At a Glance
From physical product management to AI-driven innovation, Arpita’s journey at Nineleaps reflects the power of curiosity, ownership and collaboration. Discover how seven years of learning, leadership and meaningful challenges have shaped her career.
What does it take to keep evolving in a career that never stands still? For Arpita, Senior Product Manager at Nineleaps, the answer lies in staying curious, embracing new challenges, and taking ownership. Over seven years, she has moved from physical product management to leading software products and exploring the possibilities of AI-driven innovation. Her journey is one of continuous learning, meaningful collaboration, and the belief that great products are built by people who trust one another.
A Journey That Started with Curiosity
With around 15 years of experience in product management across power, industrial automation, and SaaS, Arpita has built her career around understanding problems and turning them into meaningful products.
When she joined Nineleaps more than seven years ago, the organisation was working on a platform designed to assess candidates at scale while maintaining fairness and quality. The problem immediately caught her attention. Having worked primarily with physical products, the opportunity to transition into software was equally exciting. For the first time, she could build something she could directly experience and use.
What began as a move into an unfamiliar domain soon became an opportunity to explore different industries, products, and responsibilities. Over the years, she progressed from managing individual features to taking ownership of entire products, programmes, and client relationships.
For Arpita, every new domain brought a fresh learning curve and an opportunity to approach problems from a different perspective. That willingness to step into the unfamiliar continues to shape her professional journey.
Building Products with Purpose
Today, Arpita leads the product lifecycle of an AI-powered pre-sales solution for the real estate sector. Her responsibilities span product discovery, roadmap planning, development, launch, and continuous improvement.
A typical day involves conversations with clients to understand their requirements, working with engineering and design teams to shape product features, and analysing how users interact with the product. Much of her role involves connecting different perspectives: translating business challenges into clear requirements for technical teams while helping clients understand the possibilities and trade-offs behind product decisions.
Her current work has also introduced her to a new dimension of product management: AI-first thinking.
Building a product that combines AI-driven conversations with structured, logic-based workflows has challenged her to understand where artificial intelligence adds value and where clearly defined rules are essential. It has reinforced an important aspect of product thinking: innovation is not just about adopting new technology, but about knowing how and where to use it effectively.
Seeing the product move from an idea through its many challenges and into real-world use has made this one of the most rewarding experiences of her career.
The Value of Taking Ownership
One of the defining aspects of Arpita’s journey at Nineleaps has been the opportunity to take ownership and see decisions through.
She recalls a challenging client engagement from a few years ago, when unexpected developments led to escalations and put the team under considerable pressure. Rather than stepping in to dictate every decision, the leadership team took the time to understand the situation and trusted the team to work towards a resolution.
The team successfully turned things around, and their efforts were recognised.
For Arpita, this experience demonstrated what accountability and trust look like in practice. Being given responsibility is important, but knowing that the organisation stands behind you when things get difficult makes that responsibility even more meaningful.
This experience has also influenced how she leads. She believes people do their best work when they are trusted with meaningful responsibilities and given the freedom to make decisions.
Better Products Begin with Better Collaboration
Product development rarely happens in isolation. Arpita works closely with sales, engineering, quality assurance, design, and other stakeholders to bring ideas to life.
Some situations call for quick turnarounds, complex enhancements, or proof-of-concept development within demanding timelines. What makes these situations manageable, she believes, is the willingness of people to support one another.
She describes the experience as one where everyone steps in, shares the responsibility, and stays focused on the common goal.
Her approach to collaboration extends beyond getting work delivered. She believes that when everyone understands why something is being built, the decisions around what needs to be built and how to build it become much clearer.
Mentoring interns has also become a meaningful part of her experience. It has helped her simplify complex product concepts, provide constructive feedback, and support others as they grow into confident contributors.
Creating Space for Every Voice
When describing Nineleaps’ culture, Arpita highlights three things: openness, trust, and a people-first approach.
She values the fact that ideas and concerns can be shared regardless of someone’s role or experience. Having experienced this environment herself, she makes a conscious effort to create the same space within her team.
For her, inclusion means ensuring that everyone has a seat at the table, that different perspectives are heard, and that people have the opportunity to take ownership of their work and grow.
She also appreciates the opportunities to connect with colleagues beyond everyday project responsibilities. From sports and ethnic day celebrations to wellbeing sessions and CSR activities, these experiences offer a chance to interact with people across the organisation and build relationships outside the usual work environment.
Her Perspective on Growth
Having worked across different domains and taken on increasingly complex responsibilities, Arpita believes that professional growth comes from remaining curious and being willing to take initiative.
Her advice to someone considering joining Nineleaps is straightforward:
“Come ready to own your work. Nineleaps gives you real responsibility early and trusts you to make decisions, so the more curious and proactive you are, the more you’ll grow. Don’t hesitate to ask questions or share ideas, whatever your role or experience.”
Reflecting on her own experience, she adds:
“There’s always something new to learn, whether from a new opportunity or from the people around you. I’m grateful for the trust, the opportunities and the support I’ve had here, and I’m excited about what we’re building next.”
A Journey That Keeps Evolving
From transitioning into software to exploring AI-driven product development, Arpita’s journey reflects the importance of staying open to new possibilities. Her experiences highlight how curiosity can lead to innovation, ownership can build confidence, and collaboration can turn complex challenges into shared achievements.
Her story is a reminder that growth is not simply about moving into bigger roles or taking on greater responsibilities. It is also about creating space for others, trusting the people around you, and continuing to learn along the way.
That is what IMPACT looks like: not just in the products we build, but in the way we work, grow, and move forward together.
