Leslie Zavisca

About Leslie Zavisca

I am a product/engineering operations leader experienced aligning strategy and delivery across Product, Design, and Engineering. I’m passionate about optimizing strategy, people, and process–combining rigorous methodology and right-sized processes that provide structure while fostering autonomy and creativity.My superpower is an intrinsic drive to \"get it done\", and I’m respected for my authentic, servant leadership style. Colleagues describe me as curious, adaptable, rigorous, pragmatic, collaborative, and outcome-focused.I’m known as a leader, builder, and executor–and pride myself on being resourceful: Leader: I’ve run Engineering and Product Operations, been interim Sr. Product Manager and acting Chief of Staff to the CPO; and represented Engineering/PDE to C-Suite, Finance, Sales, and Marketing. Builder: I’ve evolved and built operating models, covering strategic planning to post-launch analysis. I built Product Operations from scratch, and created Principal Engineering and Career Mentorship programs. Executor: I have a bias for action and outcomes. I use data to prioritize, sequence, and de-risk; and roll up my sleeves to maintain forward progress. Resourceful: My experience in larger orgs taught me how to fill gaps in smaller ones. I’ve built bespoke HR infrastructure, including hiring SOPs, career levels, compensation guides, and performance management processes.Signature Achievements At Leafly: Orchestrated transformation that redefined all roles and teams in PDE. Unified culture and processes, ensuring predictability and adaptability. Measured success and adjusted accordingly. Established Product Operations function. Improved alignment with leadership and stakeholders, and increased efficiency. Cut production incidents by 60% and Engineering-attributable order loss by 98% YoY via SOPs for alerting and developer response. Cut production issues by 81% YoY by establishing SLAs for incidents and defects.Key Competencies: Product/Engineering Operations: Operating Model • OKR & KPI Governance • Operating Rhythms (MBR/QBR) • Lean Startup Methodology • Agile • Roadmapping & Prioritization • Data-Driven Decisions • Intake & Triage • GTM • Post-Launch Monitoring • Postmortems & Retros • Continuous Improvement • Business Continuity • Process Design & Optimization Leadership: Strategic Planning • Stakeholder Management • Cross-Functional Collaboration • Executive Communication • Storytelling • Coaching & Mentoring • Training & Development • Budget Management • DEI • Hiring • Career Ladders • Performance Management

Experience

1. VP, Product Operations

   Leafly

   Jan 2022 — Present

Education

• Bryn Mawr College

  Bachelor of Arts - BA, Computer Science