Product Manager, Tailscale-Native Apps
About The Position
Tailscale is seeking a Product Manager to lead the development of Tailscale-native applications, which are software solutions with integrated Tailscale connectivity and identity from the outset. This role will focus on TSNet, a Go library for embedding Tailscale into applications, the tailscale-rs SDK family (including C++, Python, and Elixir), the tailscale CLI for automation, and the core Tailscale client library. The goal is to simplify the process of embedding Tailscale into applications, making it a seamless and standard outcome for developers. Currently, this process is engineering-led with some friction in areas like authentication, onboarding, documentation, and examples. The Product Manager will be responsible for defining the end-to-end developer journey, establishing golden paths, reference patterns, APIs, and overall developer experience to ensure a smooth integration process. The role involves working closely with engineering teams, internal product teams, and external partners. The Product Manager will report to Ross Kukulinski, VP Product.
Requirements
- 6+ years in product management, or a software engineering background moving into product, with real time spent on a developer-facing product: an SDK, API, CLI, library, or developer tool
- You've shipped developer-facing features that developers used in production, and lived with the consequences of your design choices — naming, defaults, error behavior, versioning
- You can read Go and/or Rust and hold a credible technical conversation about API and SDK design
- You have taste in developer experience: opinions about API ergonomics, docs, error messages, and getting-started flows, with examples to back them up
- You do customer research the way developer products require it — reading GitHub issues, lurking in Discord, running office hours, and finding the pattern in the noise
- You turn ambiguous scope into shipped increments, close the loop after launch, and keep teams informed along the way
Nice To Haves
- Hands-on Go or Rust experience — you've built something real, even as a side project
- Time at a developer platform company with a strong SDK motion (e.g. Stripe, Twilio, Auth0, Vercel, Supabase, HashiCorp)
- Open-source community experience: contributor experience, issue triage, balancing commercial priorities with community needs
- Enough networking, zero-trust, or VPN familiarity to understand what embedding Tailscale does for a developer
- Experience designing CLIs or scripting surfaces for platform and SRE teams
- Public technical writing, talks, OSS contributions, or developer-tooling side projects
- LLMs and coding agents as part of your daily product workflow
Responsibilities
- Own the roadmap for the native apps experience: TSNet, tailscale-rs, and the tailscale CLI
- Define what "Tailscale-native application" means — the reference architectures, golden paths, and embedding patterns, packaged as docs, examples, and sample apps developers can build from
- Own the developer experience end to end: the on-ramp from blog post to running embedded node, API ergonomics, error messages, docs that work, examples that compile, and upgrade paths that don't burn early adopters
- Set the Rust SDK family strategy: which TSNet capabilities to port, which to skip, in what order, and how to position the library to developers.
- Treat the CLI as a product in its own right: scripting ergonomics, output conventions, automation surfaces, and the experience for platform and SRE teams running tailscale in CI and infrastructure-as-code
- Run the internal dogfood loop. Aperture and Tailscale PAM are built on these primitives; make those teams your most demanding customers and turn their friction into roadmap.
- Partner with GTM and Customer Success on embedding deals — AI platforms, developer tools, and infrastructure software shipping Tailscale inside their products — and let what you learn set priorities
- Engage developers where they live (GitHub issues, Discord, office hours) and build a coherent picture of what embedded developers need
Benefits
- Base salary
- Equity incentive plan
- Variable commission (for quota-based roles)
- Comprehensive group benefits with no waiting period (health, vision, dental, and more for you and your family)
- Remote first company with flexibility in work location
- Virtual and in-person social events
- Corporate co-working program access
- Employer-funded retirement contributions (Tailscale will match retirement contributions dollar-for-dollar, up to 0.75% of eligible compensation)
- Annual company retreat
- Team off-sites
- Support for intentional in-person connection through team travel
- Annual professional development budget ($1500 USD)
- Mentorship, coaching, and internal promotion opportunities
- Flexible, paid time off program
- Build-your-own home office setup (company-owned laptop, monthly home internet reimbursement, $500 USD for workstation customization)
- Paid parental leave program (20 weeks for birthing parents, 16 weeks for non-birthing parents)
- Accessible and inclusive hiring process with accommodation support
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Senior
Education Level
No Education Listed
