Fractional Product Leadership

I Don't Just Advise.
I Ship.

I embed with your team, make the hard calls, and drive products from strategy to delivery. Available for fractional engagements, interim leadership, and full-time roles.


Senior Leadership,
Hands-On Execution

Product Strategy & Roadmapping

I work directly with leadership to validate vision, resolve stakeholder misalignment, and build roadmaps that teams can actually execute against, grounded in customer insight and business outcomes, not wishful thinking.

Embedded Execution Leadership

I sit inside your team. I'm in standups, making trade-off calls, unblocking engineers, and keeping delivery moving. This isn't advisory at arm's length. It's operator-level leadership with accountability for results.

Interim & Leave Coverage

When a product leader goes on leave or exits unexpectedly, momentum stalls fast. I step in quickly, get up to speed without hand-holding, and keep your team moving until you're ready to hire or your leader returns.

Team & Capability Building

I raise the bar on how your team thinks about product. Through hands-on coaching, hiring input, and lightweight frameworks that stick, I build the muscle so execution continues long after I step back.

The Right Leader,
Right Now

Series A – C

Startups Building Product Capability

You've found product-market fit and need operational rigor: a leader who's built the systems before and can move fast.

Growth Stage

Companies That Need Experience Now

The VP search will take months you don't have. I step in immediately to provide the leadership continuity that keeps teams aligned and shipping.

Enterprise

Critical 0→1 Initiatives

High-stakes new products inside large organizations stall without someone who's done it before. I bring startup-speed execution to enterprise constraints.

Domain Experience

My background runs deep in a few areas. Strong product leadership is portable — I apply the same operating discipline anywhere — but these are the domains where I can hit the ground running.

Payments & Fintech

Payment platforms, card ecosystems, embedded finance, commercial payments, and partner-driven financial products.

Fraud, Risk & Identity

Fraud detection, AML workflows, identity and authentication, risk decisioning, and trust-focused platform capabilities.

Data & AI Platforms

Real-time data systems, AI/ML product enablement, customer data platforms, and analytics-driven product strategy.

Regulated Enterprise

Platform modernization in compliance-sensitive environments, cross-functional operating models, and governance-aware execution at scale.

25 Years of
Building What Ships

My career has been spent inside the work, not above it. I've led teams through the highest-stakes moments in product: zero-to-one launches, stalled platform rescues, regulated market expansions, and turnarounds under funding pressure.

That experience gives me pattern recognition most consultants don't have: I can tell the difference between a strategy problem and an execution problem, and I know what to do about both. That includes regulated environments where compliance isn't optional and lightweight frameworks are a feature, not a burden.

I've operated across startups and Fortune 50 organizations alike. That range matters. I bring the urgency of a startup operator with the discipline of someone who's navigated enterprise complexity.

Wells Fargo PayPal First Data · Fiserv NICE Actimize DrumWave
Step 01

Start with outcomes

Define what winning looks like before touching the roadmap.

Step 02

Talk to customers early

Evidence over assumptions, always, even under time pressure.

Step 03

Make the hard calls

I don't hedge. When the path is unclear, I make a decision and own it.

Step 04

Deliver iteratively

Ship, learn, adjust. Speed of learning is the real competitive advantage.

  • 60 days
    Shipped a 0→1 data marketplace product
    After a 7-year internal stalemate, directly unlocking bridge funding.
  • $60M
    Value created from a $15M data platform investment
    Led end-to-end build of the platform architecture and team.
  • $15M
    Annual revenue recovered through product redesign
    Retained at-risk enterprise clients who were actively evaluating alternatives.
  • $5M+
    Annual savings from strategic build-vs-buy decisions
    Redirected investment to areas of true competitive differentiation.

Structured to Match
Where You Are

Every engagement starts with understanding your current state, your target outcome, and the gap between them. I don't come with a pre-packaged playbook. I bring the judgment to know which levers matter most.

Strategic Advisory & Coaching

Flexible cadence · Project or retainer

For product leaders who want an experienced operator in their corner, not a framework, but a thinking partner who has navigated the same decisions at scale.

  • 1:1 coaching for VPs and senior PMs
  • Product strategy review and challenge
  • Critical decision support under pressure
  • Capability assessments and growth planning

I work with a small number of clients at any given time to ensure I'm fully present in each engagement. If you're evaluating a need, the best first step is a direct conversation.


Schedule a Conversation

Let's Talk About
What You're Building

Whether you have an immediate need or you're thinking six months ahead, I'm happy to have a direct conversation about where you are and whether I'm the right fit.

There's no sales pitch, just an honest discussion about your product challenges and what experienced leadership could unlock for your team.

Open to fractional engagements, interim leadership, and full-time roles at the Principal or VP level, as an individual contributor or people leader.

Book a Call 30-Minute Intro via Calendly
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Email Maria@NorthlineAdvisoryGroup.com
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LinkedIn Maria Martinez