Director, New Products GTM
Kindred is a members-only home swapping platform that unlocks the ability to live a travel-rich lifestyle through the power of community. By exchanging primary residences with trusted peers, renters and owners alike can match with Kindred spirits and explore new destinations without breaking the bank.
Kindred is revolutionizing the “third option” of travel accommodation, compared to short-term rentals and hotels. Since launching in 2022, Kindred has grown to a global community of 300,000 members across 150+ cities and puts home swapping on the map as a radically more affordable, responsible, and connected way to travel.
To support that momentum, Kindred has raised over $150M in capital from some of the most credible investors in Silicon Valley, including Index Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, New Enterprise Associates, Bessemer Venture Partners, Caffeinated Capital, Elad Gil, and founders of companies like Opendoor, Figma, ClassPass, and more.
Kindred’s co-founders are proven leaders from the early team at Opendoor ($15B+ exit), who have each built and scaled products that today generate $1B+ annual revenue combined.
We’re looking for the world’s top builders, executors, and believers to help us make travel more meaningful.
You can learn more about us in Forbes and The New York Times.
The Role
Kindred is building a members-only home swapping network powered by trust. In a trust-based network, growth isn’t just about driving traffic - it’s about building credibility via social proof, lowering psychological friction to activation, and driving durable behavior change.
Circles is Kindred’s next major product evolution: They are curated micro-networks anchored in shared affiliation (networks, organizations) and shared identity (interests). They accelerate trust formation by making “who you’re swapping with” more legible and socially verified. Done well, Circles becomes a compounding system for Kindred: higher first-time conversion, more repeat hosting and travel, and stronger member-led acquisition.
We’re hiring a Director, New Products GTM to be the ultimate DRI for launching and scaling Circles—and to build the playbook for future verticals over time. In the near term, you will own the end-to-end strategy and execution required to make Circles successful. You’ll combine sharp strategic thinking with high-ownership operating: setting direction, aligning cross-functional partners, and building the systems and resources to deliver results. Early on, you’ll be hands-on—rolling up your sleeves to ship—then hiring and leading a team as the motion proves out.
What you’ll do:
Set Circles GTM Strategy: Define the thesis and GTM approach — positioning, target segments, channel strategy, lifecycle/nurture, launch milestones — for our first 5-10 circles in Year 1 .
Lead launch + execution excellence: Drive the integrated launch plan with Product, Marketing, and Ops; be accountable for adoption and business impact from launch through scale, with clear goals and KPIs (activation, conversion lift, repeat hosting/travel, advocacy).
Ship hands-on early: Create the initial assets and programs yourself where needed—messaging, launch plans, channel experiments, partner/affiliate motions, nurture flows—until the playbook is proven.
Identify and unlock the highest-leverage growth channels: Test, prioritize, and scale the channels that drive Circles adoption and engagement, in close partnership with Marketing and Product.
Integrate community levers throughout the funnel: Design and implement community-led programs that improve activation, conversion, retention, and advocacy. Partner with Product to embed community touchpoints in the product experience (e.g., onboarding, engagement loops, referrals).
Build a member insights engine: Stay close to members via interviews, events, and community channels; synthesize patterns and translate them into clear recommendations for Product and Marketing.
Build and lead the team over time: Define the org needs and hire/lead the team required to scale Circles (and future verticals) once the motion is validated.
What’s required
10+ years experience in a GTM / growth / community strategy role, ideally in consumer marketplace, membership, or network-based products.
Proven track record building and scaling a new growth motion (not just optimizing an existing one), including playbook creation and cross-functional execution—ideally with meaningful exposure to community-led or member-driven growth loops (e.g., ambassadors, referrals, events, partnerships, creator/community programs).
Strong community-first instincts: you understand how to create trust, belonging, and participation—and how to convert community energy into measurable growth.
Excellent strategic + operational chops: you can set a narrative, build a plan, and run a tight cadence that ships consistently.
High cross-functional influence: you’ve led through alignment across Product, Marketing, Ops, and Data without direct authority.
Comfort with measurement and experimentation: you can define success metrics, interpret data, and make clear tradeoffs.
Deep member empathy and willingness to stay close to the ground—talking to members regularly and using insights to drive action.
Strong writing and communication skills: you can turn messy inputs into clear positioning, crisp briefs, and aligned execution.
Excellence in project managing complex initiatives, including setting clear swim lanes for a cross-functional working team, busting through blockers, setting clear deadlines, and holding the team accountable for results.
Hustle & ownership. You don’t make excuses, you find a way.
Our Benefits:
At Kindred, we know that good things happen when we look out for one another. We offer a thoughtful, human-first benefits package designed to support health, wellbeing, and connection.
Our openings may span more than one career level. The base salary offered depends on factors such as experience, transferable skills, business needs, impact, and market data.
Competitive cash compensation and equity
Comprehensive health benefits
Flexible time off, plus 12 paid holidays per year
21 credits per year to stay in Kindred homes
$4,000 annual travel stipend to help offset travel-related costs
Remote-first and remote-flexible work environment, with opportunities to work from anywhere and gather in person, including at Kindred HQ in San Francisco
Regular team and company offsites to connect, collaborate, and build together
A vibrant, inclusive, and highly skilled team that ferociously protects team chemistry
A culture of high standards, feedback, and continual growth
We are committed to providing equal employment opportunities for all applicants and employees. Kindred does not discriminate on the basis of any protected characteristic, including race, color, ancestry, national origin, religion, creed, age, disability, sex, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, medical condition, genetic information, family care or medical leave status, marital status, domestic partner status, military and veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by US federal, state or local laws, or the laws of the country or jurisdiction where you work.