Senior Product Manager

Job description

ABOUT PAYSCALE Payscale is the pioneer of compensation intelligence, helping organizations make smarter pay decisions that drive business performance. For more than 20 years, Payscale has combined trusted market data with AI-powered technology to deliver actionable insights that turn pay from a cost into a catalyst for growth. The Payscale Intelligence Cloud portfolio of solutions — Ascent, JobNav, and Paycycle — empower top companies and businesses like Cintas, Leidos, Chipotle, Ohio State University, and TJX Companies. Create confidence in your compensation. Payscale. To learn more, visit www.payscale.com http://www.payscale.com. Job Summary Reporting to the Senior Director of Product Management, we're looking for a strategic, customer-obsessed Senior Product Manager to own a core area of our compensation benchmarking product and shape how we bring it to market. This is an expert-level role for a PM who has mastered the fundamentals and is ready to operate at a higher altitude: owning the roadmap, directing AI-assisted delivery, and raising the bar for how the team builds. You will own the strategy and roadmap for your product area, turning customer needs and business priorities into a clear plan of action, and partner closely with engineering, data science, and design to bring that vision to life and turn it into business success. The ideal candidate brings sharp product judgment, a track record of shipping products that move the business, and the technical fluency to direct AI-assisted development and partner as an equal with engineering. You know how to use AI, not as a shortcut, but as a strategic lever that makes your roadmap sharper and your team more scalable. What You'll Do - Product Strategy and Roadmap Ownership: Own the strategy and roadmap for your product area, connecting customer needs, market trends, and business priorities into a clear, prioritized plan the business can build against. - AI-Directed Development and Prototyping: Rapidly prototype and validate new product concepts using AI-assisted tools, moving from idea to a working proof of concept faster than a traditional spec-first process. Build functional prototypes and partner with engineering as they shape them into production-ready features. - Cross-Functional Delivery Leadership: Work closely with engineering, data science, and other partners to understand problems, capture new ideas, and manage a prioritized backlog. Hold the engineering team accountable for scope, goals, and timelines, and step in as Product Owner for scrum teams when needed. - Business Case and Prioritization: Assess value, build the case, and prioritize stories, epics, and themes so the team's effort stays focused on what matters most and stays aligned with product strategy. - Stakeholder Alignment and Communication: Align stakeholders on priorities and relative investment across feature development, and own communication around feature plans and delivery so nothing gets lost between teams. - Market and Competitive Intelligence: Establish and maintain current knowledge of competitive positioning, feature sets, and messaging, and use that intelligence to sharpen your own roadmap decisions. - Packaging and Go-to-Market Strategy: Shape packaging and positioning strategy for Payscale's platform and products, partnering with product marketing to bring new capabilities to market. What We're Looking For - 5+ years of experience as a technical Product Manager or Product Owner, ideally building software in the data or analytics space. - Demonstrated track record defining product strategy and establishing clear product principles. - Experience driving cross-functional product initiatives that produced clear user and business outcomes. - Hands-on experience using AI-assisted development or prototyping tools (for example, Claude, Cursor, or v0) to build and test product concepts quickly. - Comfort operating with less upfront documentation, favoring working prototypes and iterative validation over detailed specs and mockups. - Strong technical fluency in data and analytic platforms, with the ability to communicate effectively with engineers, architects, and scientists. - Superior project management skills and the ability to lead a team toward a common goal. - Excellent communication and presentation skills, with the ability to clearly articulate complex ideas and business cases to any audience. - Demonstrated market success managing existing products and optimizing their performance. - Experience with HR technology or Total Rewards is a plus. Location Payscale Romania has an employee centric hybrid model that provides you the flexibility to do your best work in a space that supports you, while also finding time to collaborate in person in our office for the moments that matter. In our hybrid model, employees can work from the location that works best for them when not in the office. When you work from home, we recommend ensuring that you can meet the following technology, equipment and workspace requirements: - High-Speed Internet - A stable broadband or fiber connection (satellite is highly discouraged) with a minimum speed of 100 Mbps in a dedicated workspace that has a reliable Wi-Fi signal. - Device for Multifactor Authentication (MFA/2FA) - smartphone, tablet, etc. When it matters (usually no more than a few times a year) we take the time to gather in larger groups for in-person events. Payscale has employees across the US, Canada, UK, The Philippines and Romania however we are currently unable to hire in the Quebec Province, Northern Ireland, and Hawaii. Benefits and Perks All around awesome culture where together we strive to live our 5 values: - Data informed decision making. - Customer first. Always. - Succeed together. - Relentless about results. Obsessed with excellence. - Lead the change. Shape the standard. An open and inclusive environment where you’ll learn and grow through programs and resources like: - Monthly company All Hands meetings - Regular opportunities for executive leadership exposure through things like AMAs - Access to continued learning & development opportunities - Our commitment to a continuous feedback culture which allows us to drive performance and career growth - A growing network of Employee Resource Groups - Company sponsored volunteer hours - And more! Our more standard benefits - Paid Time Off: 25 paid vacation days, plus eligible public holidays, 2 floating holidays annually and 2 additional Payscale holidays (Global Mental Health Day & US Independence Day) - Medical Insurance: 100% employer-paid coverage for employees, plus premium coverage for 1 dependent (employee responsible for dependent taxes). - Meal Vouchers: Monthly allowance, fully funded by Payscale. - Pension: Employer contribution to a Pillar III plan. - Life & Disability Insurance: 100% employer-paid coverage. - Remote Work Stipend: Monthly stipend to support remote work and/or wellness expenses. - Additional Leave: Paid leave entitlements under the Romanian Labor Code (e.g., marriage, bereavement). Equal Opportunity Employer: We embrace equal employment opportunity. Payscale is committed to a policy of equal employment opportunity for all applicants and employees. It is our policy that employees will not be subjected to unlawful discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, or ancestry, physical or mental disability, veteran or military status, marital status, sexual orientation, political ideology, and any other basis protected by federal, state, or local laws. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including but not limited to: recruitment, hiring, transfers, promotions, training, discipline, termination, compensation and benefits, performance appraisals, education, and social and recreational programs. We know the confidence gap https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/05/the-confidence-gap/359815/ and imposter syndrome https://fortune.com/2024/06/21/high-functioning-achievers-imposter-syndrome-career-ladder/ can get in the way of meeting spectacular candidates, so please don’t hesitate to apply — we’d love to hear from you. If you have a disability or impairment and need assistance with the application process, please email recruiting@payscale.com for support. Fraud Alert: Payscale values security and privacy. During your job application and interview process, we will never ask for your personal banking or financial information, social security number, or other sensitive information, if you are unsure if a message is from Payscale, please email recruiting@payscale.com