Product Manager, Platform Tools

Job description

ABOUT COLUMN For companies building financial technology and transforming the financial services space, the biggest bottleneck to their growth and innovation is often the underlying banks and infrastructure stack they rely on. We have spent our careers founding and scaling companies like Plaid, Square, Meta, Blend, and Affirm, and have seen this problem firsthand — builders and developers needing to partner with traditional banks, and creating API and abstraction layers over the patchwork that is the bank, its core, and many other vendors. All of this results in a complex (and often expensive) banking supply chain involving a user, fintech, BaaS middleware provider, bank, core and the Federal Reserve. At Column, we set out to simplify and fix this. We are a bank and a software company built from the ground up, offering builders and developers technology-forward banking solutions that cut out the hundreds of vendors, middleware providers, and abstraction layers. This means a safer, more transparent, and less costly banking supply chain. Come build with us! THE OPPORTUNITY Column moves over $4 trillion a year for some of the most sophisticated fintechs and financial institutions in the world. In this role, you’ll be the person who makes sure that volume stays safe — and you'll be the first Product Manager Column has ever hired to do it. There's no existing roadmap to inherit, no legacy backlog, no "how we've always done it." You’ll be defining what product management looks like at Column, starting with one of the most consequential challenges the company is facing: turning risk from a manual, tribal-knowledge function into a real internal product — the infrastructure that lets Column say yes to more volume, more partners, and more markets without opening the door to fraudsters, criminal networks, or state adversaries. What you build will have a direct impact on Column’s growth trajectory and how fast we can move as a business. This role will live within our Product & Engineering org and is based in-person at our Presidio office in San Francisco (3-4 days a week). WHAT YOU’LL DO - Own the roadmap for a brand-new Risk platform at Column, turning a vision into a shipped product. Right now, "how do we know something's wrong" mostly lives in spreadsheets and in people's heads — you design what the productized version of that looks like, and build it. - Figure out the best way to weave AI into the platform. Some of the most sensitive, risk-related judgment calls at Column (e.g., is this transaction fine, or the first sign of something bigger?) are made by hand today. You decide which of those calls a machine should make, and which should always stay human. - Work directly with our Founder/CEO, General Counsel, and Chief Compliance Officer to understand user needs and define product requirements, while pulling in direct feedback from cross-functional stakeholders across Column. - Write the specs and PRDs that you and Column’s Engineering team will use to bring the product to life - jump in yourself to push PRs and features where you can. - Define the metrics that prove the platform is working, and use them to inform what gets built next. - Grow this from an internal platform into an external product that our customers can plug into to level up their own risk operations, turning something that protects Column today into something that protects every business built on top of it. WHAT YOU’LL NEED TO BE SUCCESSFUL - 4+ years in a high agency, fast moving role. Examples could be product management or an adjacent role at a high-growth startup or tech company, top-tier management consulting firm, or investment firm. - A track record of taking a messy, undefined problem and turning it into something that actually shipped — not just a plan for it - Ability to get technical very quickly. While we don’t expect you to be a CS major, you should feel comfortable in the terminal, using Claude code or similar tools, and understanding how to architect solutions out yourself. - Strong analytical instincts — comfortable working with data, metrics, and operational details at a granular level. - Scrappy, roll-up-your-sleeves attitude with zero ego when it comes to getting your hands dirty to build a product - Familiarity with banking and fintech preferred, but not required — genuine curiosity about becoming an expert in this space, however, is a must WHAT YOU'LL GET FROM US - 🏥 Comprehensive health, dental, and vision plans, including options that are 100% covered by Column for you and 100% covered for your dependents! - 🐣 Comprehensive family planning and fertility benefits via partnership with Carrot, including reimbursement of up to $20,000 in qualified expenses - 🏡 Up to $2,000 (post-tax) monthly rent subsidy for employees living within 2 miles of Column’s office - 💳 FSA and HSA account options to enable use of pre-tax money for medical and dependent care expenses - 📈 401k plan, including self-directed brokerage options - 🌴 Flexible time-off policy - take the time off that you want and need to relax and recharge - 👶 100% paid parental leave, including 16 weeks for birth mothers, 12 weeks for primary caregivers, and 8 weeks for secondary caregivers - 😇 Up to $4,500 in annual reimbursements for backup childcare - 🍽️ Catered lunches and dinners for SF employees - 🚆 Commuter benefits, including paid transportation to-and-from the office - 🎉 Regular team building events, including annual offsite PAY TRANSPARENCY Compensation packages at Column include base salary, equity, and benefits. New hire offers are made based on a candidate's experience, expertise, geographic location, and internal pay equity relative to peers. The annual base salary range for this position is $140,000 - $220,000 + equity. WE LOOK FORWARD TO HEARING FROM YOU Column is committed to working with the best and brightest people from the broadest talent pool possible. We value bringing together a team with different perspectives, educational backgrounds, and life experiences, and believe a diversity of ideas is what allows us to develop the best solutions. All qualified individuals are encouraged to apply. If you need assistance or a reasonable accommodation during the application and recruiting process, please reach out to accommodations@column.com. We participate in the E-Verify program in certain locations as required by law. Learn more about the E-Verify program here https://e-verify.gov.