Positioning and sales material
Next-Gen Hiring and AI Principles gave Marketing and Sales concrete destinations for explaining assessment integrity and the company's AI approach.
Software operating experience / AI-era technical hiring
Repositioning HackerRank for AI-era hiring.
I worked with the CEO and cross-functional teams during HackerRank's repositioning for the AI era, translating its evolving technical capabilities into positioning, product launches, editorial, enterprise campaigns, and self-serve lifecycle work.
Marketing & GTM · Six-month on-site residency2025–26
+14%Quarter-over-quarter SQL growth
GTM content, messaging, and demand programs alongside the wider team.
$3.3MInfluenced pipeline
Across 188 opportunities.
0.5% to 2.4%Self-serve conversion
Alongside Product and Growth teams.
49AEO articles published
Co-led with Relixir; 90-day tracking showed 55.3% mention rate and 22.6% share of voice.
The context
The brief.
HackerRank had strong recognition with developers and enterprise hiring teams. Many buyers still associated it with coding tests and screening as the product moved toward AI-assisted technical hiring, assessment integrity, and broader talent intelligence. My remit connected the new message to the pages, demos, campaigns, and emails buyers actually encountered. This work forms part of the software operating background I bring to founder-side M&A today.
The work
What I worked on.
Make the changed product easier to understand
I developed messaging around next-generation hiring and responsible AI, then worked with Design on buyer-facing pages and whitepapers.
Editorial and AEO
I researched pillar articles on AI productivity, researcher demand, and AI engineers, and co-led an answer-engine publishing program with Relixir.
Put the message into enterprise and product workflows
The execution spanned account-based outreach, product releases, paid planning, and self-serve conversion.
Targeted AI-company outreach
I built a three-touch Apollo sequence using account research, personalized copy, and an interactive product demo. Interested accounts were routed to Sales.
Product and lifecycle
I wrote release materials, built a self-serve walkthrough, audited trial-to-upgrade emails, rewrote priority messages, and documented paywall opportunities.
Paid campaign planning
I partnered with Demand Generation on messages and creative for prospective buyers, active opportunities, and customers.
Work with the developer audience
Alongside enterprise programs, I contributed to developer-facing media and launch work.
Model Kombat
I developed the launch plan, X thread, Product Hunt promotion, video, and tiered media pitch lists. The launch reached #12 on Product Hunt and 31.1K views on the X thread.
Newsletters and video
I launched the temporary Last Week in AI newsletter and worked with YAAS Studios on Hackonomics concepts, topics, and messaging.
Shared planning
A Notion workspace organized briefs, owners, dates, status, and reuse across the work.
Selected artifacts
A closer look at the work.
Published pieces, original materials, and work presentations from this period.
Published work
Next-Gen Hiring
Published solution page developed with Design.
Published work
AI Principles
Responsible-AI positioning and buyer-facing principles.
Published work
The Productivity Paradox of AI
Research-led pillar article on coding and delivery.
Published work
The AI Researcher Arms Race
Pillar article on competition for research talent.
Published work
The Rise of the AI Engineer
Skills, responsibilities, and hiring implications.
Published work
HackerRank Writing
Published answer-engine and hiring articles.
Published work
The Engineering Hiring Dilemma
Additional published hiring analysis.
Work presentation
Paid campaign plan
Messages and creative planned with Demand Generation.
Published work
Self-serve walkthrough
Interactive buyer and onboarding product demonstration.
Work presentation
Annual-plan upsell
Holiday offer for eligible monthly customers.
Work presentation
HackerRank Screen onboarding
Feature-adoption email for new users.
Document
Lifecycle program set
Trial, expansion, upgrade, and reactivation work.
Work presentation
Reactivation email
Self-serve holiday activation message.
Work presentation
Model Kombat launch materials
Launch thread, community response, and Product Hunt.
Audio & video
Model Kombat launch video
Developer competition launch video.
Published work
Model Kombat on X
Published competition launch thread.
Published work
Model Kombat on Product Hunt
Developer competition product listing.
Work presentation
Last Week in AI
Temporary LinkedIn newsletter for the developer audience.
Audio & video
Hackonomics
Video-series presentation and selected episodes.
Audio & video
The engagement in my own words
Recording about the remit, execution, and lessons.
Looking back
What stayed with me.
Reputation can lag the product
I saw how buyers could remember an earlier company even as its capabilities changed.
Give Sales something useful to send
I built pages, articles, demos, and emails around questions active accounts were asking.
Think about the right time to sell
Working on the AI repositioning made me wonder when the right time to sell HackerRank would be. I kept thinking about the point when a company is most strategically valuable, and how changes in its product and buyer perception could move that moment.
The work today
Helping founders sell what they’ve built.
My operating and founder experience now informs a focused M&A practice for early-stage software, AI products, and technology IP.