Apple Hardware Engineering · EPM Interview Presentation
Chami
Rupasinghe
A product leader who turns complexity into clarity and ships products at scale.
Where engineering
meets strategy.
Microsoft · 2015–Present
Azure
Principal PM Manager
2021 – Present
Incubating a product that transforms data structures using GenAI.
Microsoft Research
Principal Product Manager
2019 – 2021
Led Azure Health Data Services from Research to GA at HIMSS.
Azure
Sr. Data & Applied Scientist
2016 – 2019
Built Azure churn models and partner ranking algorithms that informed GTM.
Sales
Technical Sales Professional
2015 – 2016
Attained 104% of target on a $36M portfolio of 82 enterprise accounts.
American Airlines · 2005–2013
Ancillary Revenue Products
Sr. Product Manager
2010 – 2013
Incubated 4 products with $41M ARR.
AAdvantage Loyalty
Sr. Marketing Manager
2007 – 2010
Launched AA's most exclusive elite tier and revenue driving loyalty products.
Field Operations Planning
Financial Analyst
2005 – 2007
Developed staffing analysis and optimization tool, saving $4M annually.
What I can contribute.
What I'm excited to learn.
What I Can Contribute
Experience building tools for engineers
Software development excellence at scale
Thriving in ambiguity
What I'm Excited to Learn
Closer proximity to hardware innovation
Hardware–software co-design
Apple's culture of product craftsmanship
Launching Azure Health Data Services
at HIMSS 2022.
"Ship to the world's largest healthcare conference — or miss a once-a-year market window."
The Product
Connect and exchange your health data through standards-based APIs and engage with it through Microsoft SaaS products or custom applications.
- —Clinical Data
- —Imaging Data
- —Device Data
- —Compliant & secure
Customer Segments
Hospitals · Insurers · Medical Device Manufacturers
Use Cases
Patient Intelligence · Research · Remote Monitoring
Me + My Team
Responsibilities: GTM strategy + Program Execution.
Own the consolidated roadmap, create clarity for internal and external teams, establish repeatable processes, eliminate overhead, and surface risks early so that no one is surprised.
- Release Manager — Program execution
- Data Engineers x2 — Product telemetry & insights
- Program Manager x2 — Technical Docs + UI
Internal Stakeholders
- Product
- Engineers x56 (across 6 engineering teams)
- Technical Program Managers x10
- Executives x3
- Privacy, Compliance, Legal
External Stakeholders
- Price - Business planning, Finance, Commerce
- Placement - Sales (training and enablement)
- Promotion - Marketing (PR content, Launch plan)
Three fires.
Simultaneously.
New Azure Mandate Redefines Product Scope at T-Minus 6 Months
A company-wide edict required security consistency across all services. We were forced to decide between cutting differentiating features or move the launch date.
01Last-Minute Name Change Cascades Across Every Asset
"Healthcare APIs" was rejected by Marketing LT. The decision rippled through: all docs, press release, domain naming, landing page, and customer decks.
02Billing Not Finalized by Launch Readiness Date
Resource constraints impacted if billing capabilities would be ready for launch: sellers would not be incentivized to drive Q4 sales.
03Every risk tracked.
Every mitigation owned.
| Risk & Impact | Level | Mitigation Path | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unplanned Security Features Change the product or move launch date Engineering Risk |
High | - Reprioritize backlogs; Update Pugh Charts - Borrow capacity from sister teams - Negotiate APEX deferrals for a subset |
Resolved Agile teams pivoted and delivered. |
| Hero Features at Wire No differentiated value prop at launch Engineering Risk |
High | - Each team got at least one "hero" feature - Tracked progress via R/Y/G weekly check-points - BOM 48hr publication cycle triggered on confirmation |
Resolved Delivered hero features for GA. |
| Product Name Change Cascades: all docs, web, press, domain Marketing Risk |
Med | - Created asset inventory as single source of truth - Sequenced updates: docs → marketing → PR content. |
Resolved Docs consistent Accepted domain mismatch |
| Missing Billing Missing seller incentive stymies adoption Commercial Risk |
Med | - Private disclosure of future pricing enabled sales. - Customers use the product for free. |
Accepted Pricing announced post GA. |
I move an organization
by pulling, not pushing.
Clear Strategy
Semester-level LT strategy paper gets decomposed into OKRs that cascade. Every team knew the destination and the definition of done.
Minimal Overhead Process
All output flows directly from DevOps — no duplicate tracking, no separate spreadsheets, no wasted cycles.
Over-Communicate
T-minus weekly dashboards. End-of-sprint check-ins. Release notes. A newsletter. R/Y/G status always visible — no one is ever surprised.
A battle plan for every
level of the org.
Quarterly
QPR
Engineering plan design; OKR setting; resource & dependency mapping across all 6 teams
Monthly
MBR
Progress review with exec leadership; trade-off discussions; risk escalation with recommended decisions
Per Sprint
Prioritize + Demo + Release
End-of-sprint demos; release notes published; backlog refined with CAB customer feedback
Weekly
T-Minus Update
R/Y/G dashboard all workstreams; blocker triage; milestone countdown for major releases; OKR progress review
Monthly API requests — in the first year of general availability
✓ On Time
Shipped at HIMSS 2022
Hard deadline met
6
Engineering Teams
Coordinated to GA
→ Azure
Graduated from
Microsoft Research
Azure Health Data Services shipped on schedule at HIMSS 2022, exceeded all adoption projections in Year 1, and successfully transitioned from Microsoft Research into Azure — validating both the product strategy and the operating model used to build it.
Ready to build something
extraordinary at Apple.
I bring the technical depth, stakeholder fluency, and relentless execution mindset this EPM role demands — and I'm excited to bring that to Apple Hardware Engineering.
Name
Chami Rupasinghe
Location
Austin, TX
Phone
903-744-6200
crupasinghe@gmail.com
linkedin.com/in/rupasinghe