Somnath Biswas is a senior product leader with over 23 years of experience in enterprise and retail digital and AI products, having worked with Tier 1 consultancies, enterprises, and startups—including his own in the enterprise conversational AI space. His products have spanned the Telecom, Financial Services, Healthcare, E-commerce, and Job Tech domains. For the past nine years, he has been building core ML and NLP products for companies such as NatWest, IQVIA, and Amazon. Most recently, he has been productionizing GenAI solutions for the TotalJobs Group, where he leads the domains for conversational products and parsing products, respectively.
In an exclusive interview with Digital First Magazine, Somnath shared insights on the most significant challenges facing product leaders today and how they can be addressed, personal hobbies and interests, words of wisdom, and much more. The following excerpts are taken from the interview.
Hi Somnath. What drives your passion for product leadership and entrepreneurship, and how do you stay motivated?
Any product professional will attest to this as well, but that process of putting in the hard grind towards discovering the pain point, then forming and testing out your solution hypothesis, and then finally after deploying when you see the needles move in the right direction – that is a tremendous high and very gratifying! And very product, every feature, every user persona is slightly different and keeps you on your toes, but when the team is able to ‘solve the puzzle’ – that is a big motivator for me.
As a leader you have the added responsibility of not just building great products but also building great teams and the next set of leaders – and that is also an interesting tightrope walk, because you are balancing committed outcomes whilst giving the team enough space to make their mistakes, learn and grow.
In the case of entrepreneurship, there is an added thrill. As is true for most, once you’ve gone through the 0 to 1 and pause to realize that the product, the team, the company, and even the client base – all emerged from a single idea you chose to back, it is incredibly satisfying.
What do you love the most about your current role?
One of the first things I realized when I joined the TotalJobs/Stepstone Group, one of the leaders in the Job-tech space, was that job search is a lonely, emotion-laden, and often a tedious process. I also recognized that finding the right job is truly a life-changing event for both the individual and their entire family. The fact that our products are making this process easier and more accessible is indeed a matter of great pride for me.
What do you believe are the most significant challenges facing product leaders today, and how can they address them?
In my mind, AI is a significant challenge but also a tremendous opportunity. The fast pace at which the AI landscape is changing is a challenge, but then the multi-modal experiences that can be leveraged in products is an opportunity. The temptation of ‘sprinkling’ a little bit of AI in every product is a stakeholder management challenge, but the fact that we can build ‘humane’ and ‘natural’ interactions is a big opportunity. The evolving regulatory landscape is a challenge, but the fact that there are so many foundational model providers ( including open source/open weight) is an opportunity. So, to summarize – AI is the most significant challenge (as well as opportunity).
The best way to address it is to remember that AI is just a means to an end, like any other technology. Work backwards from the business goal, and you can think ‘AI first’ but not necessarily ‘AI only’.
How do you see your recognition as one of the Top 25 AI Leaders in CX 2025 impacting your work and goals moving forward?
I was definitely humbled, and it was such an honor to be included in the CX 2025 leaders list. In terms of impact, I believe the biggest gain has been access to 24 other seasoned and successful CX leaders, with whom I hope to connect, compare notes with, and learn from.
Who has been a significant influence or mentor in your career, and how have they helped shape your professional journey?
I am someone who has a high sense of ownership, bias for action and the drive to dive deep and then solve the problem ground up. I think I have picked up a lot of it, whilst working for one of the Indian IT majors, straight out of business school. My manager, who went onto to become the CEO, was a powerhouse of energy and drive, with the ability to quickly dive deep and work from the trenches where required. A demanding boss, but fair and logical. Some of it might have gotten rubbed off, I guess.
What has been your most career-defining moment that you are proud of?
I actually don’t agree with the framing of the question. In my mind there are no specific defining moments – no matter how mundane the task, no matter how successful or unsuccessful the tenure – each and every moment shapes you as a person and professional. A boring job, whilst not career-defining, might actually be the final push that compels you to find something interesting. But if I had to, I would say the time l launched an internal social media platform (this was pre-facebook-for-work) for an IT Enterprise was the first time I launched a product and so it remains a memorable moment for me.
What are some of your passions outside of work? What do you like to do in your time off?
It’s a mixed bag actually – I am a foodie, I try and read whenever I can, I am a movie buff, I have a green thumb, and I dabble from time to time in carpentry as well.
Which technology are you investing in now to prepare for the future?
Agentic flows and multi-agent setups are what we are working on, with large and smaller distilled language models. When designed correctly, one could build very powerful experiences with them.
What is your biggest goal? Where do you see yourself 5 years from now?
Pass. In the age of AI, any prediction longer than 3 months would need to be taken with a fistful of salt.
What advice would you give to individuals looking to break into the product leadership or AI fields?
My advice to product professionals / leadership is to not underestimate the importance of ‘empathy’. Empathy drives understanding of pain points – whether its for a user or a colleague.
Specifically for AI – question if it can only be solved through AI and whether you are getting the ROI.