Senior Product Manager

12twenty; Santa Monica (CA); Remote; USD 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salary

Generous PTO

401(k) matching

Regular team events

Job summary

12twenty is seeking a Senior Product Manager to own strategy and execution for its career services and recruiting products aimed at students, alumni, and employers in higher education.

You will drive product vision, collaborate with engineering, design, marketing, and customer success, and deliver data‑driven solutions that impact campuses and recruiters alike.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in product management, with at least 2 years in a senior or lead role.
• Experience in scrappy, entrepreneurial, startup, scale‑up environments.

Responsibilities

• Own long-term product vision and strategy for a major initiative.
• Define and communicate a clear roadmap aligned with goals and user needs.
• Lead cross‑functional teams through ideation to launch and iteration.

Skills

Product strategy

Leadership

Agile

Stakeholder management

AI tooling

Tools

Jira

Productboard

Figma

Mixpanel

Job description

12twenty is the leading platform for employers to connect with elite early career professionals. Our community includes millions of students, recent graduates, and alumni from top business schools, law schools, and universities around the world. We take pride connecting our community of candidates with recruiters from top companies across industries.

Position Overview

12twenty is seeking a Senior Product Manager with deep experience in the talent acquisition, recruiting, or staffing software space to lead the strategy, development, and evolution of our suite of career services and recruiting products. This is a unique opportunity to own high-impact initiatives that support students, alumni, and employers within the higher education ecosystem.

The ideal candidate combines strategic vision with a hands‑on approach and is passionate about creating elegant, data-driven solutions that meet the needs of educational institutions, career centers, and recruiters. You will collaborate across engineering, design, marketing, and customer success to define and deliver product experiences that drive measurable outcomes for our users.

Responsibilities

Product Strategy & Vision

• Own the long-term product vision and strategy for a major product line or initiative.
• Define and communicate a clear product roadmap aligned with company goals and user needs.
• Evaluate and prioritize product opportunities based on market research, customer input, and business impact.

Cross-Functional Leadership

• Lead and mentor cross‑functional teams through the entire product development lifecycle—from ideation through launch and iteration.
• Ensure clear communication and alignment between product, engineering, design, marketing, and sales.
• Represent the product team in strategic discussions with executive leadership.

Customer & Market Insight

• Engage directly with users and customers to uncover pain points, workflows, and success metrics.
• Conduct competitive analysis and stay on top of industry trends, particularly in HR tech, recruiting platforms, and higher ed software.

User-Centered Product Development

• Partner with UX and research teams to deliver intuitive, accessible, and high‑impact user experiences.
• Lead discovery processes including user interviews, data analysis, and prototype testing.
• Leverage user feedback, support insights, and usage data to continuously iterate and improve the product.

Go-to-Market & Product Launches

• Collaborate with marketing and customer success teams to deliver successful product launches.
• Develop positioning, messaging, and documentation that enable sales and support teams to succeed.
• Monitor and analyze product KPIs to ensure ongoing value delivery and user engagement.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in product management, with at least 2 years in a senior or lead role.
• Experience working in a scrappy, entrepreneurial, startup, scale‑up, or otherwise resource‑constrained organization.
• Demonstrated end‑to‑end product ownership is required. You must have personally identified and validated customer problems, shaped solutions, partnered closely with developers through execution, shipped products, and measured and iterated on results after launch.
• Hands‑on experience building AI agents, workflow automations, applications, or functional AI‑powered tools using platforms such as Hermes, OpenClaw, Grok Bot, or similar technologies. Prompting alone does not meet this requirement.
• Proven success leading B2B SaaS product initiatives in the recruiting, staffing, or talent acquisition space.
• Strong understanding of the product lifecycle, from research and strategy through execution and iteration.
• Excellent communication, stakeholder management, and leadership skills.
• Experience working with Agile teams and product tools (e.g., Jira, Productboard, Figma, Mixpanel).
• Passion for solving complex problems at the intersection of education, recruiting, and technology.

Benefits & Perks

• Competitive salary
• Generous PTO policy
• Full benefits, including 401(k)
• Regular team happy hours and activities
• Remote work flexibility

12twenty is an enterprise level talent acquisition platform connecting the world's largest employers with students and alumni from top business schools and other graduate level institutions. The market for talent, especially highly qualified talent, continues to grow more and more competitive. 12twenty's unique position as the connection between students, schools, and employers has fueled our rocketship growth. Come be part of our journey!

12twenty offers competitive salary and stock options and an amazing team to innovate and collaborate with. We love what we do, we embody a passion for continuous improvement, and we support each other to be excellent!

The annual compensation range for this position is listed below. This salary range is an estimate, and the actual salary may vary based on company compensation practices, job related skills, depth of experience, relevant certifications and trainings, in addition to geographic location.

In addition to the range below, US employees are eligible for equity. Employees in this position are also eligible to participate in the Company's standard benefit programs, which currently include the following: medical, dental, and vision benefits, 401(k), and paid time off.

Annual compensation range: $120,000 - $160,000

The annual compensation range for this position is listed above. This salary range is an estimate, and the actual salary may vary based on company compensation practices, job related skills, depth of experience, relevant certifications and trainings, in addition to geographic location.

In addition to the range below, US employees are eligible for equity. Employees in this position are also eligible to participate in the Company's standard benefit programs, which currently include the following: medical, dental, and vision benefits, 401(k), and paid time off.

Check out a video from a recent user conference: https://vimeo.com/1205520510