Lead Product Manager

Job Title: Lead Product Manager - Application and Platform Connectors
Location: Hyderabad, India / Remote, Anywhere in India
Department: Product Management
Reports To: Director, Product Management

Job Overview

Celigo is seeking a Lead Product Manager - Application and Platform Connectors to drive the strategy and execution of our connector ecosystem within our iPaaS platform. This role is designed for experienced professionals who excel in technical product leadership without direct people management responsibilities. This role focuses on driving the technical vision, execution, and collaboration across cross-functional teams to ensure successful product outcomes. The ideal candidate will act as a key technical expert, bridging the gap between engineering, product strategy, and business needs.

Key Responsibilities

Product Strategy and Vision

• Develop and execute the connector strategy, ensuring alignment with business objectives and customer needs, while leveraging AI to enhance UX and streamline the integration experience.
• Conduct market research and competitive analysis to identify trends in connectivity.

Product Development and Execution

• Own the full lifecycle of connectors, defining requirements, managing engineering execution, and optimizing performance.
• Develop Feature Requirements Documents (FRDs) and user stories for cloud and on-prem applications.
• Oversee product roadmap discussions, triad meetings, and prioritization to ensure security, scalability, and usability.
• Research and implement enhancements to improve the configuration and troubleshooting experience for users.

Cross-Functional Collaboration and Influence

• Lead communication between engineering, sales, marketing, and support, ensuring clear updates on roadmap priorities and risks.
• Support go-to-market efforts through customer and partner enablement, including documentation and training.
• Ensure roadmap priorities are informed by internal stakeholders and customer needs, while the connector operations team manages communication of vendor updates.
• Work closely with UX, AI, and engineering teams to refine the product usability experience.

Customer Focus

• Engage customers and communicate roadmap priorities, ensuring integration reliability and usability.
• Leverage customer insights and data analytics to refine connector performance and user experience.
• Lead Product Advisory Councils (PACs) to align development with customer expectations.
• Collaborate with the connector operations team to ensure upgrades, deprecations, and maintenance are incorporated into the product roadmap.
• Use AI-driven insights to enhance the onboarding experience and simplify complex integration flows.

Risk Management and Problem Solving

• Identify and mitigate risks across API updates, endpoint-driven changes, and performance optimizations.
• Provide regular updates to senior leadership on connector health and major technical risks.
• Evaluate trade-offs between engineering investment, customer impact, and endpoint-driven requirements to ensure long-term connector stability.

Technical Leadership

• Serve as a subject matter expert and lead within the connector team, providing technical guidance and best practices for managing integrations at scale.
• Encourage collaboration and innovation in API connectivity and integration product management.
• Support and mentor peers in understanding best practices for designing and maintaining high-performing connectors.

Skills and Qualifications

Educational Background

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Business, or a related field. An advanced degree is a plus.

Experience

• 10+ years in SaaS, iPaaS, or API-first product management, with some experience in connectivity and integrations across APIs (REST, SOAP, GraphQL), file transfers (SFTP, FTPS, FTP, cloud), event-driven systems (Kafka, JMS), and On-Prem Agent (OPA) connectors.
• Experience with ERP and CRM integration platforms (e.g. NetSuite, Salesforce, SAP, Microsoft)
• Proven experience leading strategic initiatives, and technical discussions, driving execution without direct management responsibilities.
• Experience in leveraging AI to enhance UX, particularly in reducing user friction in integration setup and troubleshooting.
• Strong ability to influence senior leadership and drive cross-functional collaboration.

Core Competencies

• Strategic thinker with expertise in API integrations, connector frameworks, and iPaaS platforms.
• Technical acumen to engage in AI-driven discussions, API authentication protocols, on-prem connectivity, and UX improvements for integration automation.
• Excellent communication skills, capable of articulating complex connector challenges to technical and non-technical audiences.
• Data-driven decision-maker, optimizing connector performance using customer insights and API monitoring metrics.

Bonus Skills

• Deep experience in iPaaS, API management, and connector frameworks.
• Expertise in API-first platforms and best practices for managing API deprecations and endpoint updates.
• Experience designing AI-driven UX enhancements, such as AI-powered recommendations, automated troubleshooting, and no-code integration assistance.

Physical Requirements

• Prolonged periods sitting at a desk and working on a computer.