Product Lead (Contract)

The Problem We're Solving

Most people who try to learn a language quit. Not because they're lazy, but because traditional apps optimize for streaks and gamification instead of actual conversation skills.

We're building something different: a language learning experience that gets people speaking from day one and keeps them coming back because they're actually having conversations, not just completing lessons.

The Opportunity

You'll own the core product experience for Jumpspeak—the app that hundreds of thousands of learners use to gain real conversational confidence in new languages. This isn't about managing a team or attending strategy offsites. This is about shipping features that directly impact whether someone can order coffee in Paris or negotiate a deal in São Paulo.

You'll work directly with our CEO and small product team to shape what language learning should feel like. Not through 50-slide decks, but through rapid experimentation, user interviews, and data.

What You'll Actually Do

Own the Product (not just a feature)

• You are the DRI for our mobile app experience end-to-end—onboarding, lesson design, conversation practice, retention mechanics
• Define what success looks like, then build and iterate until you hit it
• Make the hard tradeoffs between what users say they want and what data shows they need
• Ship weekly, not quarterly

Solve Real Retention Problems

• Figure out why learners stop showing up and fix it (hint: it's not gamification)
• Design learning experiences that create genuine progress, not just dopamine hits
• Balance pedagogical effectiveness with engagement—you can't teach someone who's not there
• Run experiments on lesson structure, difficulty curves, conversation formats

Go Deep on User Psychology

• Spend serious time talking to users—the ones who love us, the ones who churned, the ones stuck on lesson 5
• Understand what makes someone willing to feel stupid while learning a language
• Design for moments of breakthrough ("I just had my first real conversation!")
• Know your user segments cold: why does a 40-year-old professional learn differently than a 22-year-old traveler?

Work Cross-Functionally (But Stay in the Driver's Seat)

• Partner with engineers to scope what's possible vs. optimal
• Collaborate with our Head of Creative Strategy to align product experience with acquisition messaging
• Work with content/pedagogy team on lesson design—you own the experience, they own the curriculum
• Ship features that growth can actually leverage

Use Data, Don't Hide Behind It

• Analyze cohort retention, feature adoption, session depth metrics daily
• Run A/B tests on everything—lesson length, conversation formats, UI patterns
• Know when to trust the data and when to trust your judgment
• Build simple dashboards that show what's working (and what's dying)

Think International From Day One

• Consider how features work across languages, cultures, learning motivations
• Design for markets we haven't entered yet
• Understand that "conversation practice" means different things in Tokyo vs. Madrid
• Work with localization to make experiences feel native, not translated

You Should Apply If

You Have:

• 5-8 years in product management, with at least 3 years shipping consumer mobile products
• Track record of measurably improving retention or engagement metrics (tell us the numbers)
• Experience at a consumer subscription app or freemium product (you understand the funnel)
• Comfort writing specs, running experiments, and working in Figma/analytics tools yourself
• Technical knowledge and experience to communicate and understand fully what the engineering team requires
• Experience using some Figma or other design tools to effectively communicate what you need
• Shipped features used by 100k+ people

Bonus Points:

• You've learned a language (successfully or unsuccessfully—both teach you something)
• EdTech or learning product experience
• Worked on international products or marketplace dynamics
• Experience with AI/conversational interfaces
• Background in linguistics, education, or behavioral psychology
• You've built for both engagement AND learning outcomes (these often conflict)

You Are:

• Comfortable with ambiguity—we're still figuring out what works
• Opinionated but not dogmatic—strong convictions, loosely held
• Willing to be wrong quickly so you can be right eventually
• User-obsessed but data-informed (not data-paralyzed)
• Low ego about whose idea ships, high ego about quality
• Energized by shipping, not by talking about shipping

You Should NOT Apply If

• You want to manage a team right away (that might come, but not day one)
• You need perfect specs before building
• You think your job is to write PRDs for others to execute
• You're looking for a "strategic" role (this is hands-on)
• You want to work on 10 things at once (you'll own 2-3 big bets)
• You need enterprise software stability (we move fast and break things occasionally)

What Makes This Role Different

You'll Have Real Ownership

• This isn't a "Product Manager 2" role where you own a button—you own the experience
• Direct access to CEO and ability to influence company strategy
• Authority to kill features or experiments that aren't working
• Your work shows up in the app people use every day

You'll Solve Interesting Problems

• How do you teach conversation without it feeling like a chatbot?
• What's the right balance between structure and flexibility in learning paths?
• How do you make someone feel progress when language learning is inherently slow?
• Can you build one product that works for 18-year-olds and 60-year-olds?

You'll Work With Sharp People

• Small team that ships fast and debates ideas openly
• Engineers who care about craft and user experience
• Marketing team that understands product deeply (they're not just pushing ads)
• Leadership that's built successful consumer products before

You'll Actually Impact People's Lives

• Users send us videos of themselves having their first conversation in a new language
• Your work helps people get jobs, connect with family, travel with confidence
• This isn't social media—it's a tool people use to genuinely improve their lives

The Uncommon Perks

• Extreme user access: Talk to users weekly, attend user interviews, read support tickets
• Fast iteration: Ship small, learn, iterate—not waterfall planning cycles
• Data transparency: Full access to all product metrics, no gatekeeping
• Learning budget: We'd be hypocrites if we didn't support your learning goals
• Language learning: Free Jumpspeak premium (obviously) + budget for tutors/classes
• Remote flexibility: Work from anywhere, reasonable timezone overlap with team
• Actual work-life balance: We're building a language learning app, not curing cancer—go live your life

What We Care About

We're not impressed by:

• Where you went to school
• Whether you worked at a FAANG company
• How many frameworks you can name-drop
• Your ability to make beautiful slide decks

We are impressed by:

• Products you've shipped that people actually use
• Problems you've solved with incomplete information
• How you think about tradeoffs
• Your ability to articulate why something failed and what you learned
• Genuine curiosity about how people learn

How to Apply

Send us:

1. Your resume (keep it to 1-2 pages)
2. A short note (not a cover letter, just 2-3 paragraphs) answering:
   • What's a product decision you made that improved retention? What was the metric change?
   • Why language learning specifically? (If you don't care about this space, this isn't the role for you)
3. Optional but interesting: Show us how you think
   • A feature you'd kill from Duolingo and why
   • A retention experiment you'd run in your first month at Jumpspeak
   • A product that does engagement + learning well (doesn't have to be language learning)

We'll respond to everyone within one week. First round is a 30-minute conversation about how you work, not a case study presentation.

We're an equal opportunity employer. We don't care about your background, we care about your ability to build great products. If you need accommodations during the interview process, just ask.