Staff Product Manager, Cloud Networking

Requirements and responsibilities

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What You Will Do:

Own the platform strategy for Confluent Cloud Networking across AWS, Azure, and GCP — defining the north star, multi-year roadmap, and sequencing of bets that balance customer connectivity needs, cost efficiency, security posture, and engineering leverage
Define frameworks and standards that other PMs, designers, and engineers use to evaluate networking decisions — connection model selection criteria, cost attribution models, security control frameworks, and launch readiness standards
Drive architectural decisions in partnership with engineering leadership — weighing trade-offs between user experience, cost, and operational complexity
Expand scope and create optionality — identify adjacencies the team should move into (network observability, cost transparency tooling, next-generation isolation models) and build the business case for them
Develop the product team — mentor Senior PMs on the team, provide feedback on product documents and roadmap thinking, and raise the bar on how the team approaches customer research and decision-making
Build senior stakeholder alignment across product, engineering, sales, field, legal, and security, then present the platform vision to executive leadership to secure organizational investment — develop the business case, communicate trade-offs clearly, and earn commitment for multi-year platform bets
Define and own success metrics at the platform level — connecting technical milestones to business outcomes including revenue, retention, attach rates, and infrastructure cost efficiency
Engage directly with strategic customers and prospects — represent the product roadmap with credibility in technical conversations with enterprise CTOs, architects, and network engineers

What You Will Bring:

8+ years of product management experience, with at least 3 years owning a cloud infrastructure, platform, or networking product
Demonstrated track record of setting product strategy and roadmap at platform or portfolio scope — not just feature-level delivery
Deep fluency in cloud networking concepts: PrivateLink, VNet peering, Transit Gateway, Private Service Connect, DNS, security groups, CIDR/IP management, and their trade-offs across AWS, Azure, and GCP
Experience owning products that serve enterprise customers with complex compliance, security, and connectivity requirements
Proven ability to partner with engineering leadership as a co-decision-maker on architectural direction — not just translating engineering output
Strong analytical foundation: can model unit economics, build business cases with cost/risk sensitivity, and measure platform health through leading and lagging indicators
Practices AI-native product management — uses AI tools as a genuine thought partner throughout the product lifecycle (research, prioritization, spec writing, analytics), with sound judgment on when to use, override, and validate AI output; and brings that same mindset to product design, building features and APIs that are composable, observable, and easy for AI agents and automation to consume
Experience developing PMs and raising the bar on product thinking — through direct mentorship, feedback, or team processes

Preferred

Experience with Envoy, Service Mesh, DNS and Kubernetes Networking
Familiarity with Terraform, API-first and infrastructure-as-code workflows, and how enterprise engineering teams operate networking automation
Exposure to network traffic metering, data transfer billing attribution, cost transparency tooling, or pricing and packaging strategy for cloud infrastructure products — defining packaging tiers, price points, and commercial model for enterprise buyers
Experience operating in a product-led growth or usage-based pricing environment
An MBA degree is a plus

What Gives You An Edge:

At the Staff level, we expect more than excellent execution on a defined scope. We're looking for someone who:Defines the playing field — identifies problems the team isn't yet working on and builds conviction for why they should beMultiplies others — makes the PMs and engineers around them better through frameworks, feedback, and the way they structure problemsOperates without a ceiling — can go from a whiteboard architecture discussion to a customer negotiation to an executive strategy review, and adds value in all of themTakes a position — has a clear point of view on where cloud networking is going and can defend it under scrutiny, while remaining open to updating when given new information
Defines the playing field — identifies problems the team isn't yet working on and builds conviction for why they should be
Multiplies others — makes the PMs and engineers around them better through frameworks, feedback, and the way they structure problems
Operates without a ceiling — can go from a whiteboard architecture discussion to a customer negotiation to an executive strategy review, and adds value in all of them
Takes a position — has a clear point of view on where cloud networking is going and can defend it under scrutiny, while remaining open to updating when given new information

Details

Defines the playing field — identifies problems the team isn't yet working on and builds conviction for why they should be
Multiplies others — makes the PMs and engineers around them better through frameworks, feedback, and the way they structure problems
Operates without a ceiling — can go from a whiteboard architecture discussion to a customer negotiation to an executive strategy review, and adds value in all of them
Takes a position — has a clear point of view on where cloud networking is going and can defend it under scrutiny, while remaining open to updating when given new information

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