Product Leader · Consultant · Fractional CPO

Turning complex problems
into products that scale.

Over a decade building and leading product in fintech, insurtech, and SaaS. Currently Head of Product at Xero. Available for select advisory and fractional engagements.

View my work Work with me
0+ Years in product leadership
$0M+ Incremental GMV driven across portfolio
0 Countries · regulated markets navigated
0 Industries · fintech, insurtech, SaaS

About

A product executive built for high stakes.

Michael Zarif is a product executive with a track record of leading high-stakes, regulated products at scale — from Afterpay's global compliance infrastructure to Xero's agentic tax platform.

He brings strategic clarity and hands-on execution across the full product lifecycle: from zero-to-one ventures to multi-region platform growth. His work sits at the intersection of customer experience, commercial outcomes, and regulatory precision.

Beyond his executive roles, Michael works with founders and leadership teams as a fractional CPO and product advisor — bridging strategy and the structures needed to deliver it.

Experience

A long, coherent career
building product that matters.

  1. Xero

    2025 – Present

    Head of Product — Agentic Tax

    • Leading Xero's global agentic tax product strategy — turning periodic compliance into an always-on intelligent experience
    • Connecting near-term US tax opportunities with a scalable global agentic tax platform vision

  2. Xero

    2025

    Head of Product — Americas & Global Tax

    • Led strategy, execution, and growth of Xero's US Tax portfolio including 1099, Sales Tax integrations, and Income Tax expansion
    • Delivered elegant solutions to complex compliance challenges for small businesses across ANZ and the US

  3. BCG X (BCG Digital Ventures)

    2022 – 2024

    Product Lead · Venture CPO

    • Developed product & tech strategy for a corporate upskilling EdTech venture with an estimated $160M annual revenue
    • Conceived and executed a new fintech venture with estimated $37M ARR
    • Delivered internal automation tooling with $250K annual opex savings

  4. Afterpay

    2018 – 2022

    Head of Product — Membership

    • Conceived and launched Afterpay's first membership program — generated 180K signups in 2 days and $240M in incremental annual GMV

    Product Lead — Consumer Engagement & Compliance

    • Developed Afterpay's global regulatory compliance product controls across North America, UK, and ANZ
    • Launched industry-first lending transparency product — since replicated by competitors
    • Delivered Afterpay's first hardship support program, setting the BNPL sector standard for ethical lending
    • Checkout optimisation delivering 1.1% conversion uplift worth $275M GMV

  5. Medibank

    2016 – 2018

    Senior Product Manager — Digital Growth

    • Reduced customer onboarding from 3 days to 1; +7.5% sign-up conversion
    • Reduced inbound call volume by 9% via digital self-service capability

  6. NAB

    2013 – 2016

    Digital Product Manager — Business Banking

    • Product owner for NAB QuickBiz — fully online business loan decisioning

Services

Fractional leadership and product advisory for companies at critical stages of growth.

Michael partners with SaaS, fintech, and technology companies who need experienced product leadership without hiring a full-time executive. Engagements are designed around your stage, goals, and team — not a fixed template.

Fractional CPO

Act as your Chief Product Officer on a part-time basis. Set strategy, build team capability, and embed the structures needed for sustainable product growth — without the full-time commitment.

Product Strategy

Roadmap development, customer discovery, and product vision definition. Clarify what to build, in what order, and why — grounded in evidence and commercial reality.

Product Operating Model

Design the team structures, rituals, and delivery models your product organisation needs to scale. From startup ways of working to enterprise product discipline.

Team & Leadership Coaching

Scale product team capability and develop emerging product leaders. Coaching for product managers, directors, and teams in transition.

Discuss an engagement →

Self Storage

Deep expertise across the full self storage value chain.

Alongside his technology career, Michael has built substantive expertise in the self storage sector — spanning facility development, operational management, and strategic growth. He brings the same analytical rigour and commercial focus to self storage as he does to product: evidence-based decisions, clear outcomes, and a bias toward building lasting value.

This expertise spans greenfield development projects, operational optimisation of existing facilities, and portfolio-level strategy for owners and investors.

01

Development

Feasibility analysis, site selection, planning and approval processes, and development project oversight from concept to operational.

02

Operations

Occupancy optimisation, pricing strategy, technology systems (PMS/access), staffing models, and the operational metrics that drive NOI.

03

Strategy

Market analysis, portfolio strategy, acquisition evaluation, and growth planning for self storage owners, operators, and investors.

Contact

Work with Michael

If you're working on an interesting problem in product, technology, or self storage — Michael is open to a conversation.

Email Michael

Prefer to write directly? michaelzarif@bigpond.com

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/mzarif