Principal Product Manager

F5•San Jose, CA

8d•Hybrid

About The Position

At F5, we strive to bring a better digital world to life. Our teams empower organizations across the globe to create, secure, and run applications that enhance how we experience our evolving digital world. We are passionate about cybersecurity, from protecting consumers from fraud to enabling companies to focus on innovation. Everything we do centers around people. That means we obsess over how to make the lives of our customers, and their customers, better. And it means we prioritize a diverse F5 community where each individual can thrive. Who We Are At F5, we help organizations deliver and secure extraordinary digital experiences by building and supporting solutions that enable the modern, adaptive applications customers rely on. Our Application Delivery and Security Platform (ADSP) powers complex infrastructures across a wide range of industries, from SMBs to global enterprises, by meeting their unique operational and security needs. As part of the broader F5 family, NGINX plays a pivotal role in enabling organizations to build high-performing, scalable application delivery architectures. Widely trusted as one of the most used open-source technologies, NGINX enables developers to build, deploy, and scale modern applications with confidence. We are seeking a Principal Product Manager to join us on this journey and play a critical role in shaping the future of NGINX and its position within the Application Delivery and Security Platform. The Role As Principal Product Manager for NGINX, you’ll be a key player in shaping how NGINX grows. Working side-by-side with the Director of Product Management, you’ll help shape and execute the NGINX product vision. Your influence will extend across refining market approaches, finding creative ways to grow revenue, and building strong connections within the open-source community. You’ll also be instrumental in accelerating the adoption of cloud-native architectures, making sure our products keep up with the latest industry trends and truly meet our customers’ needs. To thrive in this role, you should be someone who enjoys solving complex technical problems and pays close attention to details. You’ll work at the intersection of open-source technology and modern application environments like Kubernetes, bringing together people from different teams—including Technical Product Managers—to deliver solutions that matter. If you’re excited about leading change, collaborating with others, and making a real impact on customers and the wider tech community, we’d love to hear from you.

Requirements

10+ years of product management experience in the software industry, including a combination of on-premise, installed, and deployable software.
Strong customer orientation with the ability to listen, organize and champion key initiatives and projects for product development.
Proven experience driving global products with a customer base that ranges from SMBs to enterprise-scale organizations.
Expertise in cloud-native architectures and tools, including Kubernetes, Docker, Helm, API gateways, and AWS.
Experience defining and monetizing products, with proficiency in subscription, licensing, and open-source business models.
Deep knowledge of Developer Operations (DevOps) and application development, with an understanding of developer workflows and tooling.
Experience fostering and engaging developer communities, particularly in the open-source space.
Background working with or competing against technologies such as NGINX (experience with NGINX Plus or Open Source is a plus) and related platforms like Envoy, HAProxy, or Traefik.
Deep understanding of web traffic and application infrastructure, technical understanding of modern web standards, protocols and how their use derives value for customers. DNS/HTTP/TLS, WAF/WAAP/authN/Z security technologies, and CI/CD
Demonstrated success managing mature products, balancing innovation with maintenance.
Exceptional collaboration and leadership skills, with a proven ability to mentor and lead diverse teams.
Willingness to travel up to 20%

Responsibilities

Refine and articulate a clear product vision and strategy for NGINX Open Source and Plus, ensuring alignment with market trends, customer needs, and organizational objectives.
Develop and maintain detailed product roadmaps, collaborating with stakeholders to prioritize initiatives and drive execution.
Partner with marketing and sales teams to position NGINX as a key component of F5’s Application Delivery and Security Platform (ADSP), crafting compelling narratives for both enterprise and SMB audiences.
Influence and inform monetization strategy, identifying opportunities for scalable business models and aligning product direction with revenue goals.
Collaborate with Technical Product Managers and engineering teams to deliver developer-centric solutions, ensuring feasibility and technical depth.
Build meaningful relationships within the NGINX open source community, fostering engagement, extracting insights, and driving growth.
Ensuring alignment with cloud native ecosystems, technologies like Kubernetes, cloud-native tools, and DevOps workflows.
Mentor team members within the product management organization, supporting professional development and championing collaborative best practices.
Act as a trusted advisor to the Director of Product Management, contributing strategic insights and product recommendations.
Define and track relevant KPIs and success metrics for product outcomes and community engagement, iterating strategies based on product data.