Lead Product Manager / Construction / NYC

Job Description
A growing software company is building an enterprise platform that helps construction businesses plan, schedule, and manage complex projects. Its product supports specialized scheduling workflows, project timeline visualization, and integrations with established industry tools. The platform was developed around real operational needs and is used by an affiliated industry consulting business.
As a Product Owner, you'll bridge the gap between founders with deep construction expertise and the development team building the software. You'll translate product ideas into clear requirements, write actionable user stories, and organize the backlog so developers understand what to build, why it matters, and what successful delivery looks like.
This is a hands-on product role, not a coordination or status-reporting position. You'll report directly to the co-founders and own what the development team builds and in what order, while the engineering lead owns technical execution. You'll bring clarity to incomplete requirements, make decisions that unblock development, and improve existing processes without imposing unnecessary overhead.
Required Skills & Experience

• Relevant construction experience and an understanding of how projects are planned, scheduled, and tracked
• Experience in product ownership, product management, business analysis, or a comparable role translating business needs into executable development work
• Experience owning a backlog or an equivalent prioritization process
• Ability to write clear requirements, user stories, and acceptance criteria that define completion before development begins
• Familiarity with software development and the ability to participate in technical discussions and explain them to nontechnical stakeholders
• Ability to translate construction workflows and founder priorities into developer-ready requirements
• Strong prioritization and decision-making skills, including comfort working with incomplete information
• Ability to challenge unclear requests, contradictory requirements, and poorly timed initiatives constructively
• Comfort working in a small, fast-moving environment with limited layers and evolving processes
• Ability to build trust with founders and developers through sound judgment, clear communication, and accountability
• Ability to work onsite in Midtown Manhattan

Desired Skills & Experience

• Experience as a construction scheduler, project controls analyst, owner's representative, or construction technology implementation specialist
• Familiarity with Critical Path Method scheduling, Gantt-based project views, or Primavera P6 workflows
• Experience connecting customer-facing implementation or construction operations with software product development
• Experience improving lightweight product processes within an early-stage team

What You Will Be Doing Daily Responsibilities

• Work directly with the co-founders to clarify product ideas, uncover missing details, and translate construction outcomes into actionable requirements
• Write user stories with clear acceptance criteria and testable outcomes
• Own, prioritize, and sequence the product backlog to keep development focused on the right work
• Define what the team builds and in what order, partnering with the engineering lead on feasibility and execution
• Serve as the development team's go-to product decision-maker when the co-founders are unavailable
• Push back constructively when requests are incomplete, requirements conflict, or priorities need to change
• Translate between construction scheduling practices and software development, including CPM logic, scheduler workflows, and expectations around P6 integration
• Track active development, communicate progress, and surface risks before they affect delivery
• Improve the team's existing ways of working to reduce ambiguity, prevent rework, and maintain development momentum

First 90 Days
First 30 days - Learn the product and build trust

• Understand the product well enough to follow technical discussions
• Learn each developer's responsibilities and areas of ownership
• Build the co-founders' confidence in your ability to communicate requirements without losing important context

By 60 days - Establish clarity and ownership

• Create a structured, prioritized backlog
• Become the development team's first point of contact for product questions
• Provide decisions that keep work moving and reduce reliance on the founders to unblock development

By 90 days - Create a repeatable product workflow

• Establish yourself as the person the co-founders turn to when shaping new feature ideas before they reach developers
• Narrow the gap between requested outcomes and delivered functionality
• Reduce rework and help the team maintain a consistent development flow

The Offer

• Base salary of $150,000-$180,000 per year
• Full-time, onsite work in Midtown Manhattan, New York
• Direct collaboration with co-founders and the development team
• Ownership of product requirements, backlog priorities, and development sequencing
• Opportunity to shape product practices and contribute to a growing enterprise software platform
• A hands-on role connecting construction expertise with software development

Applicants must be authorized to work in the US on a full-time basis now and in the future.