Sr Product Manager - Core
Location: Hybrid/Oakland CA
👋Hello, we’re Instrumentl. We’re a mission-driven startup helping the nonprofit sector to drive impact, and we’re well on our way to becoming the #1 most-loved grant discovery and management tool. To help us get there, we’re hiring a Senior Product Manager - Core, who will play a key role in defining and executing on the next phase of Instrumentl’s growth.
About us:
Instrumentl is a hypergrowth YC-backed startup with over 5,000 nonprofit clients, from local homeless shelters to larger organizations like the San Diego Zoo and the University of Alaska. We are building the future of fundraising automation, helping nonprofits to discover, track, and manage grants efficiently through our SaaS platform.
Our charts are dramatically up-and-to-the-right 📈 — we’re cash flow positive and doubling year-over-year, with customers who love us (NPS is 65+ and Ellis PMF survey is 60+). Join us on this rocket ship!
About the role:
We’re looking for a Senior Product Manager - Core, who combines deep customer empathy, strong product judgment, and pragmatic AI thinking. This role is ideal for someone who starts from real customer problems (not features), can build and sequence a thoughtful roadmap, and knows how to ship incrementally while maintaining high standards for trust, outcomes, and cross-functional alignment.
You will own problem discovery, product strategy, and delivery for core workflows used by nonprofit organizations—often in high-stakes, high-context environments like grant discovery and applications. You’ll work closely with Design, Engineering, Customer Success, and GTM partners to ensure what we build is useful, adoptable, and measurable.
What you will do:
- Customer Insight, Domain Fluency & Problem Discovery: Develop a deep understanding of nonprofit realities, including funding volatility, staff burnout, compliance constraints, and multi-persona workflows. Internalize the differences between small nonprofits where people “wear many hats” and larger, more matrixed organizations. Start from problems, not features: clearly articulate user and business pain, distinguish root causes from symptoms, and frame opportunities effectively. Synthesize insights from usage data, customer conversations, internal documents, and competitive research into clear, actionable problem statements.
- Product Strategy, Sequencing & Delivery Judgment: Build a coherent strategic narrative that connects market context → customer problems → product themes → roadmap. Cluster initiatives into outcome-driven themes rather than isolated features. Sequence work thoughtfully, delivering thin-sliced early versions (MVPs / MLPs) to reduce risk and accelerate learning. Make strong tradeoffs by balancing customer value, engineering effort, and business priorities.
- AI Product Thinking: Evaluate when AI is genuinely additive versus when rules-based logic, scoring, or analytics are sufficient. Design human-in-the-loop workflows for high-stakes use cases such as grant applications, reviews, and approvals. Build trust by separating authoring and reviewing, and avoiding patterns where AI “grades its own work.” Clearly articulate data and model needs, edge cases, and failure modes (e.g., conditional logic, nested questions).
- Measurement & Outcomes Orientation: Define and align on a clear product North Star (e.g., multi-workflow adoption). Pair features with both leading and lagging indicators, such as usage, completion rates, win rates, retention, and NRR. For AI-driven features, define what “good” looks like through evaluations and qualitative signals—not just logs and dashboards. Run post-launch reviews to assess impact and guide iteration.
- Communication, Storytelling & Cross-Functional Leadership: Communicate clearly and structurally, making complex ideas understandable to both technical and non-technical audiences. Craft narratives that connect customer problems to product decisions and business outcomes. Lead through influence by treating product as a team sport—partnering early with Design, Engineering, Customer Success, and GTM. Navigate disagreements productively and ensure features are built with adoption, positioning, and sales enablement in mind.
What we are looking for:
- 5+ years of product management experience in SaaS (B2B preferred).
- Demonstrated experience owning problem discovery, strategy, and execution end-to-end.
- Strong judgment in sequencing work and shipping incrementally.
- Experience building or working with AI-powered features in real production environments.
- Exceptional written and verbal communication skills.
Compensation and Benefits:
- For US-based candidates, our target salary band is $150,000 - $220,000 USD + equity. Salary decisions consider experience, location, and technical depth.
- 100% covered health, dental, and vision insurance for employees (50% for dependents)
- Generous PTO, including parental leave
- 401(k)
- Company laptop and home-office stipend
- Bi-annual company retreats for in-person collaboration
Why join Instrumentl?
Instrumentl is evolving rapidly. You’ll always have new challenges and opportunities to grow in your role - you won’t be bored! You’ll be an early member of our small but mighty team, playing a huge part in shaping our culture for the years and teammates to come.
At Instrumentl:
- We’re customer-focused. We routinely seek feedback from our customers to improve the Instrumentl experience for everyone. Our first company value is "The customer is the hero" and we mean it.
- We love to experiment. We are constantly generating new concepts and iterating to see what works - ideation and experimentation are essential here. "Bend the curve" is another key company value.
- We appreciate authenticity. We have a diverse range of life experiences, and we encourage open, clear communication with each other about the things that matter most to us.
- We’re approachable and collaborative. Everyone has a voice, and we’re all building Instrumentl together.
- We kick it every day with some of the nicest people in the world. No joke, our customers are often on the front lines educating kids, saving endangered species, and restoring watersheds. In helping them take advantage of Instrumentl’s technology, you’re helping them move the world forward.
Ready to apply?
To apply, please share a written response giving us your candidate elevator pitch. Why would you be a great fit for the Senior Product Manager - Core role? Please feel free to share examples from your favorite projects!
Along with your written response, please attach your CV or resume.
At Instrumentl, we pride ourselves on building a diverse team from the ground up. Every role is an opportunity to teach, learn, and create some of your best work - if you’re excited to grow along with us, we encourage you to apply!
