Technical Product Manager

Job Description

At FlowFuse, the Technical Product Manager (TPM) bridges product strategy and technical execution. They turn complex technical challenges into measurable product outcomes, ensuring engineering delivers solutions that meet customer needs and quality standards.

This role blends technical depth and product acumen. The TPM dives into architecture, weighs trade-offs, and uses data to guide decisions on debt, scalability, and performance.

The Technical Product Manager reports to the Director of Product and is primarily responsible for:

• Bridging strategy and execution: Translate product strategy into clear, measurable technical outcomes and objectives.
• Defining requirements: Partner with engineering to balance user needs, feasibility, and business impact.
• Delivering outcomes: Set success metrics/KPIs, measure progress, and connect decisions to results.

Core Tasks and Responsibilities:

• Own metrics: Define, track, and report adoption, performance, reliability, and business impact.
• Plan sprints and releases: Align roadmap, priorities, debt, and infrastructure with product strategy.
• Shape specs/architecture: Co-create technical specs and provide architectural input.
• Translate across teams: Bridge product, engineering, sales, and customer success.
• Prioritize with data: Use usage data, customer feedback, and capacity signals.
• Assess feasibility: Evaluate complexity, approaches, and technical risk.
• Advocate quality: Set and monitor quality, performance, and reliability targets.

What is the Technical Product Manager not responsible for?

• Writing production code or implementing features directly.
• Managing engineers or individual performance.
• Final technical architecture decisions (owned by CTO/engineering leadership).

90-Day Plan

We believe setting clear expectations enables new teammates to thrive. Here's what success looks like in your first 90 days at FlowFuse:

Days 0–30: Learn, Map, Build Trust

Theme: Context before control

Primary Objective: Build deep understanding of product, users, architecture, and team dynamics.

Product + Customer Immersion

• Review positioning and roadmap
• Understand core personas
• Join customer calls or review recordings

Technical Architecture Familiarity

• Walk through platform components
• Identify leverage vs fragility

Team Integration + Operating Rhythm

• Build relationships via 1:1s
• Observe planning, refinement, release

Backlog Current State Review

• Audit backlog structure and hygiene
• Identify quick wins

Success Signals by Day 30:

• Trusted relationships with engineering leads
• Clear product/customer value understanding
• Backlog structure understood

Deliverables:

• ✅ FlowFuse User + Value Map
• ✅ Architecture mental model + glossary
• ✅ "How FlowFuse Ships" overview
• ✅ Backlog health assessment

Days 31–60: Align, Clarify Priorities, Start Driving

Theme: From understanding → influence

Primary Objective: Shape execution via alignment, backlog clarity, and problem definition.

Define "What's Important Now" (WIN)

Partner with leadership and engineering to set top quarterly priorities in your swimlanes.

Establish Execution Cadence

• Weekly backlog refinement
• Sprint goal alignment and dependency surfacing

Improve Discovery → Delivery Flow

• Problem framing before solutioning
• Clear acceptance criteria and feedback loops

Lead Backlog Refinement

• Break initiatives into deliverable slices
• Ensure tickets are actionable

Success Signals by Day 60:

• TPM drives clarity, not just observing
• Engineering trusts prioritization inputs
• Backlog is execution-ready

Deliverables:

• ✅ WIN priorities + narrative
• ✅ Shared working agreement + operating rhythm
• ✅ Updated Epic/PRD template
• ✅ Engineering-ready epic(s) owned end-to-end

Days 61–90: Execute, Own Backlog, Drive Delivery

Theme: Shared ownership and momentum

Primary Objective: Own execution: prioritize, manage backlog, and ship with engineering.

Backlog Ownership with Engineering Leads

Co-own priority ordering, sprint readiness, and tradeoff decisions.

Roadmap Execution Visibility

• Sprint goal tracking
• Outcome-based roadmap updates

Ship Meaningful Customer Value

Drive at least one major platform or customer-facing improvement to release.

Institutionalize Collaboration

Solidify operating model and learning loops.

Success Signals by Day 90:

• TPM + engineering leads run backlog prioritization
• Sprint planning is outcome-driven
• Execution cadence is faster and clearer

Deliverables:

• ✅ Backlog actively managed weekly
• ✅ Now / Next / Later execution view
• ✅ Release + feedback capture
• ✅ FlowFuse Product Delivery Playbook v1

Goal: By day 90, the TPM has moved from learning → alignment → execution → shared backlog ownership, with clarity on WIN priorities and active backlog management.

Skills

• Technical depth: Understand architecture, APIs, databases, and SDLC; low-code/Node-RED is a plus.
• Outcome orientation: Define KPIs and use data to drive decisions and impact.
• Product/engineering fluency: Comfortable with user stories and technical implementation.
• Strategic to tactical: Convert strategy into deliverables and milestones.
• Analytical: Use qualitative and quantitative inputs for prioritization.
• Technical communication: Translate across technical and non-technical audiences.
• Collaborative problem solving: Partner with engineering to find pragmatic solutions.
• Trade-off judgment: Balance debt, features, performance, scalability, and business priorities.

Hiring Plan

1. Resume screening by hiring manager.
2. 20‑minute screening call with recruiter.
3. Director of Product interview (45m): product, technical fit, outcomes, communication.
4. CTO interview (45m): technical depth, collaboration, trade-offs.
5. Engineering Manager interview (30m): technical collaboration and requirements clarity.
6. Technical case study presentation with metrics and lessons learned.
7. Final interview (optional) with VP of Sales or stakeholder.
8. Offer.