About Marcelo
I help executives turn AI opportunity into executable strategy and shipped outcomes.
Most AI initiatives do not fail because of model quality alone. They fail because business value, architecture, governance and delivery are not aligned. I work in that gap.
I support CEOs, business leaders and investors who need a senior advisor who moves from board-level discussion to concrete execution. My focus is AI and technology platforms across GenAI, agentic AI and end-to-end platform delivery, with exposure to Financial Services, Insurance, Telecoms, MedTech and Consumer Robotics.
My background combines consulting rigor with operator execution. I built my foundation in roles at McKinsey, Detecon, Lufthansa Systems, Siemens and Cisco, then led product and transformation work inside operating companies.
At Vorwerk, I worked under board mandate on a CHF 100M+ connected portfolio within the Thermomix and Cookidoo ecosystem, serving 5M+ users across 20+ countries, and coordinated 120+ engineers across hardware, firmware, cloud and UX in four countries. At V-Zug, I built AI-supported analytics for 500k connected devices, established data governance under Swiss FADP, and accelerated time-to-market by 50% via SAFe implementation.
I hold an MSc in AI (grade 1.3, thesis 1.0), an MBA from IE Business School, and MoP certification (Portfolio Management). I am also a named inventor on two granted patent families in multi-robot coordination, covering the US, PL, ES and AU.
Typical engagements:
- AI strategy and business case
- Target architecture and deployment roadmap
- LLM, RAG and agentic AI solution design
- Data governance, compliance and AI operating model
- Due diligence for boards and investors
- Interim CPO and senior product leadership
Clients bring me in when the stakes are high, the problem crosses multiple functions, and they need someone who can move from executive discussion to delivery logic without losing rigor.
Based in Switzerland. Available immediately
English
Native or bilingual
Spanish
Native or bilingual
German
Native or bilingual
Can work on-site
Zurich (up to 50km)
Willing to travel
Experience
- Independent AI Strategy & Product ConsultingInterim CPO / AI Product & Strategy ConsultantCONSULTING AND AUDITSNovember 2024 - Today (1 year and 7 months)Zurich, Switzerland
- Published enterprise AI work samples with target architecture and deployment roadmap, built from public data as proofs of value: Swiss Re, DeepJudge, Lakera, Hamilton Robotics, Swiss Post.
- Developed agentic AI prototypes, RAG solutions and automation workflows with Python, Docker, n8n and Claude Code.
- LLM evaluation, embeddings, retrieval and prompt engineering to assess model behaviour and answer quality (LM Studio, Ollama).
- Active in the Zurich and Central Switzerland AI community: ETH AI Center, ZHAW, LAC Lucerne AI Community, Zurich AI Meetup, Swiss Robotics Days.
- V-Zug AGDigital Product Manager / AI Solutions ArchitectINTERNET OF THINGS (IOT)March 2022 - May 2024 (2 years and 2 months)Zug, Switzerland
- Built AI-driven analytics capability for 500k connected devices, anchored data-driven decision-making across Engineering, Operations and Leadership, KPI dashboards for Digital Products with monthly reporting to Top Management.
- Initiatives to introduce artificial intelligence in the context of digital product management at V-Zug.
- Partner management: Apple as service provider for billing, Zühlke as development partner, SAP integration, steering the internal V-Zug IT organisation.
- Digital Product Management V-Upgrade (digital premium feature extension after purchase): developed product vision and roadmap including business cases and market validation, scaled to washing machines, dryers and dishwashers, designed a subscription model for new target segments (Subscriptions Pilot), validated hypotheses via customer survey, secured R&D investment.
- Digital Product Management Clean&Simple (PaaS, Product as a Service for Textile Care): built product roadmap and sales process with the sales team, designed contract framework and pricing, prepared sales and training materials.
- Market launch of digital services, integration of V-Upgrade with the V-Zug Home App, conducted sales training for the field force.
- Implemented SAFe across Engineering and Product teams as Product Manager and Digital Product Manager, agile sprints, cross-functional alignment on roadmap priorities, 50% faster time-to-market.
- Data governance under Swiss FADP established, Privacy-by-Design integrated across Legal, Compliance and Finance.
- Vorwerk InternationalSenior Product Manager - Connected Products (IoT/AI)INTERNET OF THINGS (IOT)March 2016 - April 2021 (5 years and 1 month)Wollerau, SZ, Switzerland
- Smart Oven prototypes with Helbling and Vorwerk Engineering. ML-based cooking-process recognition (camera, weight, colour, temperature) for personalised doneness and automatic Success Guarantee.
- Cookidoo platform ecosystem: owned product requirements and architecture (5M+ users in 20+ countries, 800TB data, 65+ microservices, multi-cloud AWS/Azure). Delivered two platform generations (TM6, TM7).
- Board mandate for transformation of the connected product portfolio (CHF 100M+), steering 120+ engineers across hardware, firmware, cloud and UX in four countries.
- Initiator of Thermomix as a Service. Operating-model transformation integrating hardware, subscriptions and GDPR-compliant architecture.
- Designed and launched Smart Pan and Smart Sensor with 20% higher customer engagement. Initiator of Multidevice Cooking with prototypes and international recipe books for TM + Sensor + Pan.
- Meater acquisition: led due diligence and founder negotiations to verbal agreement, transaction declined by Thermomix DL. Managed first launch: app localisation for ES, US, AU, IT. Cooking data prepared as AI/ML personalisation dataset.
- 15+ strategic partnerships (Barilla, Meater, Hestan Cue, Helbling, drop, innit, V-Zug, Haier, Whisk). Led internal and external development teams.
- TM Garantie (Extended Warranty) for TM5: rolled out across 6 European countries. Risk and fraud mitigation over 60+ service providers on 10M+ devices. 35% fewer support incidents.
- Coordinated 40k+ direct-sales advisors in country waves: training, information campaigns, marketing agencies, sales materials for Connected Products and TM Garantie.
- Named inventor on two granted patent families in multi-robot coordination (US, PL, ES, AU). Concept creator of Multidevice Cooking. Designed a smart device as a potential second revenue stream for the division.
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Education
- MSc Artificial IntelligenceAalen University2024Graduated with top honors (1.3). Thesis: "On Artificial General Intelligence" (1.0), focused on AI evaluation frameworks, data-driven model assessment, responsible AI and alignment strategies.
- Executive Education - Building New BusinessesHarvard Business School.2010Innovation management and new business creation in established organizations.
Certifications
- Artificial Intelligence: Implications for Business StrategyMIT Sloan School of Management2018
- Tackling the Challenges of Big DataMIT Professional Education2015
Skill set
Due Diligence
Digital Transformation
Change and Transformation Management
AI and Advanced Analytics
IT Strategy
Product Strategy
Roadmapping
Corporate Strategy
Business Unit Strategy
Innovation Management
Categories
- Management Consultant
- Strategy Consultant
- Tech Executive