Navigating career change during uncertain times

Dear Product People in Cologne,

product careers rarely follow a straight line. Breaking into product for the first time. Moving from an individual contributor role into leadership. Joining a new company. Finding yourself in a new organizational structure. Or simply realizing that the role of a Product Manager itself is changing around you.

Some changes we actively choose. Others happen to us. And often, there’s no obvious playbook for knowing what to do next.

In our upcoming ProductTank Cologne panel, “Navigating career change during uncertain times,” we’ll bring together three product professionals with very different career paths to talk openly about these moments of transition.

Meet our panelists:

• Shehrina brings over 15 years of experience scaling B2B SaaS solutions, currently serving as VP of Product at Beroe, where she's evolving the company's market intelligence platform to help procurement teams turn supplier data into faster decisions. Previously, as VP of Product Management at Everstream Analytics, she helped drive the company's growth from a nascent, DHL-incubated innovation initiative to a market leader in supply chain risk management solutions.
• Marlene brings over 10 years of experience in B2B SaaS product management, currently serving as Director of Product Management at SAP LeanIX, where she leads multiple product managers shaping how organizations collaborate on their enterprise architecture insights. Previously, as Product Owner at Another Monday, she designed a process documentation automation product recognized as "Visionary" by Gartner in 2019, building on earlier roles in IT consulting at Detecon.
• Esjona brings experience building and scaling digital platforms, currently serving as Product Manager Platform at Redcare Pharmacy, where she’s shaping platform products that empower engineering teams to move faster and build at scale. Previously at REWE digital, she navigated multiple roles across engineering and solution architecture, driving scalable platform solutions while bridging technical and business perspectives.

Together, we’ll explore questions many of us face: When is it time to make a move? What changes when you go from IC to leader? How do you navigate organizational change, uncertainty, and self-doubt?
Rather than offering one “right” answer, our panelists will share the choices they made, what challenged them, and what they learned along the way.

And we want to hear from you, too. Through Slido, you’ll be able to share your experiences and questions and help shape the conversation.

Join us to exchange perspectives, ask questions, and connect with fellow curious product people from the Cologne area

Best,
Simonetta, Tim, Dominik, Shehrina & Esjona
Your ProductTank Cologne Team