Sarah Blake · Product leader

I lead AI products. And I ship the first version myself.

Ten years in product across streaming, health-tech and enterprise SaaS. Somewhere along the way I stopped writing specs for engineers and became one, so now I define the problem, own the roadmap, and write the code.

Fractional·Scoped builds·Full-time

An automated prospecting engine: custom roles in, verified hiring contacts and ranked leads out.
Ten stages, unattended, every morning. Watching one company go through.
0.0s
    Turns every delivery blocker into evidence: what stalled, why, and what was within our control to fix.
    Evidence pulled from Jira, Slack and GitHub across eight sprints.
    Impediments0
    Days lost0
    Preventable0%
    Attribution
    PartnerInternalClientExternal
    Ask the codebase a question. Get an answer grounded in the code, with the files cited.
    Asking as an engineer · 11 services indexed
    Three things I built · KURRENT, shipped for a staffing agency in two weeks
    Award-winning AI platformselected by three CTOs
    Delivery frameworkadopted company-wide
    Sportsnet NOW replatformseven platforms, zero downtime
    Health-tech platformproduct direction · acquired 2024
    01

    About

    Sarah Blake

    Product leader for AI products. Systems thinker and problem solver by nature; product owner for three platforms, four years running enterprise delivery, and now I build what I used to spec.

    What I'm good at is the part before the code: seeing the system behind a messy problem, saying the thing about it nobody has managed to articulate, and turning that into something a user moves through without thinking. I think in systems — how the pieces connect, where the leverage is, what breaks if you pull on it — and then I build it, alongside the engineers who'll own it. The best work I've done, I did with them: I take their ideas seriously, guard their time, and the product is better for it.

    I've directed a national streaming replatform, set product direction for a health platform used by millions of clinicians, stabilised delivery for an enterprise telecom account, and led an internal AI platform that let a whole company query its codebase in plain language. The work below is that pattern, repeating.

    • BasedIndonesia · Canadian citizen
    • HoursRemote on UTC+8, with daily overlap across Asia-Pacific, Europe and North America
    • Open toFractional product lead, scoped builds, full-time remote
    • EntityAigile Solutions, a Canadian corporation I founded and run
    02

    Case studies

    Different industries, one pattern: find the leverage point, make the call, build the thing. Three of these have working demos you can open.

    Sportsnet (Rogers)

    Streaming at national scale

    Sportsnet (Rogers)
    Full replatform

    Streaming7 platformsZero-downtime migration

    I directed the replatform of Sportsnet NOW: one streaming service delivered across every major platform: Apple TV, Samsung, Amazon, Xbox, PlayStation, the web, and inside the Sportsnet mobile app. That included absorbing NHL Live into the platform: a migration with zero tolerance for disruption, executed while the games kept playing. Vendors, engineering, design: my decisions, daily. Two national launches, plus custom features built to pull viewers deeper into the live game.

    The call

    The broadcast date doesn’t move, so scope does. The replatform shipped with what could be made safe for live games, sequenced around the calendar, and the features that pulled viewers deeper into the game came behind it.

    Figure 1

    Retention and revenue, engineered

    Figure 1
    Health-tech · acquired 2024

    Health-techReplatformRetention

    On a platform serving millions of medical professionals, I built for the two users who compound. Through user research, I led the full redesign and replatform — the direction that ultimately carried the product forward. For physicians, I built accredited CME drawn from the platform's own medical library: free, and satisfying a requirement every doctor carries every year. For the business, entirely new campaign mediums: richer formats that raised what the platform could offer, and what partners were willing to invest in. Acquired in 2024.

    The call

    Let the research set the direction, then commit. The redesign and replatform followed what users said rather than what the roadmap assumed — a slower path, and the one the product kept after I’d left.

    03

    Working together

    What this looks like in practice.

    Fractional

    Fractional product lead

    Two or three days a week, embedded in your team as the product lead, not an adviser. I own the roadmap, run discovery and the delivery cadence, and make the calls. Decision rights come with the seat; I'm accountable for outcomes, not recommendations.

    • Weeks one and two: read the product, the backlog, the delivery data, and the people
    • Month one: cut the roadmap, install the cadence, start shipping
    • Ongoing: discovery and delivery in parallel; I open the repo when that's faster than explaining
    • Three months to start; six to nine is typical

    Designed to end. When the team is ready for a full-time lead, I help hire them and hand over. Runs through Aigile Solutions.

    Scoped build · Aigile Solutions

    First version, built

    You have a validated need and no v1. I architect the product, build a working version you can put in front of real users, and hand it to your team with the documentation and the reasoning behind every decision.

    • Fixed scope, fixed price, agreed before work begins
    • Two to six weeks, end date set at the start
    • Optional one-week scoping sprint first; if you stop there, you keep the plan
    • Handoff is the deliverable; your team owns it outright

    Ends by design. The handoff is built so your team doesn't need me after it, and if there's more to build, we scope it together.

    Full-time

    The right role, outright

    For the right product and team, I'll join full-time. A senior or lead product seat on a team that's shipping: an AI product, a product line inside a larger suite, a founding seat where the first version is still to come.

    • Remote on UTC+8; I've run teams across North American, European and Asia-Pacific hours
    • Product first, delivery second, hands-on build third
    • Employee or contractor, whichever fits your setup

    If you're hiring, the contact form at the bottom is the fastest route. I reply within two business days.

    04

    How a scoped build runs

    STEP 1

    Scope

    We define the build before anything gets built: the need, the v1 that proves it, the boundaries, and what handoff looks like. You know what you're getting, when it lands, and what it costs, before work begins.

    STEP 2

    Architect and build

    I design the architecture and build the working version: functional software your team can put in front of real users, not a deck about what could be built. Two to six weeks, fixed scope.

    STEP 3

    Hand off

    Your team takes ownership, with the documentation, the context, and the reasoning behind every architectural decision. The engagement ends by design, and the product doesn't need me to keep running.

    The fractional seat follows a simpler arc: a short scoping conversation, a three-month start, and a standing weekly cadence from there.

    05

    Terms for scoped builds

    Fixed scope, fixed price

    Priced to the scope and agreed before work begins. No surprises invoiced later.

    Start with a scoping sprint

    One week, fixed price: the architecture, the plan, and a firm quote for the build. If you stop there, you keep the plan.

    Two to six weeks

    The end date is set at the start, and the engagement is built to reach it.

    Half at start, half at handoff

    Simple, and it keeps both of us committed to the same finish line.

    One build at a time

    And one fractional product-leadership seat, separately. Never more than one of each.

    Handoff is the deliverable

    Documentation, context, and the reasoning behind every decision transfer with the product. Your team owns it outright.

    No retainers. No operational management

    If you need more after handoff, we scope a new engagement. We don't drift into one.

    06

    If you're hiring, or building something

    Tell me what it is and where it stands — a role, a team that needs a product lead, or a product that needs its first version. I read every note and reply within two business days. If it's not a fit, I'll say so and point you somewhere useful.

    Prefer email? sarah@aigilebuilds.com