Staff / Principal Product Manager, Cinematica

About Inkitt

Inkitt is building the Disney of the 21st Century, leveraging AI and predictive algorithms to discover unknown stories and turn them into blockbuster hits. The company produces a new $1M ebook every 7 days, sells directly through its Inkitt Galatea app, and translates bestsellers onto the screen via Inkitt CandyJar, the #1 US‑based micro‑drama platform. Backed by top VCs such as Khosla, Kleiner Perkins, and NEA Ventures, Inkitt recently expanded into Ironblood, an AI‑native streaming platform for action and adventure, and operates Cinematica, an AI‑native video studio that integrates the entire creative‑technical workflow.

How We Work

Founder and CEO Ali sets company priorities and expects you to own ideas. You will research competitors, the industry, and users daily, maintaining a live Top 3 list of highest‑impact ideas for your area. Ideas are pitched on a single slide with impact calculations; any work requiring more than a week of engineering must include a methodical business case demonstrating ROI. Rejected ideas are sharpened and re‑pitched. Once approved, you own execution, release, and A/B ramping, with performance measured by how often you beat your own Top 3 and the realized impact of shipped features.

Responsibilities

• Own the Cinematica roadmap end‑to‑end—including adaptation, shot generation, character and style consistency, music, editing, and quality evaluation—and decide what gets built first, what gets cut, and what waits.
• Transform a production process that currently relies on individual judgement into a platform others can run: first for our own studio, then for storytellers beyond Inkitt.
• Define what “good” looks like for an Inkitt story on screen, document it, and enforce the standard.
• Build the evaluation system behind that standard: rubrics, benchmarks, blind comparisons, and human review loops, so quality is measured with evidence rather than taste.
• Own the model and prompt strategy, and make buy‑versus‑build decisions together with engineering, design, analytics, and user research.
• Drive improvements through the full product lifecycle: ideation, specification, development, release, analysis, and iteration.
• Run a tight iteration loop: ship, observe viewer behavior, diagnose failures precisely, feed insights back into the pipeline, and measure the delta.
• Collaborate closely with the Creative Director and AI‑Video Production team—your first users—to turn craft judgement into repeatable systems.
• Educate and influence cross‑functional stakeholders and leadership to secure roadmap buy‑in, and communicate hypotheses and results clearly.
• Make quality legible by reporting it as a moving metric and linking it to retention and conversion outcomes.

Qualifications

• 6+ years of professional experience at a fast‑growing tech company building creative prosumer/enterprise tools or AI‑powered products (years on the job, not necessarily a “product manager” title).
• A roadmap you owned outright: you set the sequence, decided what wasn’t built, and can explain the cost and rationale.
• Demonstrable taste: ability to compare generated videos, articulate why one is better, and codify that judgement into a reusable rubric.
• Proven track record owning the quality of creative output at scale and building measurement systems—benchmarks, human evaluation, blind comparisons, A/B testing—and a perspective on the limits of automated metrics. Experience in generative AI, film/TV post‑production, games, animation, or creative tooling counts.
• Hands‑on product experience: you have built something yourself and can walk interviewers through a shipped feature, film, reel, or side project.
• Exceptional analytical skills, able to quantify qualitative and quantitative data for product and strategic decisions (advanced SQL skills required).
• Self‑starter who delivers results with limited supervision in a fast‑paced environment.
• Strong product intuition and UX design sensibility with a user‑centric mindset.
• Willingness to roll up sleeves and go above and beyond to ensure success.
• Ability to work closely with cross‑functional stakeholders to determine first‑class solutions.

Desired Traits

• Autonomous
• Bring solutions instead of problems
• Data‑driven
• Quick to action
• A high‑functioning workaholic
• Seeking exponential career growth
• Enjoy building a generational AI × entertainment company

Benefits

• 401(k) plan designed to help you save for the future
• Health benefits tailored to your needs, including medical, dental, and vision coverage
• Professional coaching for everyone
• Team‑building events, including an annual Tulum trip
• Unlimited access to our Galatea and CandyJar apps
• Unlimited budget for self‑development books
• Charity donation of your choice at your one‑year anniversary
• Free lunch in the office every day
• ClassPass membership for US‑based employees and gym access for Berlin employees
• Dog‑friendly offices in Berlin and San Francisco

Compensation

Salary offers are determined based on the candidate’s experience, skills, alignment with the role’s requirements, internal equity, and market benchmarks. The role may be hired at either Staff or Principal level; the posted range spans both, and the final level is calibrated during the interview process.

Location

Onsite in the San Francisco Bay Area.