James Gunaca

Profile Photo of James Gunaca

Product Management Career Coach

My mission is to help people achieve their product management career goals, thereby elevating the profession to new heights.

I have 10+ years of experience as a Product Manager, Senior Product Manager, Manager of Product Managers, Group Product Manager, and Head of Product. I’ve worked around the world, including at Amazon for over 8 years in their USA and European headquarters.

I’ve also hired, developed, and promoted numerous professionals into Senior PM and Manager of PM roles, interviewed hundreds of candidates as an Amazon Bar Raiser, and have been a Certified Career Coach since 2019. I’ve worked with professionals around the world and look forward to helping you switch to a product role, grow as a Product Manager, and lead a team of Product Managers.

About me

My career spans over 20 years where I’ve held multiple product roles in the United States, the European Union, and the United Kingdom—working with people and delivering value for customers around the world. During that time, I have been in various roles where I’ve been responsible for screening, interviewing, hiring, managing, and coaching numerous Product Managers, Senior Product Managers, People Managers, and more. I’ve also coached and mentored countless professionals around the world and have made it my mission to help people achieve their career goals by becoming effective, top-tier Product Managers!

10+

Years in multiple, global product roles

2500+

Product candidates screened

300+

Interviews as a Hiring Manager

50+

Hires for PM, Senior PM, Manager and more

My work

Throughout my career I’ve delivered world-class hardware and software products at scale. In addition to some of the most notable products listed below—Amazon Echo, Alexa, AppleCare+ Subscriptions, and Xbox All Access—I’ve also worked on products like ExpressVPN’s password manager “Keys”, launched V1 and V2 of 24 Hour Fitness’ mobile app “My24”, rebuilt an internal search engine for Amazon’s 1.6MM employees, led product experimentation strategy and implementation for Kape Technologies, and more.

Arrangement of physical devices: Amazon Echo (2nd Generation), Amazon Echo, Amazon Echo Spot, Amazon Echo Dot (Second Generation), Amazon Echo Show

Launched the first three generations of Amazon Echo products with the Alexa AI voice assistant

Alexa logo and the word "Alexa"

Launched Alexa features like Drop-in, Apple Music integration, and Made for Humans smart home devices

Apple logo and the text "AppleCare"

Launched AppleCare+ as a subscription

Xbox logo

Launched Xbox All Access console + Game Pass subscription

My Services

Coaching

Achieve your career goals with the support of a coach who has done it all. I’ve switched careers into my first product role, been promoted to Senior PM, as well as built and led teams of PMs, Senior PMs, and even Managers of other PMs. Wherever you are in your product journey, my coaching programs will help you set and achieve your goals!

  • Get private, direct, and ongoing 1-to-1 support to reach your goal of landing your first Product Manager role. Meet with me every other week for 3 months as we dive deep into your career background, identify what kind of PM role you’re interested in, and build an actionable, results-driven plan for making the switch to PM.

  • Get private, direct, and ongoing 1-to-1 support to reach your goal of growing as a Product Manager. Whether it is promotion to Product Manager, Senior Product Manager, or Principal Product Manager from another Product role, or building a new skillset, I will help you grow into a great PM. Meet with me every other week for 3 months as we identify your PM super powers, set goals you can achieve as you grow, and build an actionable, results-driven plan for attaining the outcome you want.

  • Get private, direct, and ongoing 1-to-1 support to reach your goal of becoming a Leader of Product Managers. Whether it is becoming a Group Product Manager or Head of Product leading a team of PMs, or eventually managing managers of PMs, I will help you make the transition into an effective Product Management Leader. Meet with me every other week for 3 months as we uncover your motivations for becoming a Manager of PMs, determine how to navigate within your current role (or find a new one) to start hiring or leading PMs, and build an actionable, results-driven plan for this monumental achievement in your career.

Consultations

Just getting started? Or perhaps you just need some specialised help on your journey? These a la carte consultations are designed to provide focused support with personalised, actionable feedback. I also take requests if you’ve got a certain challenge not covered by one of my preset consultations. Let me know how I can help!

  • Behavioural interviews, trial projects, case studies, execution or product sense interviews…I’ve done them all and know what Hiring Managers are looking for whether you are applying for a Product Manager, Senior Product Manager, or even Head of Product role! You’ve made it this far, spend just 1-hour with me as I help you prepare to succeed in your next PM interview so you can move one step closer to landing your next role.

  • Get personalised, actionable feedback on your resume so you can improve the conversion rate from application to interview for your resume! I’ve reviewed thousands of resumes and CVs as a Hiring Manager for PM roles at various levels of seniority.

  • Exploring coaches and not yet ready to commit to one of the longer-term packages? This trial coaching consultation is for you to get to know me directly, understand the ways I can help you, and make sure you will get the support you need to achieve whatever outcome you desire—whether that’s making the switch from Engineer, Marketer, Designer, or any other role to a Product Manager, growing into the next level of Product Management, or learning to effectively lead other Product Managers.

Testimonials

Hear what my former coachees, mentees, and direct reports have to say…

FAQs

  • Mentors provide valuable expertise and personal experiences, answering questions from mentees that provide insight to help them navigate their own situations to reach their goals. Coaches can also do this, but are primarily trained to help coachees create a plan, set goals, and achieve them—with or without applicable expertise in achieving what’s important to you.

    A great analogy is to think of a Coach like that of a sports team—maybe they used to play professionally and can help you learn from their own skills, or maybe they’ve never stepped onto the field. Regardless, a great coach will lead players to the championship!

  • I focus on building a solid understanding of what your motivations are, where you’ve seen success in the past, and how those experiences can be combined with new methods to set goals we will work on achieving together. I found my passion for helping people in their careers after becoming a People Manager many years ago and then becoming a Certified Career Coach in 2019.

  • Yes! Send me an email and we can discuss payment arrangements that work for you.

  • You can see testimonials from various professionals I’ve worked with here.

  • If your employer supports learning & development (which they should!) expenses you may be able to expense coaching costs. I can provide documentation for your employer upon request (e.g., invoices).

  • I want you to have a great experience and get value from the investment you’re making in you! But, I get it, sometimes things don’t work out and this can be for any number of reasons. If you feel like our partnership isn’t right, or you encounter a situation where you need to cancel, refunds for any unused sessions can be arranged after a discussion. Just send me an email.