Product Lead, Platform (Staff Product Manager)

GiveDirectly; City Of London; On-site; GBP 89,000 - 115,000; Full time

Job summary

A charitable organization is seeking a Director for its Cash Delivery Platform. This role involves defining the vision, managing product design, and collaborating with teams to enhance cash delivery efficiency. The ideal candidate should have over 8 years of product management experience with strong technical and UX skills. This position is fully remote, requiring applicants to overlap with East Africa timezone.

Benefits

Competitive salary and bonus

Health benefits

Flexible paid time off

Qualifications

• 8+ years of technical software product management with multiple full-lifecycle builds.
• High technical fluency to engage with engineers on architecture, APIs, and system design.
• Ability to operate in high ambiguity with a track record of creating clarity.

Responsibilities

• Define the long-term vision for GiveDirectly’s cash delivery platform.
• Own platform capabilities and make high-leverage prioritization decisions.
• Lead end-to-end development from discovery to launch.

Skills

Technical software product management

UX sensibility

Analytical problem-solving

Job description

About GiveDirectly

GiveDirectly (GD) aims to reshape international giving by providing cash grants directly to the world’s poorest. The Brookings Institution estimates that $70B of cash transfers would be required to eliminate the poverty gap; the aid sector currently spends $135B each year, much of it on evidence-free interventions. GD has raised over $1B since launching in 2011 and has delivered cash to more than 1.5 million people in 15 countries. GD has supported large-scale, experimental research indicating strong recipient impact. The organization has been featured in Fast Company, The New York Times Magazine, This American Life, Foreign Affairs, and The Economist.

Our culture is candid, analytical, agile, and non-hierarchical. Our global team is diverse in background and language. Our values center the people we serve and aim for an ambitious, dynamic, high-performing environment. We strive to create an environment where all team members can thrive, succeed, and grow.

Location: This role is fully remote but must overlap with an East Africa timezone by at least 3 hours. We are unable to sponsor or take over sponsorship of employment visas in the U.S. or U.K. at this time.

About this role

GD encodes every aspect of its cash delivery programs in software, from field officer interactions with potential recipients to enrollment data collection and actual cash transfers. This role leads the design and scale of the Cash Delivery Platform, defining systems and roadmaps across survey building, eligibility & verification, fraud detection, payments, and case management. You will work with engineers, field operations, and research teams to deliver faster, more secure, and better recipient experiences.

This is a leadership role focused on defining products from the ground up, with a track record of creating clarity, scale, and reuse from complex beginnings.

Level: Director

Reports To: VP, Technology

Travel: Willing to travel to program sites up to 1x per quarter for 1–2 weeks.

Responsibilities

• Product Vision & Definition: Define the long-term vision for GiveDirectly’s cash delivery platform, balancing simplifying complexity with future flexibility; understand diverse users including field officers, recipients, and program managers to design platform abstractions.
• Strategic Roadmap & Prioritization: Own platform capabilities (survey tooling, eligibility & KYC, fraud detection, payments, case management); make high-leverage prioritization decisions; define and track success metrics.
• Detailed Product Design & Execution: Lead end-to-end development from discovery to launch; partner with engineers to define robust abstractions and scalable product logic.
• Cross-functional Stakeholder Management: Align diverse stakeholders and ensure platform investments serve validated program requirements.

Qualifications

• Strong alignment with GD values and mission; experience with or commitment to serving low-income or historically marginalized communities preferred.
• 8+ years of technical software product management with multiple full-lifecycle builds.
• High technical fluency to engage with engineers on architecture, APIs, and system design.
• Empathy for non-technical users and strong UX sensibility.
• Ability to operate in high ambiguity with a track record of creating clarity.
• Collaborative and able to work with diverse stakeholders across cultures and backgrounds; able to translate technical concepts for varied audiences.
• Analytical problem-solving mindset with a structured prioritization framework.
• Bonus: experience with users experiencing poverty, low digital literacy, or limited connectivity.

Compensation

GD aims to pay generously and equitably. Base compensation and bonuses align with market benchmarks; there is a no-negotiation policy to ensure equity across roles. Salary benchmarks: United States base $154,400; Kenya base $120,000. The role is fully remote; country-specific salary benchmarks may be shared during hiring.

Why work at GiveDirectly?

• Supportive team with opportunities for advancement
• Commitment to staff development
• Competitive salary and bonus
• Health benefits (varies by country)
• Flexible paid time off
• Desk setup and learning & development allowances

Working at GiveDirectly

GiveDirectly is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants are considered without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, disability, or any other characteristic protected by law.

Voluntary Self-Identification and Disability sections are included for government reporting and compliance purposes.

GD is committed to safeguarding recipients, staff, and partners, with policies including zero tolerance for sexual exploitation, abuse, and harassment (SEAH) and robust pre-hire screening where appropriate.