Product People
We help companies discover and deliver great products faster.
Product People provides Interim Product Management services for parental leaves or slow hiring. We do the unglamorous hands-on work of a Product Manager/Owner or Product Leader on an interim/fractional basis at ~100 different companies per year. We serve clients only via our in-house Product Managers who onboard fast, align teams, and deliver outcomes. Clients include Zalando, DeepL, Ecosia and the World Health Organization (WHO).
About The Role
Help Product People be category-defining in the consulting space. When people think of electric cars, they think of Tesla. For music, it’s Spotify. When thinking about Product Management, they should think of Product People. You’ll own or contribute to initiatives to lead us there: playbooks, product management knowledge sharing, networking, process automation, etc.
- Support Senior Product Management Consultants who serve as Interims. Our clients are usually post-product market-fit from series B to publicly listed.
- You’ll be supporting the client-facing PMs who drive complex cross-functional initiatives in B2C or B2B products. It can be anything from setting and reaching quarterly OKRs at a scale-up to Continuous Discovery/Jobs To Be Done (JTBD) or A/B tests elsewhere.
- Solve for the clients and our company. Prioritize, zoom in and out. Make an incredible impact, bring clarity in chaos, and orchestrate flawless execution.
- Support the client-facing PMs to manage discovery and delivery for at least three parallel streams (internally and externally).
- You are good at unglamorous hands-on work and strategy. You understand how deep or wide you need to go when that’s the case and when it’s not.
- Effectively manage various groups consisting of strong personalities. Help the client-facing PMs adapt to their communication preferences.
- Integrate quickly and feel part of any team in days, not weeks. People love working with you and would work with you again despite you saying “no” to them a lot.
- Always come off as friendly, helpful, and accommodating, even when pushing back on irrational demands.
- Rinse and repeat. Go on a new mission with a new client or in a new team, new domain, new product, or initiative every 3-6 months.
- Continue sharpening your edge and actively helping Product People’s internal initiatives.
About You
- You like fixing the mess. Like Marie Kondo, we come in when there’s a mess. People go to the doctor too late; clients bring externals when they are in pain. And very few do preventive care. Create structure from chaos, and you’ll find these adventures exciting while having the time of your life.
- Driven, collaborative, and kind. People would leave higher-paying jobs at larger companies to work with you again. Clients you work with recommend us to other clients. You influence everyone with your pragmatic, kind, and effective style.
- High cognitive flexibility. In most cases, you’ll need to absorb a lot of knowledge and new ways of working within a few days. And we won’t have all our clients’ context on internal priorities and politics. You’ll be surprised often, especially since clients are not always the most organized.
- Optimism as an Operating System. You have a relatively high happiness set point. You are rarely rattled and handle high-pressure situations with timely, composed, and candid reactions. Our job is “humans all the way down” – no client wants to bring in a pessimistic, cynical, or attacking consultant.
- Direct feedback and open communication. We give timely, kind, and immediate feedback to help each other grow and do excellent work for our clients. We expect that you give/accept it graciously, learn and adapt quickly.
What Makes Us Special
- 4 day week or four day week
- Accelerated personal and career growth. See behind the curtain of Europe’s most exciting companies, from series B to publicly listed—10x your learning and network by working on many digital products, both B2B and B2C.
- Amazing culture. We have a supportive, high-performance, and open culture. It starts with onboarding you well. We hire and retain the best people living our values while counseling to leave those happier elsewhere. We share knowledge generously while being excellent and candid with each other. We encourage the best calendar practices with efficient 15-minute meetings, blocks for focus time, and meeting-free Fridays.
- Distributed-first. We work remotely and meet in person every 6 months for a weeklong team retreat in a great location. Team members from the same city/country meet every 1-3 months to co-work and expense the lunch/dinner.
- Germany Relocation after 24+ months (optional). We sponsor a relocation to Berlin, Germany for team members at L4+ levels who’ve been with our firm for at least 24 months. Should you decide to relocate on your own before being eligible for our support, we will only be able to change your work contract to the German one after you have your visa and paperwork in order.
- Sabbaticals. Take 1-3 months of unpaid leave anytime; we’ll cover your health insurance. And you get an extra paid month off every 3 years of tenure.
Compensation
Based on location tax of residence and level. The exact level is defined based on the skills and knowledge demonstrated within the hiring process, which includes unbiased blind review (more about our hiring process). People with prior work experience tend to get leveled as L3. To ensure fairness, the salaries are the same for everyone within the same Level and Location Tier.
- Associate Product Management Consultant II (L3)
- Location Cluster 1 (High cost of living countries: Germany, Netherlands, etc.) €46,000/year
- Location Cluster 2 (EU countries, medium cost of living: Spain, Portugal, etc.) €32,200/year
- Location Cluster 3 (Non-EU, lower cost of living: South Africa, Pakistan, etc.) €25,000/year
- Associate Product Management Consultant I (L2)
- Location Cluster 1 (High cost of living countries: Germany, Netherlands, etc.) €32,200/year
- Location Cluster 2 (EU countries, medium cost of living: Spain, Portugal, etc.) €22,500/year
- Location Cluster 3 (Non-EU, lower cost of living: South Africa, Pakistan, etc.) €17,500/year
- Tenure-Based Compensation Increase. A 5% increase after 12 months and a 10% increase after 24 months of tenure. Resets and restarts when promoted to the next level.
- Uncapped bonuses (quarterly) We usually pay ~€25,000/quarter in bonuses to team members. These are transparently shared across our organization. (e.g., €3,000 employee referral, €1,000 client expansion, €1,000 when a client returns, etc.). To be eligible the team member must be at Product People at the end of the quarter, and not pending an exit (resignation, termination, counsel to leave).
- Profit participation (yearly). In March, we split a % of last year’s profit between all eligible employees with 12+ months of tenure at the time of the payout and not pending an exit (resignation, termination, counsel to leave).
- Compensation increases when promoted. People are promoted out of the Associate role into Product Management Consultant within 12 to 18 months. Base compensation for that level is 35-45% higher because it’s a revenue-generating (billable) role.
Growth Opportunities
- Measurement of success. We prioritize continuous growth and feedback. Regular performance appraisals are led by line managers and VP/Director of Product and involve monthly reviews of a 3-month development plan focusing on skill growth. Evaluations encompass 360 feedback, client feedback in conjunction with internal reviews, direct observations by managers, and adherence to Product People Leveling Expectations.
- Promotions. To be promoted, meet the role’s tenure criteria, demonstrate performance at the next level for 6 months, and submit an approved promotion case. We have a strong track record of promoting people from within and taking team members from Associate to Product Manager or from Senior to Director of Product during their successful tenures at Product People.
- Continuous learning. Continuous learning is at our core. Embracing “Spread knowledge generously,” we foster growth through weekly Sharing and Rubber Ducky sessions, a dedicated #help channel, and promoting peer mentorship. These opportunities complement the structured mentoring from line managers and mission supervisors in the Product People Trio framework. We also offer a Learning Budget to expand your Product Management knowledge.
For more detailed information about our culture, ways of working, transparent salaries, and career track, please visit our Prospective Candidate FAQs. See the Interview Guide for tips.
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