Founding Product Manager

MCP is how AI connects to tools and data — the standard created by Anthropic and adopted by OpenAI, Google, Microsoft. We know because we helped establish it.

Our team built AI Actions for OpenAI, shipped Zapier Agents to millions of users, and launched the first remote MCP server with Anthropic. We're now building what enterprises need to adopt MCP safely.

Runlayer is the control plane for enterprise MCP — security, observability, and management that lets organizations connect AI to their systems without the risk. We raised $11M from Khosla Ventures and Felicis, and the creator of MCP is on our cap table.

We're a team of 15, mostly engineers, shipping fast and signing customers. If you want to work at the center of how AI gets things done — this is the moment.

We're hiring our first Product Manager to own the product strategy for our enterprise MCP platform, working directly with customers and engineers to shape and ship products that enable AI adoption at scale.

Why You'll Thrive Here

• Impact: Define the product roadmap for the platform that's becoming the standard for how enterprises connect AI to their tools, directly influencing how the world's best companies adopt AI safely.

• Excellence: Work alongside founders who deeply understand the technical sale and a world-class engineering team from Zapier's AI division, learning from both customer conversations and technical execution.

• Ownership: Take full ownership of multiple product areas, from customer discovery through shipping, with the autonomy to shape strategy and make decisions that matter.

What You'll Do

• Live in customer conversations. You'll spend most of your time with enterprise customers, understanding their pain points, validating product direction, and iterating on existing features based on real feedback.

• Shape and reduce risk on new products. You'll identify opportunities, define requirements, and de-risk new product bets before engineering invests heavily, using customer signals and market insights.

• Own multiple product areas simultaneously. You'll manage the roadmap across security, observability, access control, and developer experience, prioritizing ruthlessly based on customer and business impact.

• Work closely with engineers to keep things moving. You'll partner with engineering daily to ensure clear requirements, unblock decisions, and maintain velocity without bureaucracy.

• Bridge customer needs and technical constraints. You'll translate enterprise requirements into actionable specs and communicate technical trade-offs back to customers and stakeholders.

• Think beyond the classic PM role. You'll operate like a founder, picking up whatever needs to be done to move the business forward, whether that's writing docs, running demos, or shaping go-to-market.

What We're Looking For

• Enterprise product experience. 4+ years of product management experience shipping technical products that enterprises love, with a track record of navigating complex buyer personas (CISOs, CIOs, engineering leaders).

• Technical depth. Ability to go deep on infrastructure, security, and developer tools. You can read code, understand APIs, and hold your own in technical conversations with engineers and customers.

• Customer obsession. Demonstrated ability to extract insights from customer conversations and translate them into product decisions. Comfortable running discovery, demos, and feedback sessions with enterprise stakeholders.

• Velocity and pragmatism. Bias toward shipping and iterating over perfecting. Comfortable making decisions with incomplete information and adjusting course based on feedback.

• Strong communication. Excellent written and verbal skills, with the ability to write clear specs, present to customers, and align cross-functional stakeholders.

• Founder mindset. Ownership mentality, comfort with ambiguity, and willingness to do whatever it takes to move the product and company forward.

Bonus Qualifications

• AI/ML product experience. Direct experience building products with LLMs, AI agents, or developer tools in the AI ecosystem.

• Security or infrastructure background. Experience with enterprise security products, identity/access management, or developer infrastructure.

• MCP familiarity. Understanding of Model Context Protocol, AI agent frameworks, or the broader AI tooling landscape.

• Technical background. Former engineer or deep technical training that allows you to prototype, read PRs, or debug alongside engineering.

• Startup experience. Track record at early-stage companies where you wore multiple hats and shipped with small teams.

What We Offer

We provide a competitive package designed to attract and retain top talent who can work effectively with enterprise customers.

• Competitive salary and equity — compensation that reflects your expertise and customer-facing responsibilities.

• Paid time off — 4 weeks paid vacation, paid sick leave, and paid parental leave.

• Professional development — budget for conferences, courses, and certifications in AI, enterprise software, and customer success.

• Top-tier equipment — your choice of laptop and accessories to create your ideal work environment.

• Health benefits — comprehensive health, dental, and vision coverage.

• Customer interaction opportunities — work directly with innovative companies and see the immediate impact of your work.

Not quite the right fit? Reach out to careers@runlayer.com with details about your experience and interests.