Principal Product Manager, Technical

OpenKrill; United States; On-site; USD 200,000 - 270,000; Full time

Job summary

Robots & Pencils is seeking a Principal Product Manager to drive product vision and strategy across the engagements they support. This role suits a deeply experienced product leader who owns the hardest product challenges, serves as the senior product voice in client relationships, and shapes how product management is practiced at Robots & Pencils.

You will operate as the principal product authority on a cross-functional team, defining vision, setting delivery standards, and partnering with

Qualifications

• 10+ years in product management in consultative or enterprise environments.
• Proven track record defining vision and strategy for complex products.
• Executive-level advisory experience and mentoring capability.

Responsibilities

• Drive product vision and strategy for the engagements you support.
• Define product operating models and delivery standards.
• Own the most difficult product challenges and drive resolution at scale.
• Define success frameworks using data, research, and user insight.
• Identify opportunities to improve how product is practiced and share learnings.
• Bring an AI-forward mindset to drive efficiency and scale.

Skills

Product strategy

Executive advisory

Cross-functional leadership

Mentoring PMs

Client relationship management

Discovery & roadmapping

Data-driven decision making

AI tools (Claude)

Stakeholder alignment

Business development involvement

Tools

Claude AI

Job description

About the Role

We're looking for a Principal Product Manager to drive product vision and strategy across the engagements they support. This role is ideal for a deeply experienced product leader who owns the hardest product challenges, serves as the senior product voice in client relationships, and shapes how product management is practiced at Robots & Pencils.

In this role, you will operate as the principal product authority on a cross-functional team, defining vision, setting delivery standards, and partnering with client executives on product direction. You'll mentor experienced PMs, contribute to practice growth, and bring the depth of experience to navigate complexity, ambiguity, and high-stakes decisions with confidence.

Key Responsibilities

Craft & Delivery

• Drive product vision and strategy on the engagements you support, owning direction for the most complex, high-stakes digital products
• Define product operating models, discovery practices, and delivery standards for the engagement
• Own the most difficult product challenges — framing problems, aligning stakeholders, and driving resolution at scale
• Define success frameworks and use data, research, and user insight to evaluate outcomes and shape product direction
• Identify opportunities to improve how product is practiced across the engagement and contribute those learnings back to R&P
• Bring an AI-forward mindset to your daily work, using tools like Claude to drive efficiency, research synthesis, and product thinking at scale

Collaboration & Communication

• Partner with senior leadership and client executives as the principal product advisor, shaping product vision and direction at the engagement level
• Represent product thinking at the leadership level, influencing how strategy, delivery, and technology decisions are made
• Lead the most complex stakeholder forums, workshops, and executive-level discussions

Leadership & Influence

• Define and champion product delivery standards and best practices on the engagements you support
• Mentor experienced PMs, helping them grow their product judgment, strategic thinking, and client impact
• Own the most difficult product decisions, serving as the senior product decision-maker on complex tradeoffs
• Contribute to business development, proposals, and the growth of R&P's product management practice

Required Skills

• 10+ years of experience in product management, with a strong record in consultative or enterprise environments
• Demonstrated track record of defining product vision and strategy for complex, high-stakes digital products
• Expert-level client advisory skills and experience influencing at the executive level
• Deep experience leading discovery, roadmapping, and delivery across large, multi-stakeholder organizations
• Track record of mentoring senior product managers and shaping team-level PM practices
• Strong cross-functional leadership and the ability to align engineering, design, strategy, and business at scale
• Experience defining product metrics, success frameworks, and iterative delivery models
• Some experience with AI tools to drive efficiency, research synthesis, and product thinking at scale (e.g., Claude)
• Experience contributing to business development, proposals, or practice growth is a plus

You’ll Do Well Here if You Are

• A doer. You see something broken and fix it. You'd rather move on clarity than wait for certainty.
• A fast learner who knows you don't know everything. The AI landscape changes weekly. You're senior enough to know better and curious enough to keep learning anyway.
• Direct in a way that makes the work better. You give honest feedback. You'd rather have the hard conversation than blow smoke.
• Obsessed with craft. You know genius is in the details. You ship exceptional, not perfect, and you don't put your name on work you wouldn't stand behind.
• Built for ownership. You honor commitments, admit mistakes fast, and back your teammates when a decision costs something. No handoffs, no finger-pointing.
• All in. You treat clients' businesses like your own. You take the work seriously without taking yourself seriously.
• Resourceful when the budget, timeline, or team is tight. Constraints don't slow you down. They sharpen you.
• Glad to be in the room with people who care as much as you do. Our teams average fifteen-plus years of experience. We hire people who push each other to do better work.

An offer of employment may be conditional upon successful completion of a background check in accordance with local legislation and our candidate privacy notice. Your current employer will not be contacted without your permission. We are committed to ensuring equal employment opportunities for all job applicants and employees. Employment decisions are based upon job-related reasons regardless of an applicant's race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, national origin, disability, marital status, genetic information, protected veteran status, or any other status protected by law.

The below range reflects the range of possible compensation for this role at the time of this posting. We may ultimately pay more or less than the posted range. This range may be modified in the future. An employee's position within the salary range will be based on several factors including, but not limited to, relevant education, qualifications, certifications, experience, skills, seniority, geographic location, performance, shift, travel requirements, sales or revenue-based metrics, any collective bargaining agreements, and business or organizational needs. The salary range for this role is $200.000USD - $270.000 USD.We offer a comprehensive package of benefits including paid time off, medical/dental/vision insurance and 401(k) to eligible employees.

The below range reflects the range of possible compensation for this role at the time of this posting. We may ultimately pay more or less than the posted range. This range may be modified in the future. An employee's position within the salary range will be based on several factors including, but not limited to, relevant education, qualifications, certifications, experience, skills, seniority, geographic location, performance, shift, travel requirements, sales or revenue-based metrics, any collective bargaining agreements, and business or organizational needs. The salary range for this role is $210.000 CAD - $260.000 CAD.We offer a comprehensive package of benefits including paid time off, medical/dental/vision insurance and 401(k) to eligible employees. An offer of employment may be conditional upon successful completion of a background check in accordance with local legislation and our candidate privacy notice. Your current employer will not be contacted without your permission. We are committed to ensuring equal employment opportunities for all job applicants and employees. Employment decisions are based upon job-related reasons regardless of an applicant's race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, national origin, disability, mar