Director of Product

Lightspark is the easiest, most reliable, enterprise-grade gateway to the Lightning Network, enabling money to move just like bits and bytes do on the Internet. Lightspark services aim to be the fastest, lowest cost, easiest and most reliable way to send and receive payments globally using Lightning. We want to  deliver open payments for the Internet at scale and we’re laser-focused on solving real problems for our customers with best-in-class innovative software solutions.  We aim to help businesses around the world benefit from real time payments and build amazing new experiences for themselves and their customers. Lightspark is headquartered in Los Angeles but serving the world.

We are seeking a Director of Product to lead Lightspark’s Payments team.  This is an incredible opportunity to join as our first PM hire and will work closely with our Engineering, Design and Leadership teams. As a seasoned Product Manager, you have experience building payments platforms and technical infrastructure at scale.  In this role, you’ll be responsible for guiding the development and success of our product solutions. You are passionate about creating innovative digital payment solutions, improving how our business partners can move money and understanding customer needs. As a key individual contributor, you will collaborate closely with cross-functional teams to drive product innovation and ensure alignment with market demands and company objectives. You understand the competitive landscape and stay up to date with market trends especially, with regard to the Lightning Network, blockchain technology, and the broader fintech space.  This position is based onsite in our offices in Culver City, Los Angeles, California.

WHAT YOU’LL BE DOING:

• Define a strategic vision for our payment products and the long-term roadmap to achieve it, ensuring alignment with our business strategies and customer needs

• Define and document product requirements, both functional and non- functional, user journeys & money flows and ensure all development teams have clarity on what the customer use case are and how the solution can fit into our partner infrastructure

• Collaborate with Engineering, Technical Program Management, Design, Marketing, and Sales teams to execute successful product development and implementation

• Collaborate with the CTO and engineering teams to architect and design platform services, SDKs, and API’s . Have enough technical depth to understand internal and external system dependencies

• Conduct thorough market research to identify customer pain points, potential opportunities, and competitive trends within the crypto and fintech space, contributing insights to shape product offerings

• Prioritize product requirements based on customer feedback, competitive analysis, and industry trends, ensuring a customer-centric approach to product development

• Owns, maintains, and develops a product backlog that enables development to support the overall strategic roadmap and value proposition.

• Ensure we are building the most reliable, performant platform, including system reliability, API extensibility, and latency. 

• Contribute to the development and maintenance of product documentation, including user stories, feature specifications, and acceptance criteria. 

• Partner closely with marketing and sales teams to assist in crafting go-to-market strategies, refining product positioning, and messaging

WHAT WE’RE LOOKING FOR:

• 10+ years of experience as a Product Manager

• 5+ years in the digital payments space

• Computer Science background is ideal but not required

• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to synthesize complex information and develop actionable insights

• Strong technical expertise, especially regarding designing and developing complex platform, APIs, and SDKs

• Strong understanding of software development lifecycle

• Experience working cross functionally with senior leaders including the CEO or C Suite

• Proven track record of delivering successful products from zero to one

• Experience communicating effectively with both technical and non-technical stakeholders

• Strong written and verbal communication skills

• Experience working independently and a strong sense of ownership 

• Passion for innovation and a desire to make a meaningful impact in the financial technology space

• Genuine interest in Lightspark’s mission and values and motivated to contribute to the innovative solutions we are developing

• Living in, or willing to relocate, to Los Angeles, CA

Lightspark is on a mission to build an open payment protocol for the Internet at scale and therefore we’re committed to creating a more inclusive and diverse workplace to reflect the customers we serve. We welcome interest from individuals of all backgrounds and levels of experience who share our mission. We do not discriminate based on race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, disability status, or other applicable legally protected characteristics.