Chief Product Officer

Rippletide; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 210,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Rippletide in San Francisco is seeking a CPO to own the transformation of customer problems into a compelling product strategy and shipped experiences.

You will define the strategy for the Action Runtime, balance opinionation with infrastructure, and spend significant time with customers to turn problems into decisions. The role centers on ownership, customer value, and building a new product organization as the company grows.

Responsibilities

• Define the product strategy for the Action Runtime.
• Decide where Rippletide must be opinionated and where it must remain infrastructure.
• Spend significant time with customers and prospects.
• Turn customer problems into sharp product decisions.
• Own prioritisation across product surfaces.
• Define the fastest path from first interaction to demonstrable value.
• Work tightly with engineering and R&D in Paris.
• Make the underlying technology simple to understand and use.
• Build product feedback loops from customers and prospects.
• Own product metrics and customer adoption.
• Create the product organisation as the company grows.

Job description

Own the product

Rippletide has deep technology, active enterprise customer work, and a clear product ambition.

The CPO owns the transformation of those ingredients into a product customers understand, adopt, and expand.

This is not a product-process role.

It is a company-building role with direct responsibility for what we build, for whom, why it matters, and how quickly customers reach value.

Your Mission

Own Rippletide's product from customer problem to product strategy to shipped experience.

You Will

• Define the product strategy for the Action Runtime.
• Decide where Rippletide must be opinionated and where it must remain infrastructure.
• Spend significant time with customers and prospects.
• Turn customer problems into sharp product decisions.
• Own prioritisation across product surfaces.
• Define the fastest path from first interaction to demonstrable value.
• Work tightly with engineering and R&D in Paris.
• Make the underlying technology simple to understand and use.
• Build product feedback loops from customers and prospects.
• Own product metrics and customer adoption.
• Create the product organisation as the company grows.

The Central Product Question

AI agents can increasingly take actions.

What must exist between an agent proposing an action and an enterprise allowing that action to happen?

Rippletide intends to own that layer.

The CPO's job is to make that ambition concrete as a product.

What Success Looks Like

• Customers rapidly understand what Rippletide does.
• They can get to value without a bespoke research project.
• Early deployments become repeatable product patterns.
• Customer evidence shapes the roadmap without turning Rippletide into a services company.
• Engineering has clear product priorities.
• Rippletide's Action Runtime positioning becomes clear and recognisable.

Who We're Looking For

A product leader who has built technical enterprise products at an early stage.

Someone comfortable with infrastructure, developers, AI, and enterprise workflows, but obsessed with the customer rather than the technology itself.

Someone capable of saying no.

Someone who can reduce complexity rather than document it.

Someone who wants genuine product ownership, not stewardship of an existing roadmap.

Compensation

Target base salary: $210k-$240k

Target initial equity grant: 1.0-2.0%

For an exceptional company-builder, we can flex the proposed cash/equity mix. Final compensation depends on experience and role scope. Equity grants are subject to board approval and the terms of the company's equity plan.

Why Rippletide

• Own the product directly with the founders.
• Build a new infrastructure category as AI agents move into production.
• Work with enterprise customers, design partners, and leading technology companies.
• Partner closely with engineering and R&D in Paris.
• Build the product organisation from the ground up in San Francisco.