Product Manager - Kinetic Ops App

Careers; Oakland (CA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

In-person collaboration with robots

On-site collaboration in Oakland, CA

Job summary

Kinetic is seeking a Product Manager to lead the Ops Apps strategy, roadmap, and detailed design for customer and vehicle-flow workflows across 10+ hubs. You will shape the product narrative, define artifacts like PRDs and wireframes, and ensure a high-quality, reliable software experience for customers.

The role emphasizes in-person collaboration, deep domain understanding, and strong ownership from strategy to execution, with a focus on customers and internal workflows.

Qualifications

• BS/MS in Computer Science, Business, or related field.
• 5+ years of product management experience.
• Proven experience in software product development (preferably SaaS or B2B).
• Demonstrated ability to define and prioritize complex product roadmaps.
• Strong data analysis skills and a data-driven approach to product development.
• Excellent communication skills and the ability to effectively collaborate with technical teams.
• Ability to work in person in Oakland, CA.

Responsibilities

• Lead the product strategy, roadmap, and detailed design for the Ops Apps suite.
• Own overall strategy and customer value prop, plus internal workflows and design details.
• Craft look and feel, architecture, and business logic; translate opportunity into concrete artifacts.
• Create PRDs, design docs, wireframes, flow charts for the team to execute on.
• Collaborate with engineers, designers, and operations to ship reliable software.
• In-person communication is critical to development velocity and success.

Skills

Product management experience

Data analysis

Communication

Cross-functional collaboration

Education

BS/MS in Computer Science, Business, or related field

Job description

About the role

As a Product Manager, you will lead the product strategy, roadmap, and detailed design for the suite of Kinetic Ops Apps we use to manage interaction with customers and vehicle flow in our hubs. Our team across 10+ hubs uses these every day to run their workflow. Customers use them to schedule and track cars, download documentation, view invoices, and pay us. Ops Apps is a big part of what gives Kinetic a modern, delightful customer experience vs. a traditional auto repair shop.

You’ll be responsible for Ops Apps at multiple different levels: overall strategy and customer value prop, internal workflows for our team, detailed designs for features and business logic, look and feel of the final product, and the under the hood software architecture. The ideal candidate will be able to hold all these levels in their head at once – always thinking about the big picture and how to craft a compelling product narrative, but with a sharp eye for detail that allows us to ship professional looking, well executed software to customers.

The best candidates will have demonstrated experience bringing structure to uncertainty. Even though our business runs on Ops Apps, the product is very much still young, and there are many opportunities for refinement and expansion. We’ll expect you to take that large-but-poorly-defined opportunity, and turn it into a concrete roadmap and artifacts – PRDs, design docs, wireframes, flow charts – that our team can execute on. We’d love to hear about other portfolio projects where you’ve done this.

We value simplicity, reliability, rapid iteration, and shipping products that work. We use mature, well tested tools and eschew flashy trends whenever possible. Ops Apps are a core part of Kinetic’s business and have a significant effect on our customers’ efficiency - the design, reliability, and usability of the product must reflect that.

This is an in person role. We’ve found in person communication to be critical to our development velocity and business success. We also believe that spending time around brilliant coworkers and cool robots is one of the biggest perks of working at Kinetic.

Qualifications

• BS/MS in Computer Science, Business, or related field
• 5+ years of product management experience
• Proven experience in software product development (preferably SaaS or B2B)
• Demonstrated ability to define and prioritize complex product roadmaps
• Strong data analysis skills and a data-driven approach to product development
• Excellent communication skills and the ability to effectively collaborate with technical teams
• Ability to work in person in Oakland, CA

Desired Personal Qualities

• Strong customer empathy: ability to understand user needs and translate them into product requirements
• Cross-functional leadership: ability to align engineering, design, and operations toward a shared vision
• Data-driven mindset: uses evidence and metrics to guide prioritization and decision making
• Excellent written communication and collaboration skills
• Likes the idea of fast iteration cycles for deep-tech products with direct customer feedback
• Deep intellectual curiosity and a relentless attention to detail
• Loves robots