Director of Product, App Platform

Rippling; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 201,000 - 335,000; Full time

Job summary

Rippling is seeking a Director of Product, App Platform, to define how applications are built on Rippling and how data is modeled in our Object Graph. You will own primitives like Object Graph, Object Platform, Custom Apps, Workflows, and Documents.

You will lead a technically complex product area, hire and mentor product leaders, and collaborate with Engineering, Design, GTM, and Operations to deliver a scalable, AI-enabled developer platform for both internal and external developers.

Qualifications

• 12+ years building and leading technical products or platforms.
• Experience leading a developer platform used by internal and external developers.
• Technical background to make architecture decisions with senior engineers.
• Experience with AI-native development workflows.
• Proven ability to turn platform capabilities into a clear product strategy and roadmap.
• Experience leading and developing technical product teams.
• Ability to create clarity in ambiguous, early, or newly elevated product areas.
• Strong leadership across Engineering, Design, GTM, Operations, and customer-facing teams.

Responsibilities

• Set the App Platform strategy. Define how Rippling’s app primitives come together into a scalable developer platform.
• Lead the Object Graph and Object Platform roadmap to enable cross-functional apps.
• Make developers the customer with an AI-native developer experience.
• Build and lead the team, hiring and mentoring product leaders.
• Drive ecosystem impact by enabling third-party developers to build on Rippling.

Skills

Developer platform experience

Technical product leadership

AI-native development

Strategy & roadmapping

Cross-functional leadership

Architectural judgment

Job description

About Rippling

Rippling gives businesses one place to run HR, IT, and Finance. It brings together systems like payroll, expenses, benefits, computers, and third-party apps so companies can manage and automate the employee lifecycle in one system.

About Rippling

Rippling gives businesses one place to run HR, IT, and Finance. It brings together systems like payroll, expenses, benefits, computers, and third-party apps so companies can manage and automate the employee lifecycle in one system.

Based in San Francisco, Rippling has raised $1.85B+ from investors including Kleiner Perkins, Founders Fund, Sequoia, Greenoaks, Bedrock, GIC, Elad Gil, and Goldman Sachs, and was named one of America’s best startup employers by Forbes.

Official candidate communication will only come from @Rippling.com addresses.

About The Role

Rippling is building a platform allowing developers to build custom applications that run on Rippling, connect those applications to custom data, and deploy agents that do work using that data for our customers. What makes the platform special is the Object Graph, which connects all of a company’s data in one place, and core business primitives like Documents, Supergroups, and Workflows, which allow developers to create business applications that work across a company's data. This role owns the application foundation and Object Graph that make Rippling distinctive.

As Director of Product, App Platform, you will define the strategy for how applications are built on Rippling and how a company’s data is modeled in our Object Graph. You will own key primitives including the Object Graph, Object Platform, Custom Apps, Workflows, Functions, Documents, Supergroups, Sites, Globalization, and related capabilities. The right leader has built for developers before and can make complex platform architecture feel simple to build with.

What You Will Do

• Set the App Platform strategy. Define how Rippling’s app primitives come together into a scalable developer platform that enables internal and external developers to build software for Rippling customers.
• Lead the Object Graph and Object Platform roadmap. Scale the shared model of a company – the people, resources, and relationships that Rippling applications are built on – so developers can build apps that operate across all functions within a company.
• Make developers the customer. Design for developers with an AI-native developer experience across the spectrum of building, deploying, and operating production software.
• Build and lead the team. Hire, coach, and develop product leaders for a broad, technically complex, and strategically important product area.
• Drive ecosystem impact. Own the foundation for third-party developers to build and sell software on Rippling.

What You Will Need

• 12+ years building and leading technical products or platforms in engineering, product management, or both.
• Experience leading a developer platform used by both internal and external developers, including turning internal capabilities into an external product.
• A technical background deep enough to make architecture decisions with senior engineers across data models, APIs, permissions, system boundaries, reliability, tooling, and developer workflows.
• First-hand experience with AI-native development workflows and clear judgment about what coding agents need from a platform.
• Excellent product judgment and a proven ability to turn distinct platform capabilities into a clear product strategy and roadmap.
• Experience leading and developing technical product teams.
• Comfort creating clarity in ambiguous, early, or newly elevated product areas.
• Strong leadership across Engineering, Design, GTM, Operations, and customer-facing teams.

Nice to have

• Experience with third-party developer ecosystems, software marketplaces, or enterprise application platforms.

Additional Information

Rippling is an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to building a diverse and inclusive workforce and do not discriminate based on race, religion, color, national origin, ancestry, physical disability, mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, age, sexual orientation, veteran or military status, or any other legally protected characteristics, Rippling is committed to providing reasonable accommodations for candidates with disabilities who need assistance during the hiring process. To request a reasonable accommodation, please email [e-mail]

Rippling highly values having employees working in-office to foster a collaborative work environment and company culture. For office-based employees (employees who live within a defined radius of a Rippling office), Rippling considers working in the office, at least three days a week under current policy, to be an essential function of the employee's role.

This role will receive a competitive salary + benefits + equity. The salary for US-based employees will be aligned with one of the ranges below based on location; see which tier applies to your location here.

The pay range for this role is:

201,000 - 335,000 USD per year(US)