Principal Product Manager, Careers

Handshake • San Francisco, CA

4d

About The Position

As a Senior Product Manager on the Careers team, you'll own the full early-funnel experience—from the moment a user first discovers Handshake to the point where they're genuinely active and finding value on the platform. That means leading both acquisition and activation: bringing millions of early-career professionals into our community and ensuring they reach their "aha moment" as quickly as possible.
This role is built for a seasoned product leader who has been in the arena—someone who has scaled consumer products, navigated ambiguity at pace, and developed strong intuitions about what makes people come back. You'll bring a creative edge and a bias toward action, while maintaining the analytical rigor needed to make high-stakes decisions confidently. You'll define the roadmap, run high-velocity experiments, and partner across engineering, design, marketing, and data to build the growth engines that power Handshake's next chapter.

Requirements

• 7+ years of product management experience, with the majority in consumer-facing roles at scale
• Deep expertise in both acquisition and activation—you've owned the full early funnel and have the results to show for it
• Experience building and scaling consumer products with millions of active users, ideally in social, marketplace, or network-driven environments
• Expert-level fluency with data—for goal setting, decisioning, and rapid iteration—paired with strong product intuition built from years of watching users behave in unexpected ways
• A proven track record running statistically rigorous experiments, with the discipline to kill ideas that don't work and the conviction to double down on ones that do
• Strong cross-functional leadership, having worked as a true partner to engineering, design, data, and marketing—not just a coordinator
• Executive-level communication skills, including the ability to frame complex tradeoffs and present with clarity and conviction to senior leadership

Nice To Haves

• Direct experience at high-growth consumer tech companies
• Mobile-first product experience in fast-moving, user-centric environments
• Hands-on expertise in top-of-funnel tactics: SEO/content, referral and viral loops, paid channels, registration optimization, and partnerships
• Familiarity with product-led growth, network effects, or multi-sided platform dynamics
• A genuine passion for early-career audiences, the future of work, or the intersection of AI and human potential

Responsibilities

• Acquisition Strategy. Define and own the roadmap for bringing new users to Handshake—across SEO, content, social, referral, influencer, paid, and partnership channels. Identify what's working, double down fast, and never stop looking for the next unlocked channel.
• Activation & Onboarding. Own the experience from sign-up through first meaningful engagement. Design and optimize onboarding flows that reduce friction, drive habit formation, and get users to value faster—because growth without activation is just churn waiting to happen.
• Experimentation at Velocity. Lead a high-cadence experimentation program across landing pages, onboarding sequences, viral mechanics, and conversion touchpoints. Build a culture of fast learning—clear hypotheses, clean analysis, rapid iteration.
• Referral & Viral Mechanics. Design and scale referral programs, invite networks, ambassador initiatives, and viral loops that turn satisfied users into Handshake's most effective growth channel.
• Cross-Functional Leadership. Partner closely with performance marketing, brand, content, data science, and product engineering to align on goals, move with urgency, and hold each other accountable to outcomes.
• Analytics & Measurement. Own the metrics that matter—CAC, CTR, CVR, activation rate, LTV—and build the dashboards and feedback loops that keep the team oriented around impact.

Benefits

• Ownership: Equity in a fast-growing company
• Financial Wellness: 401(k) match, competitive compensation, financial coaching
• Family Support: Paid parental leave, fertility benefits, parental coaching
• Wellbeing: Medical, dental, and vision, mental health support, $500 wellness stipend
• Growth: $2,000 learning stipend, ongoing development
• Remote & Office: Internet, commuting, and free lunch/gym in our SF office
• Time Off: Flexible PTO, 15 holidays + 2 flex days
• Connection: Team outings & referral bonuses

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Education Level: No Education Listed