Vice President of Product Innovation

Rustici Software; Franklin (TN); Hybrid; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Rustici Software in Franklin, TN is seeking a VP of Product Innovation to act as the strategic and tactical engine for the next generation of product ideas. You will own AI-focused product lines, write requirements, and collaborate with sales, marketing, engineering, operations, and product teams to deliver real value.

You will bridge hands-on product management with strategic leadership, transitioning between individual contributor and executive roles, shaping long-term product vision while

Qualifications

• 8+ years in B2B SaaS product management or APIs.
• Experience taking greenfield products to market.
• Hands-on with AI/NLP or content-intelligence initiatives.
• Strong cross-functional leadership and collaboration.

Responsibilities

• Market-driven discovery to ensure AI initiatives solve real-world workflows.
• Lead the flagship AI-focused product lines, own roadmap and requirements.
• Define business outcomes, drive revenue growth, expand margins and enterprise value.
• Collaborate with CEO/CTO/Sales to define pricing, packaging and GTM strategy.
• Set clear output-based metrics and align roadmaps with engineering capacity.

Skills

B2B SaaS product management

Greenfield product launches

AI-native / NLP / RAG

Infrastructure for developers

Commercial validation

Job description

We’re gearing up for our “next big thing” and are looking for a VP of Product Innovation to serve as the strategic and tactical engine driving our next generation of product innovation. Reporting directly to the Chief Technology Officer (CTO), this role will develop new product initiatives with disciplined product execution.

If you’re excited by the idea of owning the creation of something new and looking for a product leadership role with room to grow influence and impact, this role is for you.

You will help us deliver immediate value to our established platform ecosystems while defining the future direction of our new products. You’ll be especially effective, if you’re able to transition seamlessly between being deeply hands-on, an individual contributor serving as the primary Product Manager for our flagship AI and content-intelligence initiatives, and a strategic leader helping define the long term product vision for the business. You’ll be collaborating across the organization, partnering with sales, marketing, engineering, operations, our existing product management organization, and everything in between. We hope this excites you.

The ideal candidate combines deep product management expertise with strong commercial instincts and has experience taking a greenfield product to market. They’re energized by a role whose influence grows commensurate with impact.

Lastly, the right person for this role should be eager to engage in respectful argument, prepared to change their mind, and committed to a kind workplace.

Key Responsibilities

AI & Emerging Product Discovery

• Market-Driven Discovery: Act as a critical voice of the customer, engaging in direct market validation and customer discovery to ensure AI initiatives solve real-world workflows and industry standards.
• Primary Product Owner: Act as the lead, initially, day-to-day Product Manager for the flagship AI-focused product lines, owning the roadmap, writing requirements, and defining technical specs.
• Value Mapping: Ensure all AI product investments articulate clear business outcomes, drive revenue growth, expand margins, and compound long-term enterprise value.

Cross-Functional Alignment & Go-To-Market Strategy

• Cross-Infrastructure Coordination: Collaborate with core product PMs to align on dependencies and ensure next-gen AI features integrate with and enhance legacy infrastructure products without disrupting system stability.
• C-Suite & GTM Alignment: Partner with the CEO, CTO, and Sales leader to define pricing/packaging enablement, create the AI-forward growth narrative, and support high-value enterprise sales opportunities and strategic partnerships. You will work closely with the new VP of Business Development on these initiatives.
• Pace-Setting Execution: Establish clear output-based metrics for your project, ensuring your roadmaps align with engineering's capacity and velocity expectations.

Qualifications

• 8+ years in B2B SaaS product management, developer platforms, enterprise software, or APIs, with proven experience in a product leadership capacity.
• Greenfield Product Experience: Demonstrated track record of taking greenfield products to market, which includes identifying opportunities before there is a roadmap, validating demand with customers, and building alignment to create growth.
• AI-Native Expertise: Demonstrated track record of conceptualizing, prototyping, or deploying live, production-grade AI systems. This could be across legacy “AI” solutions, LLMs, Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), agentic workflows, or semantic data models.
• Infrastructure Platform Experience: Deep understanding and experience managing developer-focused infrastructure products serving platform providers, developers, and content infrastructure teams.
• Direct experience engaging in commercial validation, creating business cases, and identifying market value as a core part of the product development process.
• Familiarity with the learning / HR software industry is preferred

Skills & Capabilities

• Exceptional Communication & Influence: Proven ability to sit with deeply technical engineers to discuss data architecture, coordinate laterally with peer PMs without organizational friction, and present compelling product visions to C-suite executives and enterprise clients. Manage through convincing, not dictating.
• Commercial Instincts: Strong ability to connect product & architectural decisions to commercial outcomes, market demand signals, and pricing strategies.
• Execution-First: A history of managing projects, products, and cross-functional initiatives in lean, fast-moving environments. Ready to roll up your sleeves as an individual contributor on day one.
• Must be highly proficient in basic PM blocking-and-tackling (backlog management, user stories, cross-team dependency mapping).

How we’re different

Rustici Software isn’t your average workplace. There’s a reason why we have been named Best Place to Work by Nashville Business Journal for 17 years. Over the last 20 years, we’ve created a unique environment where people want to work and look forward to Monday. We are a remote/in-office hybrid company located in Franklin, TN. While we give preference to local candidates, we are open to qualified remote candidates residing in the United States.

We are an Equal Opportunity Employer and do not discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment because of race, colour, sex, age, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, status as a veteran, and basis of disability or any other federal, state or local protected class.