Tom Karlo

Tom Karlo is a product manager at Sierra, the AI customer-experience company, where he leads product for European retail, marketplaces and services. He is based in London.

Before Sierra, he led the team at Meta Reality Labs that launched the Meta Wearables Device Access Toolkit, Meta's first public developer platform for AI glasses, which he introduced on stage at Connect 2025 and which featured in the CTO's keynote. At YouTube he built the creator commerce platform from $1M to $40M in annualised sales in under two years, a programme highlighted by Sundar Pichai on Google's Q3 2020 earnings call. He spent six years as senior product manager for Android System UI, on an operating system used by over two billion people, and is a named inventor on three US patents from that work.

Earlier, Tom Karlo launched European payment methods at Stripe, led product for IMDb Pro at Amazon, and originated over $2B in private market transactions in four years at Lehman Brothers. He started as an engineer, with an SB in Electrical Engineering & Computer Science from MIT, and holds an MBA from Columbia Business School and an MS in journalism from Columbia.

At Sierra I work with European retailers and consumer-service businesses to put AI agents in front of their customers. An agent is only as good as the systems behind it: order management, payments, loyalty, inventory, CRM, and the bespoke services every large retailer has accumulated. Connecting those is where I've spent my career.

I'm at my best on products that are technically ambitious but need to be genuinely easy to use.

If you're a retailer working out where AI fits in your customer experience, ask the assistant above or leave your details and I'll get back to you.

• Meta, Reality Labs

  2021 to 2026

  Product Lead, Developer Platforms & AI Wearables

  Led the London-based team of product managers and engineers that launched the Meta Wearables Device Access Toolkit, Meta's first public developer platform for AI glasses. Introduced on stage at Connect 2025 and featured in the CTO's keynote.

• CHEQ

  2021 to 2022

  Strategic Advisor

  Advised CHEQ, a commission-free contactless mobile ordering and payment service for restaurants and venues. Acquired by Cantaloupe in February 2024.

• YouTube Shopping

  2018 to 2021

  Product Lead, YouTube Shopping

  Built creator commerce from one market and one vendor to 18 markets and 15 vendors, reaching 60,000+ creators and growing annualised sales from $1M to $40M in under two years. Highlighted by Sundar Pichai on Google's Q3 2020 earnings call.

• Stripe

  2017 to 2018

  Product Manager, Global Payment Methods

  Shipped seven European payment methods onto the platform, including iDEAL, SEPA Direct Debit and Bancontact.

• Google, Android

  2011 to 2017

  PM Lead, Android System UI and Android Device Ecosystem

  Led product for the core user experience of Android, an operating system used by over two billion people, across seven releases from Jelly Bean to Oreo. Coordinated UX with Samsung, LG, Huawei and Sony, and is a named inventor on three US patents from this work.

• Amazon, IMDb

  2009 to 2011

  Senior Product Manager

  Ran IMDb Pro and Box Office Mojo. Rebuilt the subscription product and grew subscriber revenue 30% year on year.

• Columbia Business School, M.B.A. in Finance and Management, 2002 to 2004 (Beta Gamma Sigma, Dean's List; President of InSITE)
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology, S.B. in Electrical Engineering & Computer Science, 1993 to 1997 (Executive Editor of The Tech; Sailing Team)
• Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, M.S., 1997 to 1998 (New Media Program)
• Stuyvesant High School

• US 9,182,889: Preventing Unintentional User Activation of User Interface Elements (issued Nov 2015)
• US 9,383,827: Multi-modal command display (issued Jul 2016)
• US 10,254,871: Using pressure sensor input to selectively route user inputs (issued Apr 2019)
• EP 3610349: Using pressure sensor input to selectively route user inputs (Jun 2022)

The three US patents come from Tom's work on Android at Google. The European patent is the counterpart of the third.

• Meta Connect 2025: introduced the Meta Wearables Device Access Toolkit on stage
• Meta's executive engagement programme, 2021 to 2026: regular presenter on wearables and AR strategy to executives from major European organisations
• VidCon London, 2019: YouTube Shopping
• VidCon, Los Angeles (more than once): YouTube Shopping
• YouTube Pop-Up Space Stockholm, 2018: creator monetisation
• Android OEM Partner Summit, Hong Kong, June 2017: keynote to 600+ partner attendees
• Android launch events, 2011 to 2017: onstage presenter