Principal Product Manager

Role Description

Couchbase is building the operational data platform for AI. We are hiring a Principal Product Manager, AI to own a meaningful area of the AI portfolio across Capella and Couchbase Enterprise. Reporting to the VP of AI Product Management, this Principal PM partners closely with engineering, sales and GTM, marketing, and the broader AI organization to ship capabilities that solve real problems for our enterprise ICP.

This is a hands-on senior individual contributor role for someone who wants to do the work at the Principal level — write the PRFAQ, sit with the customer, push the tradeoff, ship the capability, defend the roadmap to leadership and analysts.

What You Will Own

• Product strategy and execution across an AI portfolio area:
• End-to-end ownership of a meaningful area within the AI portfolio.
• Strategy in your area, the roadmap, the PRFAQs and PRDs, the launch, the adoption — and the iteration after launch.
• Working backwards from the customer:
• Start with the customer and work backwards.
• Write the PRFAQ before any code is written.
• Validate with real, named enterprise customers.
• Engineering partnership:
• Work shoulder-to-shoulder with engineering.
• Own the PRD as a living document.
• Customer and design partner engagement:
• Run design partner programs for capabilities in your area.
• Build a pipeline of named reference customers.
• Cross-portfolio collaboration and build-vs-partner judgment:
• Coordinate across the broader product organization.
• Apply a deliberate build-vs-partner lens.
• Sales and GTM partnership:
• Equip sales, sales engineering, PMM, and partner GTM with what they need to win.
• External voice and analyst credibility:
• Contribute meaningfully as the product owner in analyst engagements.
• AI-driven PM practice:
• Use AI deeply and visibly in your own product management work.
• PM team development:
• Raise the PM bar across the AI team.
• Mentor and coach Senior and other PMs.

What You Will Deliver

• PRFAQs and PRDs for the capabilities you own, validated with named enterprise customers before engineering starts.
• Ship capabilities within your AI portfolio area with measurable adoption.
• Clear, defensible tradeoff decisions visible to engineering, sales, and GTM.
• Sales and GTM enablement that the field actually uses.
• Contributions to the broader AI portfolio narrative.
• Visible AI-driven PM practice that the rest of the team can learn from.
• A stronger PM bar across the AI organization.

Qualifications

• Twelve or more years in product management, with at least five on a technical platform.
• Deep technical fluency in modern AI infrastructure.
• Customer obsession and working-backwards rigor.
• Engineering credibility.
• Cross-functional trust.
• Exemplary AI-driven PM practice.
• Deep frontier-model experience.
• Strong written communication.
• A shipping record.

Requirements

• Experience at a database, data platform, or AI infrastructure company.
• Direct experience building or shipping vector search, agent memory, RAG pipelines, model serving, or related AI infrastructure capabilities.
• Public presence — blog posts, conference talks, OSS contributions, or analyst-facing work.
• Prior experience mentoring or developing other PMs.

Location and Reporting

• Based in one of the following locations: Remote-US.
• Regular travel to Couchbase HQ, customer sites, partner events, and industry conferences.
• Reports to the VP of AI Product Management.

Benefits

• Generous Time Off Program - Flexibility to care for you and your family.
• Wellness Benefits - A variety of world class medical plans to choose from.
• Financial Planning - Retirement program and Business Travel Insurance.
• Career Growth - Be valued, Create value approach.
• Fun Perks - An ergonomic and comfortable in-office / WFH setup.