort for large real-estate owners.

  • Took the concept from hypothesis to product-market fit: landscaping, commercial modelling, user research, proposition and go-to-market strategy.
  • Directed development of the machine-learning model and sensor, enabling advanced people and object detection and demonstrating applied AI in the built-environment context.
  • Led development of backend and frontend systems, including a native app, working with a third-party agency and cross-functional teams.
  • Built an early-adopter programme with a pipeline over £30m (Walthamstow Council, Warner Brothers, Romulus, Facebook).
Case study
Mipic.co Jan 2018 – Jun 2018
Product Consultant

B2C marketplace turning social-media imagery into globally-fulfilled products. Optimised go-to-market and performance marketing, and piloted a novel strategy building on platform creators' audiences.

Giant Sparrows Feb 2014 – Sep 2017
CEO & Co-founder (0-1 venture)

Bootstrapped and scaled a print-on-demand personalisation ecommerce business with global fulfilment. Brought it to profit on just under seven figures of revenue and exited via a trade sale in 2017.

  • Built the B2C personalisation experience, integrating the Instagram and Facebook APIs so customers could turn their own images into beautiful physical products.
  • Drove growth through SEO and paid search, with email marketing automation for retention and repeat purchase.
  • Built a B2B line working with content owners including the British Museum and Tate Modern, meeting an institutional bar on craft and reproduction quality. This unplanned trade line grew to 60% of revenue and carried the business to profit.
Case study
British Telecom Sept 2007 – Jan 2014
Head of Client Services

Led go-to-market and productising activities for BT One, a new global enterprise SaaS solution within BT Global Services.

  • Ran a multimillion Microsoft/BT-funded programme across the top 100 accounts.
  • Productised a high-touch sales model into a globally scalable software offering, rolling it out across Europe, APAC and North America.
  • Worked with partners including Microsoft, Cisco and IBM on technology integration and ecosystem management.
Nielsen Jan 2003 – Jul 2006
Technology Practice Lead, Russia & Middle East

Progressed from Research Executive to Technology Practice Lead, relocating to Moscow to develop the market for client research for Western firms entering Russia. Built and led a team of 15 delivering 20% of division revenues.

Cambridge University
MBA
Director's Scholarship · GMAT 700
Dalhousie University
Bachelor of Commerce
Alexander Rutherford Scholarship
Virgin Startup
Business Mentor (2015 – 2018): mentored early-stage founders for the Virgin Group non-profit.
Light-fi
Product strategy and roadmap for a proptech startup's academic founders.