I build AI-native products, lead the teams that ship them, and grow what they become.
I'm Joshua Theophilus, an AI product manager, builder, and engineer based in Lagos. I bring 10+ years across product, growth, and engineering leadership to building AI-native products, from the first idea to the systems and experiences people use.
MBA, Quantic School of Business and Technology. Currently pursuing an MS in AI Engineering.
A decade of building and leading.
I've spent the last decade building and leading — first in marketing and product training, then in product and engineering leadership, and now at the frontier of AI-native product development. I build in public, train the next generation of builders, and believe the future of tech will be shaped as much from Lagos as from San Francisco.
What I do
AI product management
Define the problem, shape the product direction, prioritize what matters, and connect delivery to adoption and business outcomes.
AI building and engineering
Design and build websites, applications, and AI-enabled product experiences, hands-on.
Growth product management
Improve how people discover value, get started, return, and grow with a product through onboarding, experimentation, and product-led growth.
Career journey
- 2019 – 2023
Senior Meta Product Trainer (EMEA) + Lead Trainer
Meta / Teleperformance / Digify Africa
Product training and enablement across 15+ countries. WhatsApp chatbot platform (Naledi & Lesedi) for Meta. Trained 50,000+ professionals across 65+ countries. 2x Meta Lead Trainer Award.
- 2021
Digital Marketing Trainer & Product Specialist
Digify Africa (Meta Partner)
First product role. Digital marketing and product specialist work for a Meta channel partner, the starting point for the product and AI career that followed.
- 2023 – 2024
Product Innovation Manager & Business Lead, Growth and Transformation
Africa Agility (Global, Remote)
159% YoY program growth. $50K+ in grant funding secured. Built and launched the org's first MVP.
- Aug 2023 – Jan 2025
Head of Product & Growth (Contract)
Ibridge Innovative Solutions
0→1 for FoodBridgeNG and The Corporators. 5,000+ users in year one. Improved execution efficiency 30%.
- Mar 2024 – Apr 2025
VP, Product & Engineering
BOSS Global / SellMedia Group
Built and led the full product and engineering org. Delivered SellCrea8, SellMerch, and Settla Fintech. Increased delivery speed 30%. Led client initiatives across Canada, the US, and the UK. Co-founded and exited Colonies AI during this same period.
- Apr 2025 – Mar 2026
Group Head of Product & Engineering
Beden Holdings (PartyJor, VIP Closet)
Turned a 9-month stalled product into a working MVP in 2–3 months. Launched PartyJor Moments in 5 weeks, over 1,000 signups in week one. Integrated a multimodal AI stack including text generation, TTS, image generation, and translation. Reduced production bugs by 70%. Three products built in total, one scaled, one validated.
- Present
Full-Time AI Product Builder
Independent
Building AI-native products full-time, hands-on, using Claude Code, Cursor, and modern AI-assisted development. The AI Builder Portfolio on this site is a live record of that work.
Skills & specialty
Product Leadership
- AI Product Strategy
- 0→1 Product Building
- Product-Led Growth
- Go-to-Market Strategy
- Venture and Founder Coaching
AI and Engineering
- LLM Integration & Multi-Provider Routing
- System Design & Architecture Thinking
- Claude Code, Cursor & AI-Assisted Development
- Full-Stack Fluency
- RAG, Agents & AI Evaluation Pipelines
Team and Organization Leadership
- Leading Engineering Teams
- Leading AI Development Teams
- Leading Product Teams
- Training and Capability Building
- Cross-Functional Org Design
The JT mindset
What sets the work apart isn't any single skill. It's the compression of time — seeing where things are headed before they arrive, thinking in systems rather than tasks, and holding high principles and relentless work ethic as non-negotiable. Rooted in Africa, built to global standards. A visionary and an executioner, in equal measure.
Awards, recognition & certifications
Awards
- Top 1% ADPList Mentor, 2023
- Top 10% Globally, ADPList, 2024
- 3x Meta Awardee
- 2x Quantic Scholar
Certifications
- Meta Blueprint Certifications (9x)
- 2x Meta Certified Lead Trainer
- Anthropic AI Fluency
- Google AI Essentials
- IBM Enterprise Design Thinking Practitioner
- Scrum Alliance CSPO
- Scrum Alliance CSM
- ADPList Product-Led Growth Series 2 Certification
Product portfolio
Products I build end to end, products I lead, and experiments exploring how AI changes product and engineering work. Real case studies, not a feature list.
“Motivation without a corresponding action is nothing but pure desperation.”