Note: The job is a remote job and is open to candidates in USA. OptimaFI is a company that helps community financial institutions grow profitably through data, consulting, and cloud software. They are seeking a Founding Product Manager to create new products from scratch, focusing on understanding market needs and working closely with cross-functional teams to bring innovative solutions to market.
Responsibilities
- Find the real problem. Talk to bankers & credit union operators until a pattern is obvious. Separate the loud one-off request from the repeatable market problem
- Make the call. Decide what's worth building and what isn't, and own that decision out loud. Nobody's going to hand you the answer
- Build to learn before you build to earn. Prototype & test, kill what doesn't work. In our world you test responsibly: pilots and prototypes, not science experiments on paying banks
- Use AI to help you think, not do your thinking. Yes it's magical, yes it is a force multiplier, and yes it is the expectation
- Ship. Work the trade-offs with engineering and get real product out the door used by customers. Decks about product don't count
- Keep score. Define what success means before you build, then prove whether you hit it. Speak CFO, not just PM
Skills
- You've built a product or product line where none existed before. Not inherited, not maintained. Stood it up. You can walk us through one, start to finish
- You're AI-native. Not 'I've used ChatGPT a few times.' AI is already woven into how you work and you can show us
- You think and write clearly. Don't use seven words when three will do
- You've made a real bet with real consequences (budget, headcount, a build-vs-buy call) and can explain the reasoning, including what you got wrong
- You've operated without structure and made good decisions anyway
- You'll hold a well-reasoned line in a room full of people who disagree, and you'll change your mind the moment the evidence says to. You run on evidence, not opinion
- Commercial experience tying product decisions to adoption, retention, revenue, or share of wallet
- Fintech, community banking, credit union, or another regulated B2B environment. It helps, and you'll ramp faster. But we'd rather have a sharp 0-1 builder who learns the domain than a domain expert who doesn't have 0-1
Benefits
- Bonus
- Medical, dental, and vision coverage
- Flexible PTO
- A 401(k) match
- A work-from-home stipend
- A MacBook Pro, modern product-development tools
- Meaningful ownership of new product bets, with no inherited backlog or legacy product bureaucracy
- A leadership team that values straight talk, rapid learning, and responsible experimentation
- Direct access to 2500 customers, banking experts, and cross-functional partners who know the market deeply
- A remote environment that trusts adults to do excellent work without unnecessary oversight
Company Overview