Staff Software Engineer, AI/ML

DigitalOcean•Seattle, WA

12h•Hybrid

About The Position

Dive in and do the best work of your career at DigitalOcean. Journey alongside a strong community of top talent who are relentless in their drive to build the simplest scalable cloud. If you have a growth mindset, naturally like to think big and bold, and are energized by the fast-paced environment of a true industry disruptor, you’ll find your place here. We value winning together—while learning, having fun, and making a profound difference for the dreamers and builders in the world. We are looking for a Staff Product Manager to own the strategic vision, development, and execution of DigitalOcean's Data and AI platform. This is a high-impact, high-ownership role: you will define what we build, shape how we go to market, and drive the roadmap for our next-generation data infrastructure — a foundation that powers everything from traditional analytics to modern AI-driven applications at scale. Data platforms have fundamentally changed. They are no longer just for reporting — they are the source of truth for AI agents, the home for vector embeddings, and the foundation for RAG-based knowledge bases. As Staff PM, you will own the core product strategy at this intersection, shaping how DigitalOcean develops, prices, and positions its data offerings as customer demand evolves toward vector databases, knowledge bases, a semantic layer for consistent metrics across agents and human interactions, and integrated AI capabilities. You will operate at the intersection of customer needs, market realities, and complex technical execution — bridging Engineering, Infrastructure, and Go-to-Market teams to ship products customers trust in production.

Requirements

7+ years of product management experience with a focus on cloud-native data platforms, managed databases, or large-scale analytics infrastructure.
Proven expertise in the full lifecycle of data or AI products — from concept and pricing through large-scale deployment.
Deep technical fluency in modern data patterns: vector embeddings, knowledge bases, SQL-based analytics, data lake architectures (Iceberg), and the emerging AI agent ecosystem (MCP).
Demonstrated ability to communicate strategic decisions to C-level executives and build alignment across diverse technical and business stakeholders.
Demonstrated ability to present complex technical and strategic topics to diverse audiences, including industry conferences and executive stakeholders.
Strong analytical background with experience in capacity planning, scaling economics, and competitive pricing models for cloud services.
High ownership mindset with a track record of navigating complex technical constraints to deliver measurable customer value.
Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field — or equivalent practical experience building technical products.

Responsibilities

Define and drive the multi-year product strategy and roadmap for DigitalOcean's Data and AI portfolio, spanning traditional analytics through modern AI-driven infrastructure.
Lead development of next-generation data primitives — including vector databases, knowledge bases, MCP integrations, and open table formats like Apache Iceberg — to power RAG workflows and agentic long-term memory.
Conduct deep market and competitive analysis to shape pricing, positioning, and go-to-market strategies in a rapidly evolving AI landscape.
Collaborate cross-functionally with Engineering, Infrastructure, and Capacity Planning to deliver scalable, reliable data solutions that customers rely on for production workloads.
Serve as the voice of the customer, gathering feedback to prioritize features that reduce operational complexity across the full data product lifecycle.
Define and track key performance metrics — utilization, reliability, deployment velocity — to evaluate product success and guide roadmap decisions.