Thomas K.-Technical Product & Delivery Leader | Web3, Digital Assets & Telecoms | AI-Enabled Delivery
Check rate
Experience
Advisor - Programmes & Operational Excellence
P2P.org
Non-custodial staking and digital-asset infrastructure for Web3 wallets, exchanges, and institutional custodians
Advised the COO on delivery for staking and digital-asset infrastructure serving institutional custodians, exchanges and wallets across regulated markets.
- Ran the company-wide KPI and OKR process across the organisation, raising company-wide OKR achievement from 50% to 65%.
- Designed and implemented OKR/KPI frameworks enabling structured quarterly delivery cycles and executive-level execution visibility.
- Defined, documented and improved the P2P governance and operating processes across programmes and operations.
COO / Head of Product & Delivery
Zeko Labs
Layer-2 zkRollup platform - Mina Protocol - ZK privacy - Web3 & DeFi applications - on-chain asset custody & bridging
Launched Zeko Mainnet (June 2026), taking a full ZK Layer-2 product stack from zero to a live public network in under 18 months, following Zeko Testnet, the Zeko Boom incentivised testnet, the Zeko Bridge, and the Lumina DEX.
- Led a 10-person cross-functional team covering protocol, full-stack, DevOps, smart contracts and marketing on a $1M budget through testnet, incentivised testnet and public Mainnet launch.
- Delivered the Zeko Bridge and Lumina DEX, enabling secure custody, movement and settlement of on-chain digital assets between Mina and the Zeko Layer-2; the first bridge and first DEX in the Mina ecosystem.
- Secured three Mainnet application launches through a developer pipeline tracking key builders to deployment.
- Built the operational foundation: org structure, execution cadence, product rituals, and decision-making processes across engineering, product, and ecosystem teams.
- Automated the development workflow end to end: AI agents turn call transcripts and Slack discussions into structured Linear issues, routed into the backlog and active sprints, removing manual ticket admin and keeping the board a reliable single source of truth for delivery tracking.
- Rolled out Claude Enterprise and NotebookLM as the team's AI stack for delivery automation and knowledge management.
- Built an AI knowledge management layer on Gemini Notebook (Google Workspace) and a self-serve Q&A drawn from accumulated project knowledge, letting ecosystem, partner and business teams answer their own questions; reduced engineer interruptions and context switching, recovering around 15% of sprint velocity.
VP of Programs & Operations
Mina Foundation
Layer-1 blockchain - ZK-SNARKs - world's lightest blockchain at 22KB
- Led an 18-month, $10M programme across Mina Foundation and o1Labs delivering zkApp smart contracts on Mainnet (live 4 June 2024), in four streams: ecosystem testing, security, a two-month incentivised testnet with all node operators, and the Mainnet upgrade.
- Delivered zkSmart Contracts on Mina Mainnet - the strategic milestone unlocking the next phase of ecosystem growth, coordinating across engineering, protocol, and ecosystem teams.
- Negotiated infrastructure agreements generating $500K annual savings; rebuilt the Delegation Program to 0% delinquency, saving 1M MINA a year.
- Curated a shortlist of security auditors and ran the RFP process to strike the right balance between quality and cost; drove audit contract negotiations and led audit projects from start to finish across wallets, protocol, and bridges categories.
- Ran security end-to-end, from auditor bench and light RFPs to contract negotiation, audit reports and bug-fix timelines; a bug bounty vendor switch increased vulnerability submissions by 600%.
- Managed relationships with audit firms: negotiated contracts, tracked past and ongoing audits, and lined up auditor availability with development timelines.
- Introduced company-wide OKR frameworks and executive reporting processes, reporting directly to the CEO and accountable for cross-organisational execution, including weekly senior meetings, Executive Committee (ExCo) and board preparation.
- Served as point of contact for Finoa, the custodian, and integration lead with Taurus.
Head of Delivery, Atala PRISM
IOG (Cardano)
Blockchain infrastructure company behind Cardano - Atala PRISM digital identity
- Led a 40+ engineering tribe, including Scrum Masters, protocol engineers, and product teams
- Built and led a 40+ person engineering, product, and delivery organisation responsible for Atala PRISM - one of the world's first production blockchain identity platforms, partnering with Talent Acquisition on hiring and HR on retention.
- Drove delivery of the Identity SDK and software node, enabling commercial adoption
- Delivered the Atala PRISM identity platform for the Ethiopian Ministry of Education, serving millions of students.
- Coordinated multi-million-dollar roadmap delivery with a ~7M budget, achieving high predictability and quality
- Owned a $7M annual budget, partnering with Finance on financial planning, accounts receivable and accounts payable.
- Built a 1,000+ developer ecosystem for PRISM and secured 3M in ecosystem funding
Senior Global Product & Programme Manager, Fixed Consumer Devices
Vodafone Group Services
One of the world's largest telecoms companies - 300M+ customers globally
- Managed $100M+ annual sales over 10 countries and partners for Vodafone branded fixed products
- Owned a $100M+ fixed-devices portfolio in 10 European markets, including GPON across the Vodafone footprint.
- Drove delivery programs for new product and service development in the consumer fixed communications footprint
- Led end-to-end programme management for new product introductions: RFP/RFQ, supplier selection, regulatory approvals, and market launch
- Launched the first Vodafone-branded Wi-Fi 6 router in Spain and Portugal: around 20% lower device price, better quality.
- Ensured achievement of time, cost, quality, and market execution objectives with cross-functional leadership covering quality, design, user experience, marketing, commercial, services, logistics, and go-to-market efforts
- Led end-to-end New Product Introduction (NPI): RFP/RFQ, vendor selection, regulatory approval and launch, across vendors, local markets and procurement.
Senior Global Product / Programme Manager, Convergence Devices
Vodafone Group Services
- Developed and launched new initiatives in the consumer IoT area to ensure revenue growth
- Defined and implemented the portfolio to serve local markets, including roadmap, proposition, and product requirements
- Conducted solutions benchmarking, vendor scouting, RFP processes, and managed development until launch
- Launched Vodafone's first consumer (B2C) IoT offer with Samsung, owning roadmap, proposition, vendor selection and launch across European markets.
Senior Global Product Manager, Mobile Device Terminals
Vodafone Group Services
- Managed $100M+ annual sales over 20 countries and partners for Vodafone branded tablets and smartphones
- Oversaw a 15+ member multinational cross-functional team including quality, design, user experience, marketing, commercial, services, logistics, and go-to-market professionals
- Achieved 200% year-over-year growth in tablet sales with 150K units sold
- Introduced a new supplier, developed a new product category with two tablets delivered on time, to quality expectations, and within budget, maintaining a return rate below 2%
- Launched Vodafone's first sub-€100 smartphone with LTE, NFC, and mobile payments
- Owned $100M+ annual sales of Vodafone-branded smartphones and tablets across 20 countries.
Global Programme Manager (Secondment), Terminals
Vodafone Group Services
- Led a 3-member team in end-to-end delivery of branded handsets, covering 15% of the global consumer portfolio
- Attained sales of over 500K units across 12 countries for entry data handsets with an optimized Opera browser
- Grew ARPU through customer upgrades from voice-only to voice-plus-data plans
- Launched the Vodafone Facebook phone and the Vodafone 150 and 250, marketed as the world's most affordable phones; 2M+ units across 15 countries, including India and South Africa.
Global Product Manager, Mobile Broadband
Vodafone Group Services
- Oversaw product development, delivery, and go-to-market strategies for USB sticks, routers, and netbook mobile broadband devices
- Supervised a cross-functional international product management group and directed onboarding of Chinese vendors
- Achieved on-time delivery of 7M mobile broadband units sold
Lead Consultant, Telecom & Media Practice
Altran Group
- Assessed and defined client requirements, produced site progress reports, and ensured client satisfaction through high standards
- Evaluated and recommended improvements for PMO processes at Symbian
- Reengineered testing strategy for UK devices teams and Telefonica/O2, achieving a 40% reduction in testing time with no quality loss
Project Engineer, Telecom & Media Practice
Altran Group
- Evaluated project proposals and plans, defined objectives, allocated staff, and produced cost estimates and technical studies
- Managed network rollout at KPN Orange Belgium, improving coverage from 55% to 90% over 12 months
- Delivered voice/data and fixed/mobile solutions for corporate customers on time
Industry experience
See where this freelancer has spent most of their professional time.
Experienced in Telecommunication, Information Technology, Banking and Finance, Education, and Government and Administration.
Business area experience
See which departments and functions this freelancer has contributed to most.
Experienced in Project Management, Product Development, Sales, Procurement, Marketing, and Operations.
Summary
Senior Product, Delivery & Operations leader with 20+ years of experience across Consulting (Altran/Capgemini), Vodafone Group and Web3. I have delivered hardware and software products spanning mobile, TV, routers, IoT and digital platforms at Vodafone, and SDKs, Node software, blockchain infrastructure and smart contracts across Cardano/IOG, Mina, P2P.org and Zeko. I build and grow high-performing teams from the ground up - assembling and leading cross-functional ‘tribes’ of 40+ across engineering, product and ecosystem functions, and shaping the org structure, culture and execution cadence that let them scale. I translate complex technical initiatives into execution through clear ownership, OKRs, KPIs and governance. As a certified KI- Manager (STARTPLATZ AI Hub), I embed AI into delivery operations: at Zeko Labs, I implemented an automated intake pipeline converting meeting and Slack inputs into prioritised Linear backlog and sprint items, and deployed a Gemini Notebook knowledge base with self-service Q&A that reduced engineering interruptions and recovered approximately 15% of team velocity.
Technical Product & Delivery Leader taking complex products from zero to scale across Europe, Asia and Africa.
- Delivered one of the world's first blockchain identity deployments on Cardano, for the Ethiopian Ministry of Education.
- Took Zeko (ZK Layer-2) from testnet to Mainnet in 14 months, growing transactions and wallets by 2,000%.
- Delivered zkApp smart contracts on Mina Mainnet, enabling decentralised application building.
- Owned $100M+ Vodafone-branded device portfolios in up to 20 countries, launching the Facebook phone, the Vodafone 150 (the world's most affordable phone), the first Vodafone-branded Wi-Fi 6 router and the first B2C IoT proposition.
- Built one of IOG's highest-retention tribes (40+ people) and grew its ecosystem to 1,000+ developers and $3M funding.
- Set up company-wide governance at Mina Foundation (OKR, ExCo, board), improving accountability and predictability.
- Raised company-wide OKR achievement from 50% to 65% at P2P.org.
- Cut infrastructure costs by $500K a year and Delegation Program delinquency to 0%, saving 1M MINA a year.
- Deployed AI-driven automation on Claude Enterprise, turning calls and Slack threads into prioritised Linear backlog items.
Skills
- Product Strategy, Roadmap & Go-To-Market
- Product & Platform Delivery (Sw, Hw & Services)
- Blockchain & Web3 Platform Delivery
- Digital Asset Custody & Staking Infrastructure
- Cross-Functional Team Leadership (40+)
- Okr / Kpi Design & Execution
- Ai-Enabled Delivery & Workflow Automation
- Ai Strategy, Use-Case Design & Eu Ai Act Governance
- Digital Identity Saas & Software Platforms
- Consumer Hardware, Iot & Mobile Devices
- Budget & Resource Optimisation ($7m-$100m+)
- Program Management (Prince2 / Msp)
- Agile: Safe5 / Scrum / Kanban
- Multi-Country Portfolio Management (20+ Markets)
- Risk, Dependency & Stakeholder Management
- Vendor, Contract & Rfp Management
- Ai Knowledge Management & Agentic Workflows
- Developer Ecosystem Growth & Management
Languages
Education
Université Catholique de Louvain
Master · Engineering (Major in Electronics & Communications) · Ottignies-Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium
KU Leuven (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven)
Master · Industrial Management · Leuven, Belgium
Certifications & licenses
Bitcoin & Cryptocurrencies
Princeton University
STARTPLATZ AI Hub, Cert-IT
Google AI Essentials
Google AI Professional
IBM Blockchain Essentials
Statistics
Experience
Global experience
Expertise
Qualifications
Profile
Frequently asked questions
Have questions? Find more information here.
Thomas is based in Düsseldorf, Germany and can operate in on-site, hybrid, and remote work models.
Thomas speaks the following languages: French (Native), German (Advanced), English (Advanced), Dutch (Intermediate).
Thomas has at least 25 years of experience. During this time, Thomas has worked in at least 11 different roles and for 6 different companies. The average length of individual experience is 2 years and 3 months. Note that Thomas may not have shared all experience and actually has more experience.
Based on recent experience, Thomas would be well-suited for roles such as: Advisor - Programmes & Operational Excellence, COO / Head of Product & Delivery, VP of Programs & Operations.
Thomas's most recent position is Advisor - Programmes & Operational Excellence at P2P.org.
In recent years, Thomas has worked for P2P.org, Zeko Labs, Mina Foundation, and IOG (Cardano).
Thomas is most experienced in industries like Telecommunication, Information Technology, and Banking and Finance. Thomas also has some experience in Education and Government and Administration.
Thomas is most experienced in business areas like Project Management, Product Development, and Sales. Thomas also has some experience in Procurement, Marketing, and Operations.
Thomas has recently worked in industries like Information Technology, Banking and Finance, and Education.
Thomas has recently worked in business areas like Project Management, Operations, and Information Technology.
Thomas holds a Master in Engineering (Major in Electronics & Communications) from Université Catholique de Louvain and a Master in Industrial Management from KU Leuven (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven).
Thomas has 9 certificates. Among them, these include: Bitcoin & Cryptocurrencies, Certified AI Manager (KI-Manager), and Google AI Essentials.
Thomas is immediately available full-time for suitable projects.
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Calculated based on our freelancers’ daily rates as of 16 Oct 2026. Actual rates may vary depending on seniority level, experience, skill specialization, project complexity, and engagement length.
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