From Politics to Product Management
Curious about how our Product Managers found their way into the world of Product Management? 🤔
Tanya, Product Manager, takes us through her unexpected journey—from a gap year to exploring fintech and tackling global challenges along the way. 🚀
"Every decision we make is ultimately grounded in data. This approach gives us a powerful advantage and ensures we're always moving in the right direction."
Tanya Agarwal (She/Her)
Product Manager
Can you tell us a bit about your background?
I took a gap year between school and university to travel and gain experience in the advertising industry, where I was drawn to the impact small agencies had. This sparked my interest in dynamic, smaller companies. I then studied Politics at University of Edinburgh but quickly realised that a career in the UN or EU wasn’t for me. The idea of making an impact over the long term didn’t suit my more fast-paced nature.
During this time, I interned at Code First: Girls (under Entrepreneur First), where I ran the entire initiative due to changes in the team and had the chance to be mentored directly by the EF Founders. This led me to explore tech roles, including Product Management.
After graduating, I entered Product roles and found myself in the fintech field. At a legal tech startup, I saw that financial education was a key barrier for customers, which led me to focus on financial products for small businesses. I later worked on fincrime controls at a global payments company before joining Wise almost three years ago.
What made you apply to Wise?
I’ve been a customer of Wise for years, ever since my year abroad when Wise was the only way I could pay my landlord. When I saw a role focused on sanctions after working on Fincrime in general over the last few years, I knew it was the right opportunity. Having worked in this area at my previous company, I wanted to dive deeper and tackle the challenge on a much larger scale. The constantly evolving regulatory landscape, especially in a fast-growing company like Wise, is something that continues to motivate me, and it’s a challenge I’m excited to be part of solving.
Has anything surprised you since joining Wise?
What continues to surprise me every day is the motivation to make things better for our customers. It’s inspiring to be part of a company where thousands of people across the globe are committed to the same mission— something I truly believe is unique to Wise.
Another thing that stands out is how data-driven our decision-making process is. While we all bring our intuition and experience to the table, every decision we make is ultimately grounded in data. This approach gives us a powerful advantage and ensures we're always moving in the right direction.
What excites you about working directly with financial crime prevention?
The challenge of finding the right balance between delivering an exceptional customer experience and managing risk—is something that no business can ever truly perfect. The complexity of striving for that balance while navigating an ever-changing macro-environment and business growth is what makes it so rewarding.
The possibilities within financial crime prevention are endless. We essentially keep our customers safe by ensuring that money flowing through our systems is not funding sanctioned entities.
We can enhance the product at multiple touchpoints—whether it's on the data input side, the engine side, the case creation and handling side, or even on the operations, analytics, and compliance fronts. The scope for improvement is vast, and that’s what makes it so engaging and dynamic to work on.
What are some common misconceptions people have about Product Management?
With any role, the reality is that it can be tough at times and requires a lot of hands-on work. Sometimes, you need to dive into any domain or team at a moment’s notice. For example, if your team is facing a bottleneck in hiring, you might need to step in and take on sourcing and hiring yourself to keep things moving.
As a Product Manager, you need to be willing to do whatever it takes to get things moving forward, even if it’s outside the typical product-related tasks.
What skills or mindset do you look for when hiring Product Managers at Wise?
Resilience, clear communication and a growth mindset.
Resilience plays a key role because the tech industry is known for its fast-paced nature. Product Managers (PMs) should be ready to tackle curve balls head on and guide their teams and stakeholders towards moving the correct metrics in the most effective way.
Clear communication is important as the role requires working with different types of internal, and sometimes external stakeholders. This allows PMs to convey their product vision, requirements and priorities, as well as bring everyone on the journey together, ensuring that everyone has a clear understanding of the goals and can contribute effectively.
And finally, a growth mindset is key. A fast-paced environment fosters continuous learning, encourages efficient feedback incorporation, and helps individuals view their problem from a broader, long-term perspective.
If you could go back and give your younger self one piece of advice about Product Management, what would it be?
Be curious and creative. Don’t just focus on Product Management books—focus on books that shape your thinking and leadership skills. I recommend Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman and The Art of Thinking Clearly by Rolf Dobelli. These books teach critical thinking and decision-making—vital skills for any successful Product Manager.
Tags
Roles you might be interested in
Salary
88000 - 135000 GBP Annual
Location
London
Team
Product
Locations
London
Description
We’re looking for a Senior Product Manager to join our Grow Squad (Wise Assets) in London. The role is an unique opportunity to join one of the largest fintech companies in the world. You'll be leadin
Reference
aa4cdc4c-fc73-4571-8f8d-72bd237dd85c
Expiry Date
01/01/0001
Salary
120000 - 145000 GBP Annual
Location
London
Team
Product
Locations
London
Description
We’re looking for a Product Lead to join our Grow (Wise Assets) squad in London. The role is an unique opportunity to join one of the largest fintech companies in the world. You'll be leading and grow
Reference
96cb08dd-5ac5-4eac-b4d6-3225f58cd558
Expiry Date
01/01/0001
Salary
115000 - 145000 GBP Annual
Location
London
Team
Product
Locations
London
Description
Your mission: Your mandate is to build and maintain the foundational financial platform that guarantees the integrity and compliance of every transaction across Wise’s global ecosystem. The systems yo
Reference
e47909c7-e643-4ae5-bae2-74631912155c
Expiry Date
01/01/0001
Salary
8080 - 11670 EUR Monthly
Location
Brussels
Team
Product
Locations
Brussels
Description
We are seeking a highly driven candidate ready to leverage their EU regulatory experience on Operational Resilience in a dynamic fintech environment.This is an opportunity to work directly with produc
Reference
b86cdde2-7669-4456-ab5e-8657aea0fba4
Expiry Date
01/01/0001
Salary
£120,000 - £145,000+
Location
London
Team
Product
Locations
London
Description
We’re looking for an experienced Product Lead to join the Pricing Squad.The Pricing Squad set company-wide pricing principles, set & calculate the right prices and own the platform to reliably delive
Reference
39d7b54c-88e8-4f03-a125-4191ebe44018
Expiry Date
01/01/0001
Salary
88000 - 118000 GBP Annual
Location
London
Team
Product
Locations
London
Description
Join us in shaping how millions of customers around the world move money across borders. As Senior Product Manager for Send Convenience, you'll own the product that powers 5% of all cross-currency mov
Reference
264a2a2f-24f2-4425-bb17-8e2c96dd4a60
Expiry Date
01/01/0001
Salary
166,000 - 220,000 AUD per annum + RSUs + Super
Location
Sydney
Team
Product
Locations
Sydney
Description
Salary range: 166,000 - 220,000 AUD per annum + RSUs + SuperFinancial Crime Product Compliance & Risk Senior Manager - AU/NZWe’re seeking a Financial Crime Product Compliance & Risk Senior Manager to
Reference
07fb96ea-c554-467c-b40f-c56e7e7e1ffb
Expiry Date
01/01/0001
Salary
SGD 9,300 - 12,400 SGD per month + RSUs
Location
Singapore
Team
Product
Locations
Singapore
Description
Salary range: SGD 9,300 - 12,400 SGD per month + RSUsWe’re looking for a Product Compliance Manager based in Singapore to join our growing APAC Wise Platform team, to support building new and improvin
Reference
8a0f7da0-633d-43c6-a5a8-9f45f8a28de6
Expiry Date
01/01/0001
Salary
11110 - 14010 EUR Monthly
Location
Brussels
Team
Product
Locations
Brussels
Description
We are looking for a candidate with Belgian and/or European experience in tackling Financial Crime risks, eager to bring their expertise to a dynamic fintech environment. This is a senior and highly i
Reference
edd92425-8321-4607-97b3-3551e3495b78
Expiry Date
01/01/0001
Salary
88000 - 118000 GBP Annual
Location
London
Team
Product
Locations
London
Description
Your Mission: Data Integrity, Real timeliness, and ControlsYour mandate is to build and maintain the foundational Treasury Ledger platform that guarantees the real time integrity and compliance of eve
Reference
39da91ef-0ff7-4c3c-8c2d-932e0eedf0cb
Expiry Date
01/01/0001
Articles you might like
Teaser
People profileContent Type
BlogPublish date
05/21/2025
Summary
Ilya Leyrikh, Senior Product Director at Wise, shares how he transforms customer experiences with innovative financial solutions 💰🔍 “Wise genuinely prioritises solving customer pr
by
Sapphire Birmingham
Teaser
People profileContent Type
BlogPublish date
03/19/2025
Summary
Matthew Way, Senior Product Compliance Manager, gives us an inside look at his role at Wise, sharing his day-to-day role, and offering valuable advice for anyone looking to interview for a pos
by
Verona Hasani
Teaser
People profileContent Type
BlogPublish date
01/06/2025
Summary
From managing a 200-person crew on a Bollywood film set to leading Product teams at Wise, Surendra Chaplot, Product Lead in Singapore shares his unique journey into the world of Product Manageme
by
Verona Hasani
Teaser
People profileContent Type
BlogPublish date
11/29/2024
Summary
We sat down with Asya Kuznetsova, Product Manager at Wise, to hear about her career journey as well as all things product at Wise. 🚀 “What really sets Wise apart is how close we are to our
by
Sapphire Birmingham
Teaser
Our workContent Type
BlogPublish date
08/18/2024
Summary
Introducing our first ever Product Academy At Wise, we're committed to fostering innovation and growth, not just in our products but in our people. This year, we launched a new
Teaser
Our workContent Type
BlogPublish date
05/04/2023
Summary
Meet Ankita D’Mello, one of our Product Senior Managers here at Wise.Ankita joined Wise in March of 2020 but started out as a customer back in 2013. While she was an international