Principal, Product Manager

Confluent
US
RemoteCareer-pivot friendly

Who this role is best for

Aimed at senior product managers with deep technical expertise in distributed systems and cloud, comfortable with ambiguous domains and multi-year strategy.

Best fit for

  • Senior product leaders who thrive in ambiguous technical domains and drive multi-year strategies.
    — “ambiguous and technical domain that requires a seasoned leader
  • Technical product managers with hands-on experience in distributed systems and cloud data products.
    — “Deep technical expertise in distributed systems, data engineering, and cloud
  • Product strategists who can align multiple stakeholders and scale products from early adoption to revenue.
    — “Experience leading product development across the entire lifecycle

Things to consider

  • Must operate independently in a high-leverage individual contributor role without direct reports.
    — “high-leverage Individual Contributor position
  • Requires 10+ years of product management experience in technical software or cloud services.
    — “10+ years of experience in product management

How to stand out

  • Highlight specific examples of 0-to-1 product opportunities you identified and executed.
    — “Identify high-leverage, 0-to-1 product opportunities
  • Demonstrate your ability to translate complex systems into clear product strategy.
    — “translate complex systems into clear strategy
  • Showcase hands-on technical skills like systems design and API development.
    — “comfort with systems design, API design
Pace · Fast PacedCollaboration · HighAutonomy · HighDecision Impact · CompanyLevel · Principal

Derived from job-description analysis by Serendipath's career intelligence engine.

What success looks like

  • defined product strategy
  • executed multi-year roadmap
Typical background
product managementsoftware engineering

Skills & requirements

Required

Product StrategyCloud Data ProductsDistributed Systems

Preferred

Open-source SoftwareAi/ml Platforms

Stack & domain

Distributed SystemsData EngineeringCloudApache FlinkKafkaFlinkSparkPythonJavaScalaSQLLeadershipCommunicationData StreamingAIData WarehousingEvent-driven Applications

About the role

Original posting from Confluent via Ashby

We’re not just building better tech. We’re rewriting how data moves and what the world can do with it. With Confluent, data doesn’t sit still. Our platform puts information in motion, streaming in near real-time so companies can react faster, build smarter, and deliver experiences as dynamic as the world around them.

It takes a certain kind of person to join this team. Those who ask hard questions, give honest feedback, and show up for each other. No egos, no solo acts. Just smart, curious humans pushing toward something bigger, together.

One Confluent. One Team. One Data Streaming Platform.

ABOUT THE ROLE:

This Principal Product Manager role is a high-leverage Individual Contributor position responsible for the complete product strategy and execution for Apache Flink across Confluent Cloud and Platform. This is an ambiguous and technical domain that requires a seasoned leader who can build durable platform capabilities, translate complex systems into clear strategy, and operate independently.

WHAT YOU WILL DO:

  • Define and drive the multi-year product strategy and roadmap for Apache Flink across cloud and on-prem products.
  • Establish structured processes to align product, engineering, GTM, and executive stakeholders.
  • Identify high-leverage, 0-to-1 product opportunities for Flink and in adjacent areas like AI, data engineering, data warehousing, and event-driven applications.
  • Define how Confluent Flink offerings will work across Confluent and IBM product portfolio.

WHAT YOU WILL BRING:

  • Proven ability to own and deliver product strategy for complex cloud data products for customers ranging from data engineers to software developers.
  • Deep technical expertise in distributed systems, data engineering, and cloud. Domain expertise in streaming technologies such as Kafka, Flink, or Spark is a plus but not required.
  • Experience leading product development across the entire lifecycle, scaling businesses from early product-market fit to substantial revenue.
  • 10+ years of experience in product management for a technical software or cloud service product.

WHAT GIVES YOU AN EDGE:

  • Hands-on engineering or technical background, including comfort with systems design, API design, and several languages (e.g., Python, Java, Scala, SQL, etc.).
  • Experience with open-source software and determining commercialization strategy while building the community.
  • Track record in data infrastructure, analytics, AI/ML platforms, real-time systems, or streaming systems, especially where the product serves customers with a diversity of technical depth.

READY TO BUILD WHAT'S NEXT? LET’S GET IN MOTION.

COME AS YOU ARE

Belonging isn’t a perk here. It’s the baseline. We work across time zones and backgrounds, knowing the best ideas come from different perspectives. And we make space for everyone to lead, grow, and challenge what’s possible.

We’re proud to be an equal opportunity workplace. Employment decisions are based on job-related criteria, without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, veteran status, or any other classification protected by law.

PRIVACY STATEMENT

Confluent is an IBM subsidiary which has been acquired by IBM and will be integrated into the IBM organization. By proceeding with this application, you understand that Confluent will share your personal information with other IBM affiliates involved in your recruitment process, wherever these are located. More Information on how IBM protects your personal information, including the safeguards in case of cross-border data transfer, are available here http://ibm.com/careers/us-en/privacy-policy/.

Source: Confluent careers (Ashby)

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