Senior Product Manager — Intelligent Financial Systems

James Finnie

I design and prototype intelligent systems for finance — where data, AI, and human decision-making meet.

My work focuses on building products that help people make better decisions in complex environments such as investing, financial markets, and digital platforms.

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01

Selected Work

Signal — Feedback Intelligence
Side Project · AI · SaaS

Signal — Feedback Intelligence

Signal transforms raw product feedback into structured roadmap work. Slack messages and GitHub issues are ingested in real time, scored for sentiment and urgency using AI models, clustered into emerging themes, and converted into structured product epics ready for tools like Linear or Jira.

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Prism — Portfolio Intelligence
Side Project · AI · Fintech

Prism — Portfolio Intelligence

Prism is an AI-assisted portfolio intelligence engine for Canadian investors. A deterministic optimisation model evaluates potential portfolio actions and surfaces the single highest-expected-value move. Investors can then explore the reasoning through natural-language follow-up questions.

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02

The Lab

The Lab is where I explore ideas in artificial intelligence, finance, and product systems. Most of these begin as small prototypes, thought experiments, or technical investigations into how intelligent software could improve decision-making.

01

Product Feedback Intelligence

Exploring how LLM-based pipelines can transform unstructured product feedback into structured insights. This includes experiments in signal ingestion, sentiment scoring, pattern detection, and converting qualitative feedback into opportunities product teams can act on.

02

Financial Decision Engines

Research into deterministic optimisation systems for personal finance and investing. I’m interested in how algorithms can evaluate portfolio actions such as rebalancing, tax-loss harvesting, account optimisation, and capital deployment in a transparent and explainable way.

03

AI Evaluation Systems

Investigating how organisations can benchmark AI models before deploying them into financial workflows. Focus areas include reasoning accuracy, hallucination detection, financial calculation reliability, and structured evaluation environments for decision-support systems.

04

Geopolitical Signal Monitoring

Experimenting with systems that aggregate geopolitical events, market signals, and macroeconomic developments into clearer intelligence for analysts and investors. As part of a team, I contributed to World Monitor, an open-source OSINT application (GitHub). With a background in international studies and diplomacy, I find the intersection of structured intelligence and technology fascinating.

03

Systems I Think About

I’m fascinated by systems that convert complex data into useful decisions. Many of the most interesting products today are not simple applications, but decision engines — systems that interpret signals, apply logic, and help humans decide what to do next.

Feedback Intelligence System

A system for turning raw product feedback into strategic product insight.

Slack / GitHub / Support Signals
Sentiment Analysis
Pattern Detection
Opportunity Scoring
Structured Product Epics

Turn fragmented customer signals into clear product priorities.

Financial Decision Engine

A system for analysing portfolios and surfacing the most valuable next action.

Portfolio Holdings
Tax Position Analysis
Market Opportunity Detection
Optimisation Model
Recommended Investor Action

Help investors make better financial decisions using structured analysis.

04

About

Product manager exploring how AI changes decision-making.

I’m interested in the gap between what technology could do for people and what it actually does. My career has moved through three domains that all revolve around data, systems, and decisions: financial markets, digital health, and AI-driven investing tools.

I began working in fintech in London across FX, payments, and trading platforms before moving into digital health in Canada, where I worked on connected healthcare systems and clinical data platforms.

Today I work on the future of self-directed investing at CIBC Investor’s Edge, focusing on personalisation systems, AI-assisted product features, and intelligent client journeys.

How do we turn complex data into decisions humans can trust?

Outside work, I enjoy golf, cooking Sunday roasts, following the rugby, and renovating a house in Toronto with my wife Natalie.

Focus Areas

AI in Finance Financial Decision Systems Personalisation Platforms Fintech Products AI-Augmented Product Teams

On building in the age of AI

I’m thinking deeply about the future of building in a world of AI-driven development. Particularly how product teams will evolve into a new age of AI-augmented work — where the craft of product management shifts from coordination to judgement, and the tools we use become collaborators rather than utilities.

People shaping my thinking

Boris Cherny

Engineering leader exploring how AI changes the way software gets built.

Lenny Rachitsky

Writes the top-rated Lenny’s Newsletter on Substack, focusing on tactical execution, growth, and product strategy.

Melissa Perri

Author of The Build Trap and founder of Product Institute; focuses on scaling product organisations.

Marty Cagan

Founder of Silicon Valley Product Group and author of Inspired and Empowered.

05

Experience

CIBC Investor’s Edge 2025 — Present

Senior Product Manager

Building AI-assisted investing tools and personalisation systems for Canada’s self-directed investors. Focused on improving how clients understand portfolios, opportunities, and market signals.

Trudell Medical International 2023 — 2025

Manager, Connected Health & Intelligent Systems

Led product strategy and development for connected healthcare platforms integrating device data, analytics, and mobile applications to support clinical decision-making.

StoneX (SNEX) 2022 — 2023

Associate Product Manager — Global Trading Platforms

Worked on trading infrastructure and digital product experiences supporting institutional and retail financial markets.

Equals Money (EQLS) 2021 — 2022

Product Analyst

Focused on fintech payments infrastructure, FX products, and digital financial services.

06

Now

Updated March 2026

Currently working on

  • AI-assisted investing tools at CIBC Investor’s Edge
  • Building experimental systems for product feedback intelligence
  • Exploring financial decision engines and model evaluation frameworks
  • Prototyping ideas at the intersection of finance, AI, and product strategy

Outside work

  • Golf
  • Rugby
  • Cooking
  • Renovating a house in Toronto
07

Education

MA International Studies & Diplomacy

SOAS, University of London

Focused on international economics, international law, and global political systems. Also received media training delivered by the BBC.

MA (SocSci) Business & Management

University of Glasgow — Adam Smith Business School

Collaborated with Accenture on a wealth management research project analysing the impact of UK Open Banking (PSD2).

Let’s talk.

Always open to interesting conversations about product, fintech, artificial intelligence, and intelligent systems.