VP Product & Design

Socket.dev; United States; Remote; USD 180,000 - 320,000; Full time

Job summary

Serve Robotics seeks a senior product and design leader to guide a high-performing team shaping sidewalk robotics delivery. You will translate strategy into prioritized initiatives, partner with engineering, operations, data, and policy, and drive product quality and user experience across the portfolio.

You will own the roadmap, advocate for data-driven decisions, and align cross-functional teams to deliver scalable, customer-focused solutions in autonomous delivery and robotics.

Qualifications

• 12+ years of progressive experience in product management, product strategy, design, or related technology leadership roles.
• 5+ years of experience leading and developing product teams, including senior product leaders and multidisciplinary orgs.
• Demonstrated experience owning product strategy and roadmaps for complex technology products from concept through commercialization and scale.
• Proven track record translating strategy, customer needs, and technical capabilities into clear product priorities and measurable outcomes.
• Master communicator with experience partnering with executive leadership and communicating strategy to senior stakeholders.
• Strong people leadership capabilities with success recruiting and retaining high-performing teams.

Responsibilities

• Lead the design and product function; build a culture of curiosity, experimentation, and cross-functional collaboration.
• Set high bar for product and design quality; define how opportunities and requirements are built and validated.
• Be a key member of the leadership team; drive company-wide strategy and execution beyond Product.
• Establish clear roles, expectations, decision rights, and accountability across the org.
• Translate corporate strategy and customer needs into prioritized product initiatives and roadmaps.
• Balance short-term customer needs with scalable long-term product capabilities.
• Ensure design and product work integrate early and align with safety and operational goals.

Skills

Product management

Product strategy

Design leadership

Executive communication

Cross-functional collaboration

People leadership

Education

Bachelor's degree (engineering, CS, design, business)

Job description

At Serve Robotics, we’re reimagining how things move in cities. Our personable sidewalk robot is our vision for the future. It’s designed to take deliveries away from congested streets, make deliveries available to more people, and benefit local businesses.

The Serve fleet has been delighting merchants, customers, and pedestrians along the way in Los Angeles, Miami, Dallas, Atlanta and Chicago while doing commercial deliveries. We’re looking for talented individuals who will grow robotic deliveries from surprising novelty to efficient ubiquity.

Who We Are

We are tech industry veterans in software, hardware, and design who are pooling our skills to build the future we want to live in. We are solving real-world problems leveraging robotics, machine learning and computer vision, among other disciplines, with a mindful eye towards the end-to-end user experience. Our team is agile, diverse, and driven. We believe that the best way to solve complicated dynamic problems is collaboratively and respectfully.

JOB OVERVIEW

Lead a high-performing Product and Design team to build what the future looks like with robots by our side, starting with sidewalk logistics. This role is accountable for raising the bar, identifying high-impact opportunities and big bets, and clearly articulating the rationale behind where we’re going and why.

This role partners closely with Engineering, Operations, Data, Business Development , Program Management, Safety, Policy, and other leaders to align priorities, navigate tradeoffs, and turn company strategy into clear, coordinated execution.

JOB DUTIES

Lead a High Performing Team

• Develop and uplevel a strong product management and design team and foster a culture for intellectual curiosity, measurable experimentation, and cross-functional collaboration.

• Set a high bar for product and design quality and craft and evolve how business opportunities, requirements, and validation are built, communicated, and maintained.

• Serve as a key member of the leadership team and contribute beyond the Product organization to company-wide strategy and execution.

• Establish clear roles, expectations, decision rights, and accountability across the organization.

Product Vision and Narrative

• Deliver delight to customers and the public while expanding the sidewalk delivery business.

• Translate corporate strategy and customer needs into clear product priorities and investment decisions for both product and design.

• Develop a strong understanding of customers, users, competitors, and market dynamics to inform product direction and design principles..

• Champion data-driven product decision making, using quantitative and qualitative insights to prioritize opportunities, evaluate tradeoffs, and guide product strategy and investment.

• Balance near-term customer and operational needs with investments in scalable, long-term product capabilities.

• Ensure product development is grounded in real-world customer and user needs rather than technology development alone.

• Develop and maintain a clear product roadmap that translates company strategy and customer needs into prioritized product initiatives, milestones, and outcomes.

Design & User Experience

• Lead the Design function and establish a cohesive design vision across the company's products and experiences.

• Champion user-centered design and ensure customer and end-user insights are incorporated throughout the development process.

• Build scalable design practices, systems, and standards that create intuitive and consistent experiences.

• Partner with Product, Engineering, Operations, and Commercial teams to simplify complex technical capabilities into effective user experiences.

• Ensure design is treated as a strategic product capability and incorporated early in product development.

• Deliver on public safety-focused design from Industrial Design to Operational Tools

Note: The list of responsibilities is intended to capture essential duties and responsibilities for incumbents in the job. An incumbent may perform additional duties as assigned

EXPERIENCE, QUALIFICATIONS, & SKILLS

Required Experience, Qualifications, and Skills

• 12+ years of progressive experience in product management, product strategy, design, or related technology leadership roles.

• 5+ years of experience leading and developing product teams, including experience managing senior product leaders and/or multidisciplinary organizations.

• Demonstrated experience owning product strategy and roadmaps for complex technology products from concept through commercialization and scale.

• Proven track record of translating company strategy, customer needs, and technical capabilities into clear product priorities and measurable business outcomes.

• Master communicator with experience partnering with executive leadership and communicating product, design and technical strategy to senior internal and external stakeholders.

• Strong people leadership capabilities with demonstrated success recruiting, developing, and retaining high-performing teams.

Preferred Experience, Qualifications, and Skills

• Experience developing products involving robotics, autonomous systems, artificial intelligence, mobility, logistics, or other complex hardware and software systems.

• Experience with products that operate in the physical world where safety, reliability, hardware constraints, operational performance, and user experience must be considered together.

• Experience leading or directly overseeing both Product Management and Product Design organizations.

• Experience developing B2B or B2B2C products involving enterprise customers, strategic partners, operators, and end consumers.

• Experience building products that integrate hardware, software, data, operational tooling, and customer-facing experiences.

• Experience developing products or platforms that support fleet operations, marketplaces, logistics, last-mile delivery, or other high-volume operational environments.

• Experience scaling product organizations through periods of rapid company growth and changing business priorities.

• Experience commercializing emerging technology and translating technically sophisticated capabilities into clear customer value.

• Bachelor's degree in engineering, computer science, design, business, or a related field. Advanced degree or equivalent experience is a plus.