Staff Product Marketing Manager - Confluent

International Business Machines Corporation; Austin (TX); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

IBM is seeking a Staff Technical Product Market Manager to shape market requirements and messaging for our data platform offerings. You will partner with product, marketing, analytics, and Sales to align go-to-market strategies and drive measurable business outcomes.

You will translate complex architectures into clear, compelling market narratives, leverage customer insights, and guide product decisions with a data-informed mindset to accelerate growth in a competitive B2B landscape.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of product marketing for technical B2B SaaS, or 8+ years in related roles.
• Clear copywriting, product evangelism, and messaging skills.
• Strong technical acumen to explain complex products with PM partners.
• Data-informed mindset with measurable goals.
• Proactive, self-directed with cross-functional collaboration.
• Empathetic leadership and organized project ownership.

Responsibilities

• Craft differentiated positioning and messaging for IBM offerings.
• Define market requirements enabling differentiated positioning.
• Lead data-driven go-to-market strategies to accelerate growth.
• Collaborate with clients, partners, analysts, and cross-functional teams.
• Elevate credibility using client stories, proof points and thought leadership.

Skills

Product marketing

B2B SaaS

Messaging & positioning

Cross-functional collaboration

Data-informed decision making

Tools

Apache Kafka

Apache Flink

Apache Iceberg

Cloud services

Distributed systems

Job description

Introduction

We’re not just building better tech. We’re rewriting how data moves and what the world can do with it. With Confluent, data doesn’t sit still. Our platform puts information in motion, streaming in near real-time so companies can react faster, build smarter, and deliver experiences as dynamic as the world around them.

It takes a certain kind of person to join this team. Those who ask hard questions, give honest feedback, and show up for each other. No egos, no solo acts. Just smart, curious humans pushing toward something bigger, together.

One Confluent. One Team. One Data Streaming Platform.

Your Role And Responsibilities

As a Staff Technical Product Market Manager (PMM), you will leverage deep client knowledge, market and product orientation, and competitive insights to inform product build decisions and define market requirements. You will drive differentiated positioning and messaging, clearly explaining how Confluent's offerings work in-market and the value they deliver to buyers and users.

Your Primary Responsibilities Will Include

• Craft Compelling Stories: Develop and deliver compelling stories that drive product, services, and solution consideration and adoption by leveraging client success stories, thought-leadership, market proof points, and analyst insights to elevate IBM's credibility.
• Define Market Requirements: Inform product build decisions and define market requirements that enable differentiated positioning and messaging, leveraging deep client knowledge, market and product orientation, and competitive insights.
• Drive Go-to-Market Strategies: Lead data-driven strategies and outcome-focused marketing business plans to accelerate growth, supported by go-to-market expertise.
• Collaborate Cross-Functionally: Engage directly with clients, partners, and analysts, while collaborating across marketing, communications, analyst relations, product management, development, design, client experience, ecosystem, and sales to align strategies and deliver measurable business outcomes.
• Elevate Confluent's Credibility: Leverage strong messaging and positioning skills to elevate Confluent's credibility, supported by client success stories, thought-leadership, market proof points, and analyst insights.

Required Technical And Professional Expertise

• 5+ years of product marketing experience supporting B2B SaaS products for technical users, or 8+ years of relevant experience in consulting, B2B SaaS or product.
• Have strong product marketing skills that translate to clear copywriting, product evangelism, competitive positioning, and messaging.
• Bring strong technical acumen - you can independently understand and explain complex products, architectures, and use cases while partnering closely with Product Management to validate technical accuracy.
• Have a data-informed mindset and are driven to set measurable goals for every project you take on.
• Are proactive and self-directed - you identify opportunities, create momentum, and drive initiatives from idea through execution without needing day-to-day direction.
• Thrive in cross-functional environments and can effectively collaborate with a wide range of stakeholders and teams.
• Lead with empathy and humility - you listen actively, value diverse perspectives, and build trust across teams and stakeholders.
• Are incredibly organized and efficient—you take on complex projects and own them from start to finish.

Preferred Technical And Professional Experience

• Experience with Apache Kafka, Apache Flink, Apache Iceberg, data infrastructure, data architecture, cloud services, and/or distributed systems
• Experience marketing technical infrastructure, developer tools, data platforms, or distributed systems
• Hands-on experience with Apache Kafka, Apache Flink, stream processing, or real-time analytics
• Experience using funnel analytics, experimentation, or customer and product data to diagnose and improve GTM performance
• Experience shaping messaging for an emerging category or independently driving ambiguous, cross-functional initiatives