Digital Product Manager delivering and scaling platforms at national and international scale.

I work across discovery, prioritisation, and delivery to build useful digital products for community, participation, and membership organisations, including platforms supporting over one million users across Australia, New Zealand, and the United States.

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Professional Experience

I’ve led and delivered large-scale digital platforms across complex organisations, supporting 1M+ users across Australia, New Zealand, and the United States. I work pragmatically and collaboratively with teams and stakeholders to turn complex problems into clear priorities and deliver outcomes that genuinely matter, especially in purpose-led environments.

Head of Consumer Technology — Rugby Australia

Mar 2024 – Nov 2025

Hands-on product delivery across the Rugby Xplorer ecosystem, supporting scale to over 1.03M users across community and participation products.

  • Translated commercial and participation goals into clear, prioritised product requirements, making pragmatic trade-offs to keep delivery focused on user outcomes.
  • Defined and tested a video-first product concept to consolidate community streaming use cases, validating demand and simplifying the product landscape while reducing operational overhead.
  • Delivered an end-to-end Learning Management System migration, sequencing delivery to maintain data integrity and continuity for thousands of learners and administrators.

Product Manager — Rugby Xplorer, Rugby Australia

Feb 2022 – Mar 2024

Owned end-to-end product discovery and delivery for Rugby Xplorer across Australia, New Zealand, and the United States, supporting large-scale registration and participation workflows at national scale.

  • Led US market entry from product definition through rollout, contributing to 243k+ users and 108k+ registrations by adapting features to local compliance requirements and user needs.
  • Supported delivery of the New Zealand ecosystem, enabling 143k+ player registrations through targeted feature localisation and platform stability improvements.
  • Balanced global roadmap priorities across regions, making informed trade-offs to support 430k+ annual registrations without overextending delivery capacity.
  • Partnered with coaching and performance stakeholders to deliver analytics tooling that translated complex requirements into practical, usable insights.

Manager, Digital Technology — Rugby Australia

Apr 2019 – Feb 2022

Aligned product priorities with realistic development capacity, helping deliver high-traffic digital features while improving delivery predictability and team focus.

  • Led the transition from legacy platforms to a headless CMS model, improving release speed and reducing ongoing infrastructure and maintenance costs.
  • Introduced consistent agile delivery practices to reduce reactive work and improve planning confidence across teams.
  • Acted as a delivery bridge between product, marketing, legal, and technology stakeholders, ensuring priorities were clearly understood and sequenced.

Senior Front-End Web Developer — Rugby Australia

Jun 2015 – Apr 2019

Built scalable front-end patterns that improved performance, accessibility, and consistency across Rugby Australia’s digital platforms.

  • Developed a strong practical understanding of delivery constraints that continues to inform product decision-making.

Early experience (2007 – 2015)

Front-end development and client-facing delivery across digital projects, building strong foundations in web technologies, UX, and stakeholder collaboration.

Core Skills

Product & Delivery

  • Product discovery & validation
  • Outcome-based prioritisation
  • Roadmaps & backlog management
  • Incremental delivery & releases

Platforms & Context

  • Community & participation platforms
  • Membership & learning systems (LMS)
  • Multi-market delivery (AU, NZ, US)
  • Headless CMS & integrations

Stakeholders & Outcomes

  • Stakeholder alignment & advisory forums
  • User research & feedback loops
  • Product metrics & KPI definition
  • GA4 insights & behavioural analysis

Tools & Technical Context

  • Jira, Confluence, Agile/Scrum
  • Roadmap & delivery tooling
  • SQL (working knowledge)
  • Modern web platforms & APIs

Certification

CAPM Certification Logo

Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM)

Project Management Institute (PMI)

Supporting product delivery with a strong foundation in project fundamentals — planning, risk awareness, and delivery discipline.

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About Me

Portrait of Simon Keefe

I’m a digital product manager with a background spanning product, delivery, and hands-on technical work. My experience sits at the intersection of discovery, prioritisation, and execution, focused on building products that solve real problems and scale effectively in complex environments.

Most recently, I worked across the Rugby Xplorer ecosystem at Rugby Australia, delivering and scaling community, participation, and membership platforms supporting over one million users across Australia, New Zealand, and the United States. This included leading international market rollouts, balancing regional requirements, and delivering large-scale initiatives such as a full Learning Management System migration.

I started my career as a front-end developer, building and maintaining production platforms in agency and in-house environments. That technical foundation continues to shape how I work today, helping me partner closely with engineers, understand delivery constraints, and make pragmatic product decisions that teams can realistically ship.

Outside of work, I’m based in Sydney with my family and value organisations that are purpose-led, collaborative, and grounded in their communities. I’m motivated by roles where product thinking, delivery discipline, and practical technology come together to create meaningful outcomes for users.

Selected Projects

Rugby Xplorer — market rollout (USA & NZ)

Led product definition through rollout for Rugby Xplorer in the USA and supported delivery in New Zealand. Balanced local compliance and user needs with a shared platform roadmap, contributing to 243k+ users and 108k+ registrations in the USA, and enabling 143k+ player registrations in New Zealand.

Product discovery · Market delivery · Cross-market prioritisation

Video-first concept and validation

Defined and tested a video-first product concept to consolidate community streaming use cases into a clearer, more scalable experience. Validated demand, reduced fragmentation, and simplified the product landscape while lowering operational overhead.

Discovery · Concept validation · Product simplification

Learning Management System migration

Delivered an end-to-end LMS migration, sequencing work to protect data integrity and maintain continuity for thousands of learners and administrators. Managed the cutover in a way that reduced risk and kept service disruption to a minimum.

Delivery planning · Migration · Risk management

Rugby Xplorer — delivery at scale

Supported ongoing platform delivery across regions, balancing roadmap priorities and delivery capacity to reliably support 430k+ annual registrations. Made pragmatic trade-offs to keep delivery focused on outcomes rather than technical complexity.

Outcome-based prioritisation · Roadmaps · Delivery execution

Headless CMS transition

Led the shift from legacy platforms to a headless CMS model, improving release speed and reducing ongoing infrastructure and maintenance costs. Introduced clearer delivery practices to improve planning confidence and reduce reactive work.

Platform modernisation · Delivery process · Technical context

Analytics tooling for coaching and performance

Partnered with coaching and performance stakeholders to define requirements and deliver analytics tooling that translated complex needs into practical, usable insights. Supported delivery with clear priorities and a focus on what would materially improve decision-making.

Stakeholder alignment · Requirements · Practical insights

Recommendations

Simon is an exceptional product manager who I had the pleasure of managing for over a decade at Rugby Australia. In the fast-paced and high-stakes environment...
Kevin StaffordChief Technology Officer @ Rugby AustraliaNovember 2026
Simon was our Product Manager for NZ Rugby's shift to Rugby Xplorer in 2024. This was a significant digital transformation for rugby in NZ and Simon provided co...
Mike HesterParticipation Development Manager @ NZ RugbyNovember 2026
Simon spearheaded the management of our major systems implementation and kept the project on track and on task, and he did it all with a collaborative and pati...
Jamie McGregorSr. Director, Training & Education @ USA RugbyNovember 2026
I had the privilege of working with Simon for over 5 years, including 3 years reporting directly to him. He managed the Rugby network across 30+ sites (rugby.c...
Lahiru RanasingheSoftware Engineer @ Rugby AustraliaOctober 2026
I had the pleasure of working with Simon during his time at Rugby Australia, where we collaborated to launch a new elearning platform. During this time, Simon...
Melinda JenkinsCustomer Success Lead @ EtrainUOctober 2015
Simon, I don’t think I can do you justice in a few paragraphs. What can I say? You are employee gold and an asset to any team. You are the full package of exce...
Megan KerrProduct Manager @ Cornerstone DigitalApril 2015

Contact

I’m open to conversations about product work, delivery challenges, and roles where practical execution matters. Email or LinkedIn is the easiest way to reach me.

simon@skeefe.netlinkedin.com/in/simonkeefe

Based in Sydney, NSW.