Nolan Dahl

About Nolan Dahl

I\'m a mechanical engineer who accidentally discovered product management while leading a solar-powered race car team back from the dead. We\'d lost our sponsorship and were on the verge of shutting down, and I went from general member to lead engineer to board member - rebuilding sponsorship relationships, designing and manufacturing a new car, and creating an organizational architecture from scratch. I didn\'t know it at the time, but it was product management, and I was hooked.After that, I talked my way into a product management consulting startup, and never looked back. Since then, I\'ve:• Shipped a SaaS product that cut work order time by 75% for 60+ schools• Pushed back on a client\'s product vision and proposed an alternative that cut costs by 50% and development time in half• Led developers, designers, and researchers in building bespoke software for a housing company serving 1,400 formerly homeless residentsI care most about products that make a difference for people who are often overlooked - especially in education, sustainability, and civic tech. I come from an engineering background, so I speak the language of the teams I work with, but I think like a strategist and stay close to users.Always happy to connect - whether you want to talk product strategy, swap ideas, or just say hello!

Experience

1. Product Manager

   Digital Aid Seattle

   Apr 2024 — Present · Seattle, WA, US

   Led development of a digital platform for a housing organization serving 1,400 formerly homeless residents: a checkout experience, analytics dashboard, and custom database. Managed a team of 8 (developers, designers, researchers, QA, architects) from discovery through delivery and post-launch support• Challenged the client’s initial product vision with a user-informed alternative, cutting operational costs by 50% and development time by 25% while delivering a more intuitive, error-resistant workflow for users• Conducted in-person user research, usability observations, and feedback loops via surveys, stakeholder meetings, and Microsoft Clarity analytics, cutting feature validation time by 12.5%• Architected and built an AI-driven development standard across 4 teams: Jira story creation and prioritization, code reviews, QA checks, and a Figma-to-dev handoff process, cutting feature delivery time by 20% within 6 months• Designed a reusable, scalable product architecture where 66% of components could transfer directly to future client projects, enabling the organization to attract new clients and reduce development time for each engagement

Education

• Oregon State University

  Bachelor's Degree

Skills

• Microsoft Office
• Matlab
• Solidworks
• Social Media
• Leadership