Resume

Ben Farr

Senior AI Technical Product Leader

Technical product leader with 15+ years building and scaling platforms across media, e-commerce, and education. I turn complex AI systems, CDN architectures, and metadata pipelines into intuitive products that drive measurable outcomes. Currently architecting an AI-powered Learner Intelligence Store, using vector retrieval, behavioral telemetry, and model-driven recommendations to deliver hyper-personalized learning at global scale.

01

Professional experience

Fifteen years building and scaling platforms across media, e-commerce, and education.

Director of Product Management

FULLER Equip · Pasadena, CA (Remote)

July 2021 — Present

  • Designed and led development of a Learner Intelligence Store (LIS), an AI intelligence layer that aggregates learner telemetry, behavioral signals, and educational metadata to power hyper-personalized learning at global scale.
  • Increased course completion 41% for learners on AI-generated pathways versus the static catalog.
  • Implemented vector embedding pipelines and retrieval (RAG) architectures, improving retrieval precision 0.59 → 0.86 (human-rated relevance) through embedding-strategy and chunking optimization.
  • Built an eval harness scoring recommendation relevance, raising model pass-rate 59% → 89% across 7 cohorts.
  • Reduced inference cost 50% by routing low-stakes recommendations to smaller models.
  • Integrated Azure AI and OpenAI models to generate personalized course recommendations and adaptive learning pathways from behavioral signals and learner goals.
  • Architected and launched Fuller's Learning Management System (LMS) and Learning Record Store (LRS), modernizing the institution's digital learning infrastructure for non-degree learners worldwide.
  • Scaled active learners +81% in 13 months and mobile session engagement +48% through AI-driven personalization and a mobile-first redesign.

Head of Product

DYM · Irvine, CA

June 2018 — July 2021

  • Led the full replatforming of the commerce ecosystem onto Salesforce Commerce Cloud, enabling scalable global billing and subscription commerce.
  • Built data-driven targeting and segmentation frameworks, increasing customer lifetime value +23% and weekly active users +18%.
  • Shifted the org from a feature-focused to an objective-driven roadmap culture, securing leadership buy-in to prioritize outcomes over output.

Senior Product Manager

The Daily Mail · London, UK

June 2017 — May 2018

  • Launched the MailShop rewards platform from 0 → 1, integrating it with the Nectar loyalty program across the United Kingdom.
  • Used data-driven insights to grow average order value +18% and monthly active shoppers +68% in one year.
  • Mentored and managed a team of associate product managers through a high-visibility, cross-functional launch.

Product Manager

Saddleback Church

Oct 2013 — May 2017

  • Launched a large-scale digital engagement platform reaching 120,000 active users within the first 10 days.
  • Led development of the Transform mobile app across iOS and Android, owning discovery through release.

Product Manager

Houzz

Apr 2013 — Oct 2013

  • Helped lead development of the Houzz eCommerce marketplace experience, generating $3M in week-one sales.

eCommerce Product Manager

Buy.com (Rakuten)

Sept 2009 — April 2013

  • Redesigned the seller-acquisition platform in a data-intensive marketplace, increasing merchant onboarding +29%.

02

Skills & competencies

Where I go deep — from applied AI to streaming infrastructure.

Core competencies

AI Product StrategyGenerative AI & LLMsRAG ImplementationVector Databases & EmbeddingsRecommendation EnginesPersonalization SystemsModel Evaluation & ExperimentationMLOps LifecycleCloud & CDN ArchitectureStreaming & Edge DeliveryMetadata PipelinesData-Driven Decision MakingEthical AI GovernanceTechnical Roadmap Planning

Technical

OpenAI APIAnthropic Claude APIAWS Bedrock & SageMakerAzure AIVector Databases (Pinecone)HLS / CMAF / Adaptive BitrateAWS CloudFront & MediaConvertAWS Lambda, S3, DynamoDBAWS Kinesis TelemetryMulti-CDN ArchitectureNext.js, TypeScript, ReactSQL & NoSQL Databases

03

Key projects

Working tools and case studies, not slideware. Built on AWS, HLS, and serverless AI.

04

Education & recognition

Foundations, certifications, and a few things I'm proud of.

M.B.A.

Imperial College Business School

2020 · London

B.S. Business

Biola University

2013 · California

Becoming an AI-First Product Leader

Certification

Certified Scrum Master

Scrum Alliance

2015

Top 25 Entrepreneur in Orange County

Recognition