Spec Engineering: the Unclaimed Role of an AI-native PM

Hosted by Gayathri Keerthana (GK) and Jason P. Yoong

Mon, Apr 20, 2026

5:30 PM UTC (45 minutes)

Virtual (Zoom)

Free to join

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Build Your Moat as an AI-native PM - Practitioner Certificate
GK Shan and Jason P. Yoong
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What you'll learn

Learn why the old PM spec doesn't translate to AI agents

What changed about the spec and how the gap looks like in your org

Understand why Spec Engineering is a PM skill

The industry named the highest-leverage skill in AI development "specification engineering." Learn how to claim it.

Live demo: building a structured spec vs typical vibe-coding

Take home a structured spec template using a Working Backwards approach that you apply in your next spec engg exercise

Why this topic matters

Vibe-coding is over-simplified: prompt, build, ship. AI agents take everything literally and make decisions you can't foresee. The PM who can clearly define what gets built by the agent before anyone touches the IDE becomes the person engineers trust. This session shows you how. You don't need a spec-writing background. You just need to know what good looks like for your customer.

You'll learn from

Gayathri Keerthana (GK)

AI and Product Consultant | ex-Amazon Product Leader | ESADE MBA

Most people stick to one thing. At 31, I'm managing to experiment with three: AI consulting, co-founding an AI-native startup, and building an e-commerce brand in the UK.


This is possible because of a rather uncommon mix of experiences I managed to pack in just over a decade:


  • Senior Product Manager in a $7.2B business unit at Amazon — leading ML and econometric models that actually moved the needle on delivery experience
  • Ops Management at an Amazon robotics site, leading a team of 300+, producing 250K+ shipments / night
  • MBA from ESADE (ranked #7 by FT): Social Impact Scholarship, VP of Tech & Media club
  • Led marketing at B2B SaaS unicorns (Typeform, Chargebee, Zoho): inbound, virality, demand gen and the whole shebang.
  • Founded a non-profit in rural India at 19, for 5+ years, and recognised with state-level awards.


I also help exceptional tech leaders get the UK Global Talent Visa. 


I believe in a human-in-the-loop approach to leveraging AI and prefer using it as a problem solver than a decision maker.


Follow GK on LinkedIn.


Explore more resources from GK.

Jason P. Yoong

Co-Founder & COO at Level Up (Prev: Amazon, Dentsu, IPG, Startup - $8M seed)

Over the past 15+ years, I’ve run $1B+ organizations in eCommerce, advertising, media, and marketplaces — led 40+ person teams, owned P&L, and managed $400M+ marketing budgets that delivered measurable growth and ROI.


At Amazon, Dentsu Aegis, and Universal McCann (IPG), I operated at global scale. Later, as a founding team member of a venture-backed software startup, I helped raise $8M in seed funding and built the go-to-market motion from zero to traction.


Today, I am the Cofounder & COO of Level Up, a career acceleration platform with 250,000+ followers. Alongside Ethan Evans (retired Amazon VP), we combine executive coaching, leadership courses, weekly newsletter, an engaged community, and custom AI GPT tools to help ambitious professionals grow faster, avoid mistakes, and make better career moves.


I also serve on the Harvard Business Review (HBR) advisory council and as a mentor at First Round Capital and Techstars.


Follow Jason on LinkedIn.


Get weekly career advice and subscribe to the Level Up Newsletter.

Previously at

Amazon
Typeform
Chargebee
Zoho
Techstars

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