Product Leader. AI Practitioner.Builder at Heart.
I'm Ashish Mehndi, an AI-native Product Manager with 26+ years of software industry experience building enterprise-scale products at the intersection of AI, security, and data. Currently serving as Associate Vice President at Centific, I lead AI-first product and delivery programs for Microsoft-aligned initiatives -- spanning testing automation, Office IP protection, and documentation intelligence -- managing 40+ programs and 450+ professionals with 98% on-time delivery.
The PM Journey
My career has been defined by a single thread: taking complex technical problems and turning them into products that deliver measurable value at scale. From my early days building enterprise infrastructure features to now leading AI-powered security products, I've consistently operated at the intersection of deep technology and business strategy.
At Microsoft, I've had the privilege of working on products that protect millions of users. My work on GenAI Copilots and Agents for Purview represents the cutting edge of AI in enterprise security. These aren't experimental features, they're production systems driving 16,000+ monthly invocations and measurably reducing costs and response times for security teams worldwide.
What differentiates me is that I don't just "manage" products. I understand the technology deeply enough to make informed architecture decisions, challenge engineering trade-offs, and identify where AI can create genuine step-function improvements vs. incremental gains. I'm equally comfortable discussing RAG pipeline optimization with ML engineers and presenting business impact to C-suite executives.
Beyond my core role, I'm a builder. I founded SocietyXpress, a live marketplace serving 800+ customers in Hyderabad. I've won multiple Microsoft hackathons by shipping working prototypes, not slide decks. And I've designed leadership programs that scaled across 7 countries.
Professional Experience
A progressive career building products of increasing complexity, scale, and AI sophistication.
Associate Vice President
Centific Global Services India Pvt Ltd
Leading AI-first product and delivery programs for Microsoft-aligned initiatives, spanning testing automation, Office IP protection, and documentation intelligence.
- Own AI Agent-based Testing Offerings, delivering LLM-powered agents for functional, regression, and scenario testing - cutting manual QA effort by 40%+ while improving release confidence
- Architected Office IP Grading AI Agents using classification and clustering techniques to automatically identify, tag, and risk-score enterprise intellectual property
- Deliver DocumentFix AI Agents that auto-correct and enhance product documentation; integrated into CI/CD pipelines as pre-release quality gates
- Lead release readiness and PR workflows, using AI agents to validate changes, generate clean pull requests, and ensure audit-ready releases
- Manage 40+ programs and 450+ professionals, achieving 98% on-time delivery and $3.5M incremental revenue through AI-driven automation and account expansion
Senior Product Manager → Principal Product Manager
Microsoft
Leading AI product strategy and delivery for Microsoft's Security & Compliance platform, managing Copilot and Agent development across Purview workloads.
- Spearheaded GenAI-based Copilot & Agents for Purview with 16K+ monthly invocations
- Launched ML-based DLP Analytics Engine with 50%+ admin adoption
- Reduced manual process costs by 50% (USD 2M to USD 1M)
- Drove 20% MoM growth in Monthly Protected Users
Data & AI Architect
Microsoft
Led architecture and delivery of large-scale Azure Data & AI transformation programs across Fortune 500 clients globally.
- Led AB InBev digital transformation: architected intelligent data lake, analytics sandbox, and enterprise data governance framework; led 60+ engineers globally
- Delivered Rammas AI chatbot for Dubai Electric & Water Authority (DEWA) - predictive recommendations, customer analytics dashboard, and end-to-end Azure pipeline; led 20+ engineers
- Led architecture of Mastercard's B2B Track platform using Fuzzy Matching (Azure Search, ADF, Python, Kubernetes); team of 100+ consultants
- Delivered Azure disaster recovery architecture, DevOps pipelines, and reporting modernization for Miami Dolphins
- Developed migration offerings and pre-sales estimation for GAP, HP, DLL, and Tanla Solutions (Oracle/Teradata/APS to Azure)
Senior Project Manager → Senior Product Manager
Microsoft
Led product strategy for enterprise security and infrastructure features across Microsoft's ecosystem, delivering cross-functional programs at scale.
- Launched Hyper-V Shielded VM in SCVMM 2016 with 40% enterprise adoption lift
- Delivered One Services Estimator (OSE) achieving $4M+/year productivity savings
- 75% global adoption across Microsoft Consulting Services
- Coordinated 100+ member cross-functional program
- Designed and led the Technical Leadership Development Program (TLDP)
- Scaled TLDP across 3 years and 7 countries with NSAT > 180
- Partnered with global CTOs on change management strategy
Hackathon Wins & Innovation
4 hackathon wins across Microsoft, shipping working prototypes under pressure.
D&I Culture Index
Winner for "Diversity and Inclusion" category. AI-powered inclusion coaching tool scoring workplace communications across 12 DEI factors.
D&I Culture Index
Awarded Most Innovative Idea for the D&I Culture Index platform at Pinnacle Summit 2024.
D&I Culture Index
Won 1st place at the Security India Science Fair 2024 for the D&I Culture Index.
21st Century Threat Modeling
Winner in "Boosting Engineering Productivity" for reimagining threat modeling for modern cloud-native architectures.
Copilot for Audit Search
Executive Challenge Winner. Built an AI-powered audit search experience using Copilot capabilities for compliance workflows.
TFS Certification Program
Star Award for creating the Team Foundation Server (TFS) Certification Program & Big Team Desktop Award.
Full-Spectrum Capabilities
AI & Machine Learning
Engineering & Platform
Data & Analytics
Domain Expertise
Leadership
Strategy
Academic Foundation
Executive MBA – Product Leadership
3rd Rank in UniversityCMR University|2023
Accelerated General Management Program
IIM Ahmedabad|2018
Certificate Course in AI/ML (13 weeks)
IIIT Hyderabad|2020
M.Sc. Information Technology
NIIT Karnataka|2014
B.Sc. Mathematical Sciences
University of Delhi|1999
Certifications
What Colleagues Say
Key highlights from LinkedIn recommendations by peers and leaders at Microsoft.
"Ashish exemplifies the qualities of an outstanding Data Science Program Manager. His remarkable ability to follow up and drive initiatives to completion ensures nothing falls through the cracks. He consistently advocates for robust evaluation frameworks and quality processes that elevate the impact of data science initiatives."
Deepika Gakhar
Partner Architect
Microsoft
"Ashish is sharp, dependable, and has a great sense for how to move things forward in complex, cross-functional environments. His ability to cut through ambiguity and bring clarity to the table, whether navigating technical decisions or aligning across teams, makes him someone I'd recommend without hesitation."
Ankit Srivastava
Security AI Research
Microsoft
"From launching the GA rollout of Security Copilot in Data Security to delivering multilingual Threat models, Ashish has consistently driven innovation across Microsoft Purview and enterprise security. His mentorship, cross-team alignment, and thoughtful approach to problem-solving have made a lasting impact."
Patrick David
Principal Product Manager, M365 Security Engineering
Microsoft
Ready to Build the Future of AI Products?
I'm looking for my next challenge: leading AI product strategy at a company that's serious about shipping.