Donal Rafferty
About

About Donal Rafferty

Software engineer turned product leader, focused on helping ambitious professionals use technical fluency, AI literacy, and product thinking to move into higher-impact roles.

Donal has spent more than 15 years working across software engineering, product development, developer experience, API strategy, innovation, and AI-enabled automation. His work has centred on helping teams make complex technical products easier to understand, adopt, integrate, and scale.

The why

Why this coaching exists

Many experienced professionals have more product potential than they realise. Engineers often underestimate how valuable their technical judgement is in product roles. Product managers often underestimate how much technical fluency can differentiate them in a market increasingly shaped by AI, APIs, automation, and platforms.

This coaching exists to help those professionals build a clearer path forward.

Experience

Experience highlights

10+ years as a software engineer
9+ years in product development and innovation
Deep experience in API strategy and developer experience
Experience leading and coaching multi-skilled teams
Practical exposure to AI-enabled automation and internal tooling
Customer-facing work with demanding enterprise and technology organisations
Customer-facing environments

Work with leading technology and enterprise organisations.

Donal has worked in customer-facing product and developer experience contexts involving:

AmazonTikTokMicrosoftAppleChaseStripeWorldpayAdyenNetflixLive Nation
Philosophy

Coaching philosophy

Use your existing advantage

Technical and product experience should be translated, not discarded.

Build career clarity

Better opportunities come from sharper positioning and clearer target roles.

Make technical fluency commercial

AI, APIs, platforms, and developer experience matter most when connected to customer and business outcomes.

Stay practical

The goal is not inspiration. The goal is a sharper narrative, better assets, and a realistic next move.

Ready for your next move?

Join the waitlist for early access to coaching spots and future programmes.

Join the Waitlist