Head of Product, AI-Native Initiatives

Faros • San Mateo, CA

1d • Hybrid

About The Position

AI is rewriting how software gets built. The tools, workflows, and team structures that defined engineering for the last two decades are being rebuilt for a world where agents handle the volume, and humans set the direction. Faros has been in the middle of this shift from day one, partnering with the largest engineering organizations on the planet as they absorb it. Our existing platform gives engineering leaders the visibility and context they need to run top-performing teams in an AI-first world.
Now we are building a new product line that does not just measure AI engineering work, it does AI engineering work. A system where agents and humans work side by side to ship production-ready code, where humans stay meaningfully in the loop at every stage, and where outcomes are what get measured. This is the biggest bet we have placed as a company. We are looking for someone who wants to own it end-to-end.

Requirements

• 8+ years across product management and engineering combined, with meaningful time in a product leadership role.
• Startup experience strongly preferred.
• Shipped at least one product from a blank page to real customers and real revenue, and you can tell that story in detail, including what you would do differently if you ran it back.
• Have been an engineer at some point in your career, or your product work has been deeply technical enough that engineers respect your architectural instincts.
• Can read the code, have opinions on the system design, and can make the tradeoffs without outsourcing them.
• Do not want just to direct the work; want to be in it. Prototype. Write. Ship. And coach others around you to be better and more productive.
• Use modern AI tools aggressively to multiply your own output and your team's output.
• Not current tool mastery, but persistence, curiosity, and vision.
• Experiment with AI tools in and outside of work, do not give up when they fail, and can articulate where this industry is heading in the next few years and how teams should operate in it.
• Hold strong product convictions and will push back on a CEO, a customer, or a head of engineering when you think they are wrong.
• Take "you are wrong" with curiosity, not defensiveness or submission.
• Understand that great products drive business. Will be measured not just on shipping, but on customer satisfaction (CSAT) and our ability to convert Proof of Concepts (POCs) into successful, closed deals.
• Love solving puzzles. Happier with a hard, ambiguous problem than a clean, well-scoped one.
• Poke at edges, ask uncomfortable questions, and would rather find problems yourself than have them find you.
• Get restless when the work gets too comfortable.
• Based in or willing to relocate to the San Mateo area. May consider other West Coast locations in exceptional cases.

Nice To Haves

• Founded a company at some point, even if briefly, even if it did not work out.
• Domain experience in developer tools, engineering productivity, dev infrastructure, coding assistants, or agent platforms.
• Led a product at a Series A or Series B startup, not just in a large company.
• Worked on products where humans and AI agents collaborate on the same work, and have a point of view on what that should feel like.
• Seriously experimented with modern AI-native tools (Cursor, Claude Code, Codex, Devin, v0, Replit Agent, or equivalents) and have opinions on where each of them wins and loses.
• CS degree or equivalent engineering background.

Responsibilities

• Own a new product line end-to-end. Define the vision, pick the wedge, ship the first version, and carry it to product-market fit. Success is measured in customer outcomes (revenue generated, repeat engagement, high CSAT, etc.), not features shipped.
• Lead engineering directly. You are the engineering manager for this team on day one. You will partner with the tech lead for this product, set direction with your senior ICs, run the cadence, raise the bar on what we ship, and grow the team past six into whatever shape the product needs.
• Prototype and ship yourself. Modern AI tools have rewritten what a single operator can do. We expect you to take full advantage. Prototype ideas in code, spin up demos, put working software in front of customers fast. If you have not touched a codebase in years, this role will feel off.
• Make the hard technical tradeoffs. Agentic systems force daily decisions across quality, latency, cost, reliability, and user trust. You will own those tradeoffs and be able to explain them to your team, your customers, and our CEO.
• Design for human-in-the-loop agentic systems. This product sits at the edge of what AI can do today. Every design decision has to account for where agents are strong, where they fail, what the Faros context brings to the table, and how humans stay meaningfully in the loop without becoming the bottleneck.
• Partner across the PDE triad. Product, Engineering, and Design are equal peers at Faros. Your design counterpart will co-own the experience. Your tech lead will be your technical architecture collaborator. You will maintain a distinct, unapologetic product voice in every conversation.
• Work directly with customer teams. The earliest version will ship alongside design partners, not be sold in. You will be in their rooms, learning what customers actually need and translating it back into the product.
• Shape the commercial model. Partner with our Heads of Sales and Marketing on pricing, packaging, and go-to-market for this product line. You will carry a shared revenue target with them and influence how new commercial models take shape, while they own the final call on commercial terms.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Entry Level
• Education Level: No Education Listed
• Number of Employees: 1-10 employees