Founding Product Manager (Contract to Hire)
Summary
Founding Product Manager at Nicklpass, a post-seed startup building a spend-management platform for enterprise SaaS and AI subscriptions. You'll work directly with the CEO on product strategy, customer discovery, design, AI prototypes, and shipping with engineering — starting as a 20–30 hr/week contract with a path to full-time. Tools include Figma, AI assistants, Linear/Jira, and SQL.
Compensation: $60k – $125k • 0.25% – 1.0%
Founding Product Manager
Reports to: CEO
About Nicklpass
Nicklpass is the control plane for enterprise SaaS and AI spend — giving CFOs and procurement teams real visibility into what they're buying, what's actually being used, and what it's costing them. We're post-seed, growing fast, and adding logos across financial services, media, entertainment, and global manufacturing.
Today, companies spend millions across SaaS, AI tools, news, research, and subscriptions—with almost no visibility into usage or ROI. We help enterprises discover what they're paying for, understand how it's being used, and automate everything from provisioning to renewals and cancellations.
We're backed by leading investors, work with Fortune 500 companies, and are entering our next stage of growth.
We're looking for our first product hire.
This role starts as a part-time contract (20–30 hours/week for up to 3 months). The path to full-time is straightforward: deliver results that make sense, and we convert at the end of the contract. Blow it out of the water, and we won't wait the full 3 months.
This is not a maintenance PM role. You will be responsible for meaningful improvements in our business growth. Revenue, Upsells, NRR, Churn impact will be how you work through prioritization.
The Opportunity
As our Founding Product Manager, you'll work directly with the CEO to define what gets built, why it matters, and how we ship it.
You'll spend time talking to customers, sketching interfaces, writing specs, building AI prototypes, testing workflows, analyzing product usage, and helping engineering deliver exceptional software.
Some days you'll be interviewing CIOs.
Some days you'll be writing prompts for AI agents.
Some days you'll open Figma.
Some days you'll build the prototype yourself.
We're looking for someone obsessed with making products people love.
What You'll Own Product Strategy Translate customer problems into product direction Prioritize roadmap based on business impact Define MVPs instead of overbuilding Think in systems rather than features Help shape long-term company strategy Customer Discovery Interview customers weekly Watch users use the product Identify friction before analytics do Turn customer pain into product opportunities Validate ideas before engineering starts Product Design Create wireframes and user flows Work alongside designers to polish experiences Simplify complex enterprise workflows Obsess over onboarding Remove unnecessary clicks AI Product Development
You'll help build products powered by AI.
Examples include:
AI procurement agents AI purchasing assistants AI onboarding AI support AI workflows AI-powered reporting Enterprise chat interfaces
Product Operations Write product requirements Manage sprint priorities Work closely with engineering QA new releases Track feature adoption Define success metrics Own release planning Analytics
You'll become an expert on our customers.
You'll answer questions like:
Where do users drop off? What features drive retention? Which enterprise workflows take too long? Which AI features save the most time? What should we build next? What We're Looking For
We care far more about ability than pedigree.
You may have worked at a startup.
You may have started one.
You may have built products on nights and weekends.
You may have never held the title "Product Manager."
That's okay.
What matters is whether you can build.
Ideal experience includes:
3–8 years building software products Experience working directly with engineers Strong product intuition Excellent written communication Ability to simplify complex systems Experience with enterprise software is a plus Experience with AI products is a major plus Technical Skills Strong product taste
You don't need to be a software engineer.
But you should be comfortable with tools like:
Figma Cursor Claude / ChatGPT Notion Linear Jira SQL (basic) Product analytics tools AI coding assistants
Bonus if you've used:
MCPs APIs Zapier n8n Retool PostHog Supabase Vercel GitHub Traits That Matter
We're looking for someone who:
Is relentlessly curious Has exceptional product taste Can produce without waiting for instructions Brings energy to the team Thrives in ambiguity Learns quickly Makes decisions using data Can zoom between strategy and execution Communicates clearly Has extremely high standards Ships What Success Looks Like
This is the earliest product leadership seat at the company.
You'll help define not just what we build—but how we build.
You'll work directly with the founder and C-Suite, influence company strategy, and have a meaningful impact on every major product decision.
If you're looking for a role where you can shape the future of enterprise AI, procurement, and software management—not just manage a backlog—we'd love to talk.