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Alesson Souza

Senior Digital Project Manager

Auckland, New Zealandsouzalesson@gmail.comalesson.io

Profile

Senior Digital Project Manager with 15+ years delivering complex digital programmes across insurance, consumer tech, government, FMCG, and financial services — in New Zealand, Australia, France, and globally. Experience spans the full digital portfolio — app and website delivery, digital marketing campaigns, CMS and CRM migrations, global product launches, and matrixed stakeholder management. Consistently turns ambiguous programmes into predictable, on-time delivery.

Experience

Senior Digital Product Content Manager (AEM) · IAG New Zealand · Auckland
Jan 2024 – Jan 2025
  • Led end-to-end delivery of a full CMS platform migration — Drupal to Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) — across all IAG brands in New Zealand and Australia.
  • Proactively identified and mitigated risks across content migration, WCAG 2.0 compliance, and accessibility, maintaining delivery quality throughout.
  • Managed multiple competing stakeholder groups (marketing, compliance, legal, development) in a matrixed environment with limited direct authority — relied on influence and clear communication to drive alignment.
  • Owned and prioritised a live digital backlog in Jira, maintaining consistent delivery cadence under tight timelines and staged deployment schedules.
  • Operated at the pointy end of delivery, balancing platform governance, escalation management, and day-to-day production across public-facing sites.
Digital Project Manager · Samsung (via DDB, in-house) · Auckland
May 2023 – Oct 2023
  • Oversaw global delivery of Trygalaxy.com, Samsung's flagship web experience — managing 30+ country-specific versions with tight timelines and complex stakeholder dependencies.
  • Delivered staged rollout with 90+ localised versions, achieving 490,000+ daily visitors and over 23 million total visits since launch.
  • Coordinated API integrations (analytics, CRM, localisation platforms) and managed external vendor performance and deliverables.
  • Managed workflows and handoffs across designers, developers, and content teams using Jira and Confluence to maintain clarity and cadence across squads.
  • Ran internal stand-ups and cross-team WIP meetings; monitored dependencies and actively managed delivery risks across concurrent workstreams.
  • Developed detailed project plans, timelines, and risk registers — monitoring dependencies across country markets and external vendor deliverables.
  • Defined KPI dashboards; drove continuous CRO through funnel analysis and user insight.
Senior Product & Customer Manager · Philip Morris International · Auckland
Mar 2019 – Jan 2020
  • Led digital transformation of IQOS.co.nz including Salesforce CRM integration, CS Cart e-commerce, and webchat platform — managing multiple matrixed stakeholders across marketing, tech, and customer service.
  • Designed segmented customer journeys improving lead quality and post-lead conversion across support and sales flows.
  • Developed wireframes, site maps, and user journeys aligned with UX/UI best practices — translating business requirements into scoped digital solutions.
  • Ran project plans, timelines, and scope definitions; coordinated dev teams and external agencies through stand-ups and WIP meetings.
Senior Digital Project Manager · Dept. of Internal Affairs (NZ Government) · Auckland
Jul 2020 – Jan 2021
  • Delivered government digital projects including website development (Drupal, WordPress), EDM campaigns, and platform enhancements for public-facing communications.
  • Facilitated stakeholder workshops across diverse groups, capturing technical and business requirements for complex platform work.
  • Managed project budgets and schedules; delivered WCAG 2.0-compliant websites within scope.
  • Developed wireframes, site maps, and user journeys aligned with UX/UI best practices for citizen-facing digital services.
  • Acted as day-to-day contact for cross-agency stakeholders, providing updates, managing expectations, and resolving blockers quickly.
Social Business Lead · Suncorp · Auckland
Dec 2017 – Jan 2019
  • Led digital adoption and social strategy across consumer business units; partnered with leadership to deliver measurable engagement and change programmes across a multi-brand environment.
  • Managed internal stakeholder relationships and external vendors to deliver transformation initiatives on time and within budget.
Senior Digital Project Manager · Nestlé · Auckland
Jul 2017 – Nov 2017
  • Delivered SEO, paid social, and EDM campaigns across Nestlé's FMCG brand portfolio; managed web content, agency performance, and end-to-end digital marketing execution.
  • Oversaw end-to-end website project delivery across WordPress, WooCommerce, and corporate sites — translating client requirements into scoped website solutions aligned with business goals.
  • Supported proposal development by assisting the sales team with scope definition, delivery assumptions, budgets, and schedules.
  • Acted as day-to-day client contact providing updates and managing expectations; managed dev team, ran stand-ups and client WIP meetings using Monday.com and Teams.
Product Owner — Digital · BNP Paribas Fortis · Paris
Nov 2015 – May 2016
  • Launched AEM-based digital platform with Adobe; delivered AI-powered customer engagement tools and aligned business units on digital strategy tied to commercial KPIs.

Skills

Programme & Delivery

AI Adoption & Governance in enterprise programmes · LLM Evaluation & Risk Management · Customer Journey Mapping · OKR & KPI Definition · Vendor & Agency Management · Budget Forecasting & Resource Planning · RFP / SOW writing · WCAG 2.2 Compliance · GDPR & Privacy by Design · Localisation & Multi-Market Delivery

Soft Skills

Cross-functional leadership · Executive stakeholder communication · Workshop facilitation · Coaching & mentoring · Decision-making under ambiguity · Cross-cultural collaboration (5 fluent languages · NZ / AU / FR / BE) · Industry-switching adaptability (insurance, consumer tech, government, FMCG, finance)

Tools

Project & Delivery

Jira · Confluence · Asana · Monday · Notion · ClickUp · Microsoft Project

Collaboration

Slack · Microsoft Teams · Miro

CMS

Adobe Experience Manager · Drupal · Sitecore · Sanity · WordPress · SilverStripe

Analytics

Google Analytics · Adobe Analytics

CRM

Salesforce · HubSpot · Dynamics 365

Documentation

Confluence · SharePoint

Productivity AI

ChatGPT · Microsoft Copilot · Claude · Gemini · GitHub Copilot

Technical Fluency

Engineering-side literacy so I can scope with developers, not just to them.

Web

Next.js · React · TypeScript · Tailwind CSS

Data & Infrastructure

Supabase · Postgres · Cloudflare · Vercel

Integrations

Stripe · Resend · Twilio · Calendly / Cal.com · n8n · Zapier · Make

AI / LLM

Anthropic API (Claude) · OpenAI API · Vercel AI SDK · Vercel AI Gateway · MCP · ElevenLabs · Whisper

Education

MBA, Business & Communications · Université Lyon 2 · 2010
MBA, Webmarketing · Université Lyon 2 · 2009
MA, Comparative Literature · Université Lyon 3 · 2008

Languages

Fluent: English, French, Portuguese, Italian, Spanish

Basic: German, Russian