Job Description: Director of Product Operations

# Director of Product Operations — Job Description

**Location:** Remote (US) / Hybrid in [city]
**Reports to:** VP Product or Chief Product Officer
**Comp band:** $220K-$290K base + equity (US tier-1 metro)
**Level:** First-line people manager; team of 2-5 PO ICs

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## About the role

The Director of Product Operations owns the product organization's operating system at the company level. You own a team of 2-5 PO ICs, a budget for the product team's tooling, and a seat at the CPO's leadership table.

This is a builder role. You will inherit some structure, you will inherit some chaos, and you will spend the next 18 months turning both into something that scales 3x without breaking.

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## What you'll do

- Manage a team of 2-5 PO ICs, including hiring, ramping, growth, and performance
- Own the product team's operating model — how we plan, decide, ship, and learn
- Own a multi-million-dollar tooling budget (PM, analytics, customer feedback, roadmap, design ops)
- Partner with the CPO on org design, headcount planning, and quarterly business reviews
- Be the named accountable for the product team's planning, launch, and decision-making cadence
- Sit on the product leadership team alongside VP Product, VP Design, VP Engineering
- Represent product operations to the rest of the company (sales, marketing, success, support, finance)

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## Team scope

| Element | Default for this role |
| --- | --- |
| Direct reports | 2-5 PO ICs (Manager and Senior level) |
| Indirect scope | All PMs in the product organization (typically 8-25) |
| Budget | $0.5M - $3M annual tooling spend |
| Cross-functional partners | VP Eng, VP Design, VP Sales, VP Marketing, VP CS, CFO |

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## What you'll need

**Required**
- 10+ years of operations, product management, or product ops experience
- 3+ years managing PO or program management teams (5+ direct reports cumulative)
- Track record of scaling a product operating system at a SaaS company past Series C
- Has built or substantially redesigned a planning system, launch process, or decision rights framework
- Excellent written communication; your strategy memos and operating reviews are the artifact
- Experience operating at the CPO / VP level

**Strong nice-to-haves**
- Prior PM tenure (multiple product cycles)
- Experience working through an IPO, M&A, or ZIRP-to-profitability transition
- Background in management consulting or chief-of-staff work
- Has interviewed and hired 10+ product or PO professionals

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## Compensation

| Component | Range |
| --- | --- |
| Base salary | $220K - $290K |
| Equity | 0.20% - 0.40% (4-year vest, 1-year cliff) |
| Bonus | 15-20% target |
| Benefits | Health, dental, vision, 401(k) match, $3K learning budget, executive coaching |

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## Interview process

1. Recruiter screen (30 min)
2. Hiring manager — VP Product or CPO (60 min)
3. Peer panel — VP Eng + VP Design (60 min)
4. CEO conversation (45 min, scheduled if first 3 rounds are strong)
5. Take-home case study (48h to prep, 90 min review with hiring committee)
6. Bar-raiser interview with a department head outside product (45 min)
7. Reference checks (3 managers + 2 direct reports + 2 cross-functional peers)

Total wall-clock time: 3-5 weeks.

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## Sourcing keywords (for LinkedIn Recruiter)

- Director of Product Operations
- Head of Product Operations
- Director of Product Programs
- VP Product Operations (downlevel into a Director role at a smaller stage)
- Chief of Staff to CPO (with team scope)

Filter by 10+ years experience, current or former Series C+ SaaS, and "Director" or "Head of" in a product-adjacent function.