Lead Product Manager, Database Core

CelerData co; Menlo Park (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

PhoenixAI is seeking a Senior/Lead Product Manager to drive design for the database engine, conducting user research, competitive analysis, and writing PRDs. This is a deeply technical, systems-oriented PM role at the intersection of database internals and product strategy.

You will work with engineering, QA, and cross-functional teams through the full lifecycle, track adoption, and iterate on core features to stay competitive.

Qualifications

• 8+ years in Product Management, ideally with big data or database products.
• Hands-on ownership of database internals: query/storage engines, OLAP/columnar, distributed DB.
• Experience using AI tools to inform product design and prototyping.

Responsibilities

• Drive product discovery and design for core database features based on user research.
• Partner with engineering and QA to manage full product lifecycle from development to launch.
• Track post-launch feedback and optimize features to stay aligned with user needs.

Skills

PM leadership

Database internals

AGILE/SCRUM

AI tooling

Job description

PhoenixAI is the Agentic AI Database, purpose-built to give autonomous AI agents sub-second access to live enterprise data at massive scale. The platform unifies real-time and at-rest data in a single AI-native engine, combining the speed and concurrency that agentic workloads demand with the governance and deployment flexibility enterprises require to put AI into production. Formerly known as CelerData, PhoenixAI is headquartered in Menlo Park, California. Learn more at phoenixdata.ai

Job Overview

PhoenixAI is looking for a Senior/Lead Product Manager to join our PM team. In this role, you will drive product design for the database engine itself—conducting user research and competitive analysis, writing PRDs, and iterating on core database capabilities. This is a high-impact role for a deeply technical, systems-oriented PM who thrives at the intersection of database internals and product strategy.

Key Responsibilities

Product Discovery & Design

• Drive product design for core analytical database features—conducting user research and competitive analysis, and translating insights into clear, well-scoped PRDs.
• Design intuitive, easy-to-use interfaces for core database capabilities, and continuously iterate based on evolving user needs and market trends.

Product Development & Execution

• Partner closely with engineering, QA, and other cross-functional teams to drive the full product lifecycle—from development through testing to delivery and launch.
• Own product quality throughout execution and shape the roadmap for core database features.

Post-Launch Optimization

• Track user feedback and adoption after launch, driving ongoing optimization of core features.
• Manage the full feature lifecycle, ensuring capabilities continue to evolve in line with user and market needs.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of Product Management experience; experience with big data platforms or database products strongly preferred.
• Deep, hands-on ownership of database internals—query engines, storage engines, OLAP/columnar systems, or distributed database architecture.
• Comfortable using AI tools to drive product design and prototyping.
• Ability to reason about technical systems and user workflows.
• Experience working with engineering teams in Agile / Scrum environments.
• Strong organizational skills and attention to detail.

Nice-to-Have Skills

• Hands‑on familiarity with at least one of: StarRocks, ClickHouse, Presto, Druid, Snowflake, Redshift, or BigQuery.
• Familiarity with data warehouse modeling processes; DBA/ops experience a plus.
• Prior experience at a DBaaS (Database-as-a-Service) or infrastructure-heavy startup.