Product Leader · Applied AI · Product Architecture

I lead product direction and stay hands-on in how the product works.

I work across product strategy, product architecture, UX, and applied AI. I’ve held product-wide responsibility for a complex enterprise platform, shaping its vision and how its capabilities fit together as a coherent system, while also personally designing and building production AI products.

View selected work ↓Résumé ↗

Portrait of Stephan Ryatt wearing a washed black T-shirt against a neutral background.

Selected work

Pathfinder Pro

AI recommendation product · Product architecture · Applied AI

I took a founder’s concept and study-program dataset to a live product in six weeks, owning product definition, UX, AI architecture, implementation, evaluation, and launch.

The system turns a multidimensional student profile into three personalized university-program recommendations using a retrieve–rerank architecture, then generates a report explaining the fit, associated career paths, and practical next steps.

View case study

Cover of a Pathfinder Pro personalized university recommendation report.

How I work

I don’t separate product strategy from the mechanics of the product. I move between the larger vision and the details until the underlying logic is clear enough to make good decisions – and clear enough for design and engineering to build from.

Build the whole picture

I build an integrated model of the users, business and competitive context, workflows, existing capabilities, and technical constraints and opportunities before committing to a direction.

Make the product logic explicit

I work through how capabilities fit together, how information and responsibility move through the system, and where the important boundaries and edge cases sit until the product makes sense as a whole.

Stay close where details matter

I stay hands-on where detail materially shapes the outcome—especially in UX, applied AI, and system behavior—while leaving design and engineering clear ownership of their craft.

Selected experience

Copalana

Co-Founder & Head of Product & AI

2019–Present

I’ve led Copalana’s evolution from a rudimentary fundraising product into an integrated CSR platform helping lean corporate teams run employee programs at scale. I conceived the role-based product model connecting volunteering, fundraising, analytics, surveys, and outreach across companies, employees, and nonprofits, while holding primary responsibility across strategy, product architecture, UX, pricing, and applied AI. Today the platform has 33,000+ registered accounts, 700+ approved nonprofits, and CHF 6.8M+ in donations processed.

Pathfinder Pro

AI Product Architect & Developer (Contract)

2025

Took an AI-powered study-program recommender from founder concept and dataset to a live paid product in six weeks, owning product definition, UX, AI architecture, implementation, evaluation, and launch. Designed a retrieve–rerank system that preserves rich student and program information while combining embedding retrieval with multidimensional LLM judgment; the product remains in production and has generated 100+ paid reports.

Earlier work

KV Luzern

Project Lead, Digital Transformation

2015-2018

Led enterprise CRM/CMS integration and redesigned marketing and sales workflows from process design through organizational adoption.

Credit Suisse

Business Analyst, Infrastructure Virtualization

2011-2013

Designed business-process models supporting workflow standardization and automation within a major infrastructure-virtualization initiative.

Where I do my best work

I’m at my best in senior, hands-on product roles where I can shape meaningful product direction while staying close to how the product actually works – particularly in applied AI, technical products, and complex product systems.

I work well with strong design and engineering partners in high-autonomy, distributed teams where clear thinking, written communication, and product judgment matter more than process for its own sake.

Get in touch →