Staff Product Manager - San Francisco

Plaud is building the real-world AI interface for professionals to amplify intelligence, elevate productivity and performance, loved by over 2,000,000 users worldwide since 2023. With a mission to amplify human intelligence, Plaud captures, structures, and compounds the intelligence generated in conversations — so humans can think better, decide faster, and execute with clarity. Plaud Inc. is a Delaware-incorporated, San Francisco-based company pushing the boundary of human–AI intelligence through a hardware–software combination. With full ISO 27001, ISO 27701, SOC 2, GDPR, EN18031, and HIPAA compliances, Plaud is committed to the highest standards of data security and privacy protection. Plaud is a bootstrapped, skyrocketing, profitable company with a $300M revenue run rate achieved in just three years.

Responsibilities

Own the end-to-end product definition process for AI hardware products — from market research and user research through opportunity identification, product concept, PRD, cross-functional alignment, NPI milestones, and launch readiness — benchmarking requirements and quality standards against SOTA consumer AI hardware (e.g., leading wearable, recording, and productivity device categories).; Define the integrated hardware-software-AI product experience: connect device capabilities, firmware behavior, AI features, mobile application, cloud services, and user interaction into one coherent end-to-end product journey, resolving gaps between hardware and software/AI feature definition before engineering execution begins.; Lead structured product trade-off decisions on feature scope, BOM, manufacturability, cost, schedule, and user experience across Hardware Engineering, Firmware, AI, Industrial Design, Manufacturing, Operations, Marketing, and User Research — converting cross-functional discussions into clear decisions, owners, and next steps.; Build and maintain the hardware product roadmap for assigned product lines, grounding prioritization in validated user needs, competitive differentiation, market opportunity, technical feasibility, and business impact; provide business cases for major product concepts and roadmap decisions.; Establish repeatable product discovery and definition mechanisms — including user segmentation frameworks, scenario prioritization, PRD standards, and product decision criteria — that raise the quality bar across Plaud's hardware product organization and can scale across multiple product lines.

Requirements

8+ years of product management experience with significant ownership of consumer hardware, AI hardware, smart devices, wearables, IoT, audio/recording devices, or other complex hardware-software products — including end-to-end responsibility from 0-to-1 discovery through PRD, cross-functional alignment, and launch.; Proven ability to write high-quality PRDs for products that combine hardware, firmware, software, cloud services, or AI-driven features — with PRDs that have been accepted and used as the authoritative reference by engineering, design, and operations teams.; Demonstrated system-level product thinking: experience defining how device capabilities, firmware, AI, mobile app, cloud services, and user interaction work together as one coherent product, not as separate feature sets.; Strong analytical and business judgment: ability to evaluate market potential, customer value, competitive differentiation, cost implications, technical feasibility, and launch readiness, and to make and defend trade-off decisions with real schedule and BOM consequences.; Track record of driving cross-functional alignment and product decisions across Hardware Engineering, Firmware, Software, Industrial Design, Manufacturing, Operations, and Marketing without relying solely on formal authority.; Demonstrated use of AI tools (e.g., LLM-assisted research synthesis, competitive scanning, PRD drafting) to accelerate product discovery and definition work — and a track record of sharing AI practices with cross-functional teams.; Tools and methods: proficiency with PRD and roadmap tooling (e.g., Confluence, Notion, Jira, or equivalent); familiarity with user research methods (customer interviews, usability studies, beta feedback analysis, support insight synthesis) and data analytics platforms to ground product decisions in evidence.; Structured communication: ability to distill hardware-software-AI complexity into clear written narratives and decision frameworks for engineering, design, operations, and executive audiences — demonstrated by PRDs and roadmap documents that have served as the authoritative cross-functional reference.; Ownership under ambiguity: operates effectively in fast-changing, high-growth environments where product scope, priorities, and constraints shift; drives decisions and closes open questions without waiting for complete information or formal authority.

Nice to have

Experience building or scaling successful consumer electronics, AI hardware, wearable devices, smart audio/recording devices, or productivity devices — particularly products that integrate AI capabilities, voice interaction, speech recognition, LLM-powered workflows, or multimodal input.; Experience defining products for global markets (North America, Europe, or other international consumer technology markets) and working across both 0-to-1 new product development and 1-to-N lifecycle iteration across multiple product generations or SKUs.; Strong understanding of NPI processes, hardware development milestones (EVT/DVT/PVT), manufacturing constraints, supply chain considerations, BOM trade-offs, quality risks, and certification requirements; ability to connect product strategy with pricing, packaging, channel strategy, launch planning, and post-launch growth.

Benefits

Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) giving a real stake in Plaud’s long-term success.; High-Impact Environment in a fast-moving, product-driven environment.; Top-tier medical, dental, and vision insurance for employees and dependents with a generous employer subsidy.; 401(k) retirement plan with company matching for full-time employees.; Unlimited PTO.; 13 paid holidays.; 12 weeks of fully paid parental leave for all parents.; Hybrid work model with a minimum of three in-office days per week.; Access to high-quality office snacks, drinks, and equipment.; Access to best-in-class AI tools, including Gemini, Claude Code, and other frontier AI systems.; Choice of top-spec laptops, high-performance workstation setups, and cutting-edge Plaud devices for all new hires.; Annual company offsites, team events, and a culture that values craftsmanship, ownership, and velocity.