Product Manager

BackOps; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

BackOps in San Francisco builds AI-native software for complex supply chain and logistics workflows used by large enterprises. This role partners with customers, engineering, design, go-to-market teams, and leadership to translate strategy into shippable solutions and continuously improve them based on evidence.

You’ll shape product priorities, explore where AI can meaningfully improve workflows, and work closely with engineering to prototype AI-powered solutions and turn strategy into tangible

Qualifications

• 4+ years of product management experience.
• Experience building B2B software products.
• Designing for non-developer business users.
• Strong written and verbal communication.
• Comfort with data-driven decision making.
• Curiosity about AI and rapid learning of new tech.

Responsibilities

• Shape product strategy and priorities.
• Translate strategy into shippable product components with engineering.
• Define incremental releases with risk and edge cases in mind.
• Conduct customer research and analyze data to inform decisions.

Skills

Product management

B2B software

Non-developer users

Data-driven

Job description

About BackOps

We build AI-powered software for complex supply chain and logistics workflows used by large enterprises. Our users work in operational environments where decisions have real business consequences, workflows often span multiple systems and stakeholders, and the right product solution is rarely obvious from a feature request alone.

We're ~50 people, headquartered in San Francisco, and backed by investors who support category-defining companies early and with conviction: our Series A was led by Theory Ventures, with participation from Gradient, Construct Capital, and 10VC. The problem is real, the timing is right, and we're building the team that introduces AI where it matters.

About the Role

You will work closely with customers, engineering, design, go-to-market teams, and company leadership to identify important problems, determine where AI can or cannot meaningfully improve workflows, translate product strategy into shippable solutions, and continuously improve those solutions based on evidence. You’ll report to the Head of Product.

Because we are an early-stage company, we are looking for someone who understands that the right product process depends on the stage of the company and the importance of the problem. You should be equally comfortable defining product strategy, conducting customer research, analyzing data, writing a detailed product specification, creating a lightweight prototype, or helping close the gaps needed to get a straightforward feature shipped.

What You’ll Do

Shape product strategy and priorities

• Help define and communicate the product vision, strategy, and roadmap based on company goals, customer needs, market opportunities, and technical possibilities.
• Build clear product rationale and communicate not just what we are prioritizing, but why.
• Anticipate that priorities will change as we learn and help the team make progress without over-engineering plans around assumptions that may quickly become obsolete.
• Bring stage-appropriate product judgment: know when directional evidence is enough, when to build something lightweight, and when an investment needs to be built for scale.

Build AI-native products

• Determine where AI can genuinely improve the work performed by customers rather than simply adding AI functionality to existing workflows.
• Explore how AI systems should interact with users across areas such as automation, recommendations, decision support, exceptions, approvals, explanations, and human oversight.
• Independently research emerging AI technologies, models, techniques, and product patterns and determine which developments are relevant to our product.
• Work closely with engineering to prototype potential AI-powered solutions.

Turn strategy into shipped product

• Translate product strategy and customer problems into clear, shippable product components, partnering closely with engineering from problem definition through implementation.
• Break ambiguous initiatives into incremental releases that generate customer value and learning, while identifying edge cases, risks, and key decisions early.
• When appropriate, independently complete straightforward product, design, analytical, prototyping, or technical work needed to move initiatives forward.

What We’re Looking For

• Approximately 4+ years of product management experience.
• Experience building B2B software products.
• Strong experience designing products for non-developer business users, particularly users performing complex business or operational workflows.
• Excellent written and verbal communication, including the ability to explain priorities, tradeoffs, product decisions, and strategy clearly to different audiences.
• Comfort working with data and using quantitative analysis alongside qualitative research.
• Curiosity about AI and the ability to independently learn about rapidly evolving AI technologies and translate technical developments into potential product opportunities.

Optional Valuable Experience

• Experience building products for large enterprises, understanding of enterprise buyers and their requirements.
• Experience navigating complex, multi-stakeholder enterprise purchasing and implementation processes.
• Experience with supply chain or logistics enterprise software.
• Experience with AI-powered products, agents, LLM applications.

Why BackOps

BackOps is an AI-native company, which means BackOps does not have the constraint of legacy product and revenue. BackOps is still in its early stages, which means you will experience early 0 to 1 product formation, launches, and iteration. You will also be heavily involved with different stakeholder team’s processes as we discover the new way of working in this AI-native age.