Staff Product Manager

About Nexcess

Nexcess provides specialty cloud solutions for organizations where performance and compliance have to coexist. We serve businesses worldwide, from agencies scaling client sites to enterprises running mission-critical operations. We've built our reputation on deep technical expertise and genuine partnership with every client we work with. Behind every environment we manage is a team of people who take the craft seriously and keep showing up when it matters.

Overview

Nexcess is building the next generation of WordPress hosting and software, with AI integrated into how customers build, launch, manage, and grow their sites. We are seeking a Staff Product Manager to lead the product strategy and roadmap for Managed WordPress and Managed WooCommerce and to identify and advance high-value AI capabilities within those offerings.

This is a senior individual-contributor role with broad product leadership responsibility. You will shape the products’ target customer segments, value propositions, product experiences, roadmaps, and commercial strategies. You will lead the development and launch of new AI-enabled capabilities and support their evolution into scalable, sustainable offerings that deliver measurable customer and business value.

The VP of Product owns the company’s overall AI vision and software strategy. You will serve as a key contributor to that strategy by bringing customer insights, market evidence, product expertise, and data-informed recommendations. You will translate approved strategic priorities into actionable product plans for Managed WordPress and Managed WooCommerce and incorporate product and customer learnings into ongoing strategy development.

You will partner closely with Engineering, Design, Marketing, Sales, Customer Success, Support, and executive leadership. You will lead cross-functional initiatives through influence, establish alignment across stakeholders, and help develop product management capabilities through mentoring and coaching. Product decisions and priorities will be advanced within the role’s delegated authority and applicable company governance processes.

Compensation: The base salary for this position is between $150k-$190k depending on experience and location

Responsibilities

Product Ownership: Managed WordPress and Managed WooCommerce

• Define and maintain the product strategy, target customer segments, customer needs, value propositions, and scope of Managed WordPress and Managed WooCommerce.
• Develop and manage product roadmaps that identify strategic priorities, key investments, trade-offs, dependencies, and expected outcomes.
• Lead product decisions related to features, packaging, service tiers, upgrade paths, and the end-to-end customer experience, in alignment with applicable business priorities and governance processes.
• Define and prioritize opportunities to incorporate AI capabilities across the customer lifecycle, including onboarding, site creation, optimization, maintenance, and growth.

Contribute to AI and Software Strategy

• Partner with the VP of Product and cross-functional stakeholders to inform and support the company’s AI vision and software strategy.
• Develop and communicate customer- and data-informed recommendations regarding AI opportunities, priorities, risks, and expected business value.
• Translate approved company and product strategies into actionable plans and roadmaps for Managed WordPress and Managed WooCommerce.
• Incorporate customer insights, market developments, product performance, and lessons learned into ongoing strategy and roadmap planning.
• Represent the hosting and WooCommerce product perspective in portfolio-level discussions involving software, infrastructure, and shared customer experiences.

Lead New Product and Capability Development

• Identify and assess unmet customer needs, validate product opportunities, and lead the development and launch of new products or capabilities.
• Lead customer discovery, product validation, prototyping, and experimentation activities, including hands-on evaluation of AI models, prompts, tools, and agent frameworks, as appropriate.
• Define and prioritize minimum viable product scope, establish success measures, and use customer and performance insights to guide iteration and future investment.
• Balance speed, quality, customer value, technical feasibility, risk, and business considerations throughout the product development lifecycle.

Lead AI Product and Agentic Capabilities

• Define product requirements and partner with engineering and other stakeholders to design, develop, launch, and improve AI-enabled and agentic product capabilities.
• Evaluate opportunities for AI agents to support customer outcomes, including site setup, content generation, performance optimization, migrations, and customer support.
• Establish or contribute to standards for AI evaluation, quality measurement, safety and risk controls, cost management, model selection, and performance monitoring.
• Partner with engineering and technical stakeholders on architecture, technical feasibility, implementation considerations, and product trade-offs.

Drive Commercial Product Performance

• Lead product strategy and planning in support of agreed commercial and customer outcomes, including pricing, packaging, margin, adoption, attach rate, conversion, retention, and expansion.
• Develop business cases and product investment recommendations that incorporate customer value, market opportunity, expected financial impact, costs, risks, and resource requirements.
• Partner with Marketing, Sales, Customer Success, and other stakeholders to support product positioning, launches, go-to-market planning, adoption, and customer growth.
• Monitor product performance and recommend adjustments based on agreed business and customer measures.

Define and Monitor Product Performance

• Establish product and business KPIs aligned with company objectives and approved product strategies.
• Partner with relevant teams to support appropriate product instrumentation, data quality, reporting, and performance measurement.
• Communicate product performance, key insights, risks, and recommended actions to product leadership and relevant stakeholders.
• Use customer feedback, market information, and quantitative performance data to prioritize investments, improve product outcomes, and recommend changes to product plans when appropriate.

Champion the Customer

• Engage directly with customers and customer-facing teams through interviews, support insights, sales discussions, customer feedback, community engagement, and other appropriate channels.
• Incorporate customer needs, feedback, and experience considerations into product strategy, prioritization, and decision-making.
• Evaluate qualitative and quantitative customer insights to identify trends, validate product opportunities, and inform product recommendations.

Engage the WordPress and Partner Ecosystem

• Participate in relevant WordPress, hosting, developer, agency, and partner communities to gather market insights, strengthen relationships, and support product strategy.
• Build and maintain productive relationships with agencies, developers, technology partners, and plugin and theme providers.
• Represent the company and its products in industry or community forums, events, and external engagements, as appropriate and in coordination with applicable company policies and communications guidelines.

Provide Product Leadership

• Mentor and coach product managers and contribute to the development of product management practices, capabilities, and standards.
• Lead cross-functional product initiatives by establishing clear goals, responsibilities, priorities, decision-making processes, and stakeholder alignment.
• Facilitate effective collaboration and support timely resolution of product risks, dependencies, and areas of ambiguity.
• Assume people-management responsibilities if assigned based on organizational needs and business requirements.

What Success Looks Like

• Product Strategy: Define and execute an aligned strategy and roadmap for Managed WordPress and Managed WooCommerce.
• AI Innovation: Deliver AI capabilities that provide measurable customer and business value.
• Commercial Impact: Improve agreed outcomes such as revenue, adoption, conversion, retention, or margin.
• Performance Management: Establish KPIs and use data to guide product decisions and investments.
• Strategic Leadership: Influence the company’s AI and software strategy and advocate for the products across the WordPress ecosystem.

Required Qualifications

• Significant product management experience, including experience operating at a Staff, Principal, Lead, or comparable level of scope, responsibility, and impact.
• Demonstrated knowledge of the WordPress ecosystem, including plugins, themes, agencies, freelancers, and common website development and maintenance practices.
• Experience with web hosting, cloud infrastructure, or related technology products, with an understanding of the technical and commercial considerations that may differ from traditional SaaS products.
• Demonstrated experience leading or contributing significantly to the development and launch of new products or product capabilities, including bringing offerings from concept through customer availability and adoption.
• Hands-on experience developing, testing, evaluating, or launching AI-enabled products or features. This may include prompt development, model-output evaluation, experimentation, or implementation of customer-facing AI capabilities.
• Experience designing, implementing, or managing AI agents or agentic systems, including relevant tooling, orchestration, evaluation, monitoring, and failure or exception handling.
• Experience contributing to commercial product outcomes, such as revenue growth, pricing, packaging, monetization, margin, or other business performance measures.
• Experience defining, monitoring, and using product and business KPIs to evaluate performance, inform decisions, and drive accountability.
• Experience leading, mentoring, coaching, or managing product professionals or cross-functional product teams.
• Demonstrated customer focus, including experience gathering and incorporating direct customer feedback into product strategy, prioritization, or product decisions.
• Experience building, supporting, or actively participating in developer, creator, open-source, or comparable professional communities.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience founding, operating, or leading a business, agency, product venture, or comparable initiative with significant ownership and accountability for business outcomes.
• Technical knowledge sufficient to understand software development concepts, interpret technical documentation or code, evaluate APIs, and collaborate effectively with engineering teams.
• Experience working within a multi-product or portfolio business serving shared or overlapping customer segments.
• Familiarity with open-source communities, contribution models, governance practices, and commercial business models associated with open-source software.
  
  
  

Physical Demands & Work Environment

The physical demands and work environment characteristics described below are representative of those that may be encountered while performing the essential functions of this position. Reasonable accommodations may be provided to qualified individuals with disabilities to enable them to perform the essential functions of the position, consistent with applicable law.

• This position routinely requires the ability to communicate effectively and exchange information with others.
• The position requires regular use of a computer, keyboard, and other standard office equipment.
• The individual may be required to remain in a stationary position and work at a desk or computer for extended periods.
• The position may be performed in a climate-controlled office environment or an approved remote work environment.
• The role involves managing multiple priorities, responding to evolving business needs, and meeting time-sensitive deliverables.
• Occasional movement of office materials or equipment weighing up to 15 pounds may be required.

Disclaimer

This job description is only a summary of the typical functions of the position. It is not intended to be an exhaustive or comprehensive list of all job responsibilities, tasks, or duties. Additional duties and tasks may be assigned as part of the job function. Liquid Web Inc. reserves the right to modify, interpret, or apply this job description in a way that best supports the organizational needs. The job description in no way creates or implies an employment contract. The employment contract remains “at will”. 

Equal Employment Opportunity Policy: Liquid Web is committed to offering equal employment opportunity without regard to age, color, disability, gender, gender identity, genetic information, marital status, military status, national origin, race, religion, sexual orientation, veteran status, or any other legally protected characteristic.