Principal Product Manager - Director Cloudera Data Warehouse (Hive / Impala)

Cloudera•Washington, DC

1d•Remote

About The Position

At Cloudera, we empower people to transform complex data into clear and actionable insights, serving as the preferred data partner for top companies across industries. Our Data Services Pillar is dedicated to building technology that empowers data practitioners by creating seamless, enterprise-grade experiences for data engineering, warehousing, streaming, operational databases, and AI. Cloudera is seeking an experienced Principal Product Manager (Individual Contributor) for its mission-critical Cloudera Data Warehouse (CDW) service. In this highly technical role, you will own our cloud-native data warehouse, driving the deep technical integration of Apache Iceberg with Apache Hive and Apache Impala virtual warehouses, orchestrated via Kubernetes across public and private cloud environments. You will lead the evolution toward a modern data lakehouse architecture, leveraging CDW’s decoupled design—Control Plane, Catalogs, and Virtual Warehouses—to deliver massive scalability, workload isolation, and automated optimization for enterprise ELT/ETL workflows. This position requires strong product vision, Kubernetes expertise, and a passion for simplifying complex systems for global enterprise users.

Requirements

8+ years as a Product Manager, with significant hands-on experience in distributed data platforms or cloud-native data services.
Deep, verifiable expertise in Kubernetes orchestration and the Apache Iceberg open table format.
Expert understanding of Hive/Impala and how they are used for enterprise ELT/ETL and analytical workloads.
Proven ability to write clear PRDs, build use cases/user stories, analyze customer patterns, and simplify complex technical solutions.
Experience managing products deployed across both Public Cloud and on-premises Private Cloud.
Strong technical acumen to credibly discuss the underlying Apache projects (like Hive, Impala, Ranger, Kafka, Iceberg).

Nice To Haves

MBA degree and prior experience in a Director of Product Management (individual contributor) role.

Responsibilities

Articulate and own the strategic direction for our core SQL engines, Apache Hive and Apache Impala for Cloudera Dare Warehouse (CDW) service.
Define the essential functions and capabilities required to serve distinct customer needs, from high-concurrency BI to complex ETL/ELT workloads.
Develop and maintain a prioritized product roadmap aligned with product strategy.
Make data-driven decisions on feature priorities, balancing customer needs, market trends, and technical debt.
Prioritize and define the features that enable advanced data lakehouse capabilities (e.g., schema evolution, time travel) with the latest Apache Iceberg versions across both Hive and Impala engines.
Ensure cross-engine compatibility and interoperability with other data services.
Direct the development of features for elasticity, cost optimization, and automated resource management across the hybrid cloud, ensuring cloud-native efficiency for the SQL engines.
Conduct continuous market research to understand the competitive landscape and identify new opportunities.
Serve as the primary conduit for customer feedback through direct engagements with field, customers and partners.
Define the product for a consistent experience across public clouds and private cloud/on-premises deployments, while addressing the unique requirements of each form factor.
Drive successful product launches by collaborating with Marketing, Sales, and Documentation teams.
Create compelling messaging and enable both internal teams and customers.
Define and track KPIs for the CDW service's success, including adoption and revenue.
Write clear, concise, and high-quality Product Requirement Documents (PRDs), create epics, and detailed user stories that define exactly what needs to be built.
Write requirements for APIs, security models, performance benchmarks, and deployment patterns (e.g., Kubernetes operators).
Work as a close partner with Engineering to understand and negotiate technical trade-offs, architecture decisions, and implementation complexity.
Collaborate with UX/Design to ensure that complex infrastructure and data management features are packaged into a simple, intuitive user experience.
Champion the Hybrid Cloud Data Lakehouse, serving as the senior product expert for CDW with customers, partners, and industry analysts.
Collaborate with project committers, contributing upstream to keep technologies like Apache Hive and Impala evolving.
Harden these engines for rock-solid security, optimize them for peak performance, and make them effortlessly run across all environments.