Leah Farmer

Founder · ICF PCC Executive & Leadership Coach

Founded to serve product and technology leaders navigating high-stakes transitions, burnout, and growth. Clients include C-suite executives, VPs, and founders across fintech, healthtech, and travel.

• Coach product and technology leaders across the US, Europe, and AsiaPac on team alignment, communication, and executive presence.
• Design and deliver bespoke internal coaching programs blending group and individual coaching for high-performing teams.
• Developed Beyond Burnout, a structured program helping leaders and teams build sustainable success strategies.
• Created The Co-Founder Connection, helping co-founder pairs strengthen relationships and shared leadership frameworks.
• Embedded on-demand coaching for companies including Synera, PPro, and Castles.
• Notable clients include leaders at EA Sports, GitHub, Amazon, Klarna, Google, Adyen, Decathlon, SAP, and Spotify, plus startups across Silicon Valley and Europe.
• Delivered product and organizational strategic assessments for UK-based investment firms and VCs, evaluating portfolio company product maturity, team structure, and AI readiness.
• Advised two UK tech startups on AI strategy, integrating AI capability into product roadmaps and go-to-market positioning.
• Built a multi-agent AI content operations system for the practice, setting content strategy across LinkedIn, Substack, Instagram, and Mailchimp.

Fractional Chief Product & Technology Officer

VC-backed travel tech scaleup. Brought in to lead Product and Design; remit expanded to include Engineering leadership in February 2025. Partner closely with the CEO and CFO on growth, conversion, and fundraising.

• Introduced a new product operating model including team charters, rituals, and cross-functional ownership.
• Recruited and onboarded product managers and designers, increasing capacity and strategic clarity.
• Created the customer experience vision and strategic framework, anchoring development to conversion and satisfaction metrics.
• Led the engineering leadership transition, defining delivery processes and building psychological safety and velocity.
• Developed and led the company-wide AI strategy and innovation roadmap, including a company-wide AI hackathon.
• Built Destination Pulse, an internal AI-powered tool integrating live flight pricing and Google Trends APIs to surface demand signals.
• Built a custom MCP server in TypeScript connecting Claude to the internal communication platform, enabling AI-assisted workflows.

Director, Board of Directors (Non-Executive)

Strategic oversight on product innovation, technology scaling, and leadership development for a fast-scaling SaaS fintech across Scandinavia.

• Advised on scaling the SaaS-based POS systems, contributing to a 326% revenue increase between 2021 and 2022.
• Supported key acquisitions including Cashit AB and Yabie Norway AS as part of a Scandinavian expansion strategy.
• Coached and mentored the leadership team on team dynamics and decision-making.

Director, Product Management – Commerce

Led cross-functional product teams within the Commerce business unit, defining the Unified Merchant Identity strategy. The role was significantly descoped following large-scale restructuring, and I resigned to pursue more aligned opportunities.

• Led UMI strategy development to create a more integrated merchant experience.
• Created tighter alignment between product, design, and engineering at director level.

Chief Product & Technology Officer

Led product, design, and engineering through a critical growth phase including the global pandemic, managing a cross-functional team across multiple offices.

• Spearheaded a successful $20M Series C extension, total raised $67M, partnering with the CEO and CFO on investor narrative.
• Led the tech team to deliver 10 to 15 features per quarter, improving conversion, satisfaction, and operational efficiency.
• Built and scaled engineering and product teams, defining hiring frameworks and leadership principles.
• Introduced data-driven travel planning tools across 50+ global destinations.

VP Product Management & GM, Merchant Services

Led the Merchant Services domain, overseeing 15 teams and 120+ people across product, engineering, and design.

• Drove a 300% increase in SMB merchant sign-ups; expanded relationships with H&M, ASOS, Samsung, and AliExpress.
• Oversaw the expansion of the Berlin Tech Hub, scaling merchant product development across Europe and the US.
• Developed Klarna's PM operating model and authored the Klarna PM 101 Book as a foundation for internal knowledge culture.
• Built and led a cross-functional leadership team across product, engineering, and design in a hypergrowth environment.

Senior Director, Technical Product Management

• Directed creation of the Express Care at Home mobile app, enabling on-demand provider house calls.
• Led the launch of Providence Express Care Virtual, a telehealth platform expanding care across a multi-state service area.
• Developed the DIG Leadership Principles and implemented PM writing culture and best practices.

Director of Strategy & Principal Technical Advisor

• Led cross-functional architecture teams aligning product, engineering, and design across core transaction services.
• Spearheaded a hackathon program that accelerated migration of services to cloud infrastructure.

Senior Technical Product Manager – Global Payments Services

• Led product management for core transaction services handling 1B+ transactions a month, including payment tokenization and routing architecture.
• Led development and launch of the global invoicing platform for Amazon Business: $1B in sales in year one, $10B+ in year two.
• Drove card-present payment processing capabilities, expanding in-person payment reach.