Product Manager

ABOUT BASELAYER

Every day, financial institutions make consequential decisions about which businesses to onboard and trust, in order to grow with confidence. Baselayer exists to make those decisions faster, more accurate, and much less expensive. We offer the leading AI Risk Platform that automates merchant onboarding, underwriting, and fraud prevention for over 20% of the Financial Institutions in America. By combining authoritative government data, AI agents purpose-built for web analysis, and a network powered by millions of applications, Baselayer prevents billions of dollars in merchant fraud and credit risk and instantly automates good merchant applications.

ABOUT THE TEAM

We're a small team solving a big problem. Business fraud costs the financial system billions every year, and the tools built to fight it are slow, expensive, and outdated. We're changing that. You'd be joining a small, close-knit team where ownership is real, customer impact is immediate, and the work you ship matters from day one. We move deliberately, communicate directly, and care deeply about quality. If you want to look back in five years and know you worked on something that changed how trust works across major financial institutions, let's chat!

As Baselayer's first dedicated Product Manager, you'll report directly to our CTO and own the creation, design, and full scoping of new products that take Baselayer beyond financial institutions and into new verticals where business identity is broken. You'll define what we build, why we build it, and what "done" looks like. You won't be inheriting a roadmap. You'll be writing one.

This role is hands-on. You'll write the specs, draw the wireframes, partner with design, and sit in eng standups. You'll also own the existing product surface: setting priorities, sequencing the roadmap, and making the daily calls that keep engineering shipping the right things. New verticals are the headline, but the day-to-day is a mix of zero-to-one product definition and disciplined operating cadence on what's already in market.

New Product Definition & Scoping

• Lead the scoping of new products targeting verticals beyond financial institutions, from initial thesis through detailed product spec
• Translate market opportunity into product requirements, including target user, core workflows, success metrics, and what's explicitly out of scope
• Build the artifacts that align the company: PRDs, one-pagers, wireframes, decision logs, and launch criteria
• Own the "what" and the "why" so eng and design can own the "how"

Specs, Wireframes & Design Partnership

• Write specs that engineers can build from without a dozen follow-up questions
• Produce wireframes and flow diagrams that make tradeoffs concrete and force decisions early
• Partner closely with design on UX, with strong opinions on craft and a clear bar for what ships
• Run spec reviews that surface ambiguity before it becomes rework

Roadmap & Prioritization for Existing Products

• Own the roadmap for Baselayer's current product surface, sequencing what gets built and what waits
• Make the daily prioritization calls that keep engineering focused on the highest-leverage work
• Build a planning cadence that's predictable for the team and legible to the rest of the company
• Kill work that isn't pulling its weight

Cross-Functional Execution

• Drive execution across engineering, design, and GTM (Sales, Marketing, CS, Growth)
• Run the launch process: scope lock, build, beta, GA, with clear handoffs and ownership at each stage
• Be the connective tissue between what's being built and what's being sold, supported, and marketed
• Operate with founder-level ownership and urgency. You'll be trusted to make calls and held to the outcomes

• 5+ years in product management, with at least one zero-to-one product you scoped, shipped, and grew into material revenue
• Track record working closely with senior engineering leadership (CTO, VP Eng, founding engineers) as a true thought partner, not a ticket-writer
• Strong written communication. You write specs, briefs, and one-pagers that move decisions forward without a meeting
• Strong opinions on UX and product craft, with the ability to defend them and the humility to update them
• Operates with founder-level ownership and urgency. You don't wait to be told what's broken
• Comfortable with technical concepts. You can hold your own in architecture conversations without needing to write the code yourself
• Bias toward shipping. A v1 in market beats a v3 in a doc

• Experience taking a product into a new vertical or expanding into adjacent markets
• Background in B2B SaaS, fintech, identity, KYB, fraud, risk, or compliance
• Worked at an early-stage company where you owned product without the safety net of a PM team
• Experience as the first PM hire at a venture-backed startup

WORK LOCATION

• Based in SF; hybrid - 4 days per week in office.

COMPENSATION

• Salary Range: $180,000 – $240,000 + Variable Bonus

BENEFITS

• Time off when you need it: Flexible PTO so you can recharge without red tape.
• In-person energy: We're based in NYC & SF and meet in the office 3-5 days a week.
• Competitive compensation: We pay well and back it with equity. We want you to think and act like an owner.
• Career rocket fuel: You'll help build the foundation of a high-growth startup, working side by side with experienced founders and team members who've done it before.
• Benefits on us: We cover 100% of your health, dental, and vision premiums. No surprise deductions from your paycheck.
• HSA contributions included: We contribute to your HSA on applicable plans, so your coverage works as hard as you do
• Stay healthy, stay sharp: A $250 annual gym stipend to help you bring your best self to work, and everywhere else
• A seat at the table: We believe in transparency, radical candor, and giving every team member a voice 🔥