Derek Mills

About Derek Mills

Senior Product Manager with 15+ years launching products at scale in retail operations…

Experience

1. Product Lead

   Compass Group

   Feb 2024 — Present

   Lead end-to-end product strategy and execution for self-service retail across US client sites, spanning micro-markets and advanced vending machines; portfolio influences >$2B ARR with >98% uptime.Own product development for kiosks, micro-markets, smart coolers, vending, autonomous/Just Walk Out, and mobile checkout; integrated with 365, CPI, Cantaloupe/USAT, Nayax, Intuitivo, and Amazon Go/JWO.Built and scaled AI capabilities—demand forecasting and planogram revenue optimization—operating nationwide for 11 months to improve mix, margin, and inventory turns.Launched remote vending price controls nationwide (post A/B testing); delivered ~$5M annualized OPEX savings, reduced truck rolls 20%, and cut pricing deployment time by 95%.Directly manage a 14-person SAFe delivery team (8 developers, 6 QA/system analysts; 4 offshore via BrightLight); set hiring plans, performance management, and vendor influence.As one of five leaders on the Lean-Agile Center of Excellence, instituted OKRs and PI cadence, improving velocity +35% and say–do ratio from 65% to 85%; drive cross-functional alignment across Ops, Finance, Supply Chain, IT, Data, and Field Services.

Education

• Mary Washington College

  Bachelor of Science - BS

• Virginia Tech

  Master of Science - MS