Head of Product Job Description Template

The head of product owns what the company builds, which at an early stage company means doing product management personally as well as setting direction. The role covers customer discovery, roadmap, prioritization and usually a good deal of the go to market thinking. It is a job that demands decisiveness with incomplete information, since waiting for certainty is usually the more expensive option.

Typical Duties and Responsibilities

• Own the product vision, strategy and roadmap
• Conduct customer discovery and translate it into direction
• Prioritize ruthlessly against limited engineering capacity
• Write specifications and work closely with engineering on delivery
• Define and track the metrics that indicate progress
• Support go to market including positioning and launch
• Build the product function as the company grows
• Work directly with customers and prospects
• Represent product direction to investors and the board
• Decide what the company will not do

Education

• Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field

Required Skills and Experience

• 6+ years in product with ownership of meaningful outcomes
• Willingness to do the work personally as well as set direction
• Strong customer discovery practice
• Ability to prioritize decisively with limited resources
• Analytical capability and comfort with ambiguity
• Excellent written communication
• Close working relationship with engineering
• Commercial understanding of the business model

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience at an early stage company
• Domain expertise in the relevant market