Director of Product, Lab

Highlights

• Location: Georgia, Remote (core hours 9:00–18:00 CET)

• Stock options

• Languages: Fluent in English and Russian

• Reports to VP, Product

About Fundraise Up

Fundraise Up is a global fundraising platform that powers tens of millions of dollars in donations every month for leading nonprofits — including UNICEF, the Alzheimer's Association, and a wide range of global NGOs. We're known for product quality, performance, and a 4.9/5 rating across top review platforms.

As we scale the core, we're deliberately investing in high-risk, high-upside product bets that could define the future of digital fundraising. That's where the Lab comes in.

The Lab

The Lab is Fundraise Up's 0→1 track. It operates ahead of the roadmap, investigating opportunities driven by new technologies, AI, data, and infrastructure shifts — often before there's a clear buyer or demand signal.

The Lab does not run scaled products. It finds, validates, and hands off the ones worth scaling.

The Role

This is a player-coach role. You'll build and lead the Lab function while personally owning 1–2 of the highest-leverage bets.

Your job is to reduce uncertainty, not ship features. You'll own ideas end-to-end — from hypothesis framing through fast experiments to explicit investment decisions: scale, pivot, or kill. Most ideas should die early. A few may graduate into Core or New Products with strong evidence behind them.

Success = learning velocity, decision quality, and team leverage — not output volume or adoption.

Key Responsibilities

• Portfolio & Strategy: Own the Lab bet portfolio. Size opportunities, set entry/exit criteria, and make decisive scale/iterate/kill calls. Maintain a visible exploration backlog.

• Experimentation: Frame experiments around the single riskiest assumption. Define kill criteria before building. Choose the right fidelity (prototype, spike, wizard-of-oz, no-code, live pilot). Ship fast and protect learning speed.

• Investment Decisions: Synthesize results into opinionated recommendations. Communicate what was tested, learned, and what remains unknown. Kill zombie initiatives — every experiment ends with a decision.

• Handoffs: When a bet shows strong signal, prepare validated hypotheses, evidence packs, risks, and a proposed scaling model. Transfer ownership fully.

• GTM & Partnerships: Source and close lighthouse pilots with clear scope, metrics, and off-ramps. Identify enabling partners and join strategic calls to move pilots to business validation.

• Team: Build a repeatable Lab Operating System (pipeline reviews, kill reviews, demo days, post-mortems).

• AI & Transparency: Use AI tools to accelerate research, synthesis, and prototyping. Explore AI-enabled product ideas with a realistic lens on cost, data, and accuracy. Publish decision memos and share failed experiments openly.

What Great Looks Like in 12 Months

• 3–5 high-risk bets tested with clear outcomes (scaled, iterated, or killed with rationale)

• 1–2 bets graduated to New Products or Core with evidence packs and clean handoffs

• A transparent kill list that saves months of misdirected effort

• A functioning Lab team with clear ownership, experiment discipline, and stakeholder trust

• A repeatable Lab Operating System that compounds learning

Requirements

Experience (Must-Have)

• 8–10+ years in Product with a proven 0→1 track record

• Personally owned multiple high-risk bets with explicit go/kill decisions

• 3+ years managing PMs (player-coach or group lead)

• Fluency across validation tools: discovery, prototypes, engineered MVPs — knows when each is appropriate

• Cross-functional leadership across Eng/Design/Analytics and GTM; comfort in pre-sales/pilot settings

• Experience where learning speed mattered more than polish and real downside risk was present

AI & Technical Judgment (Critical)

• Hands-on experience using AI as a product-building and exploration tool

• Can prototype with LLMs, APIs, or modern tooling and ship a functional prototype quickly

• Able to scope AI experiments realistically and judge feasibility without full engineering validation

• Can spot capability shifts and turn them into testable hypotheses

• Evaluates build vs. buy vs. partner decisions

This background often comes from: founder/co-founder roles, early-stage startups, internal labs/innovation teams, or new market bets inside larger companies.

Bonus

• Ex-founder with a clear ship/scale/kill story and measurable outcomes

• Payments, fintech, e-commerce, or nonprofit domain experience

• EU market familiarity (PSD2/SCA, data/privacy norms) and additional languages

This Role Is Not For You If…

• Your background is mostly in roadmap-driven delivery with stable scope

• You prefer incremental optimization of mature products

• You need long planning cycles and large teams to move

• You avoid pilot conversations or hesitate to ask customers for real commitments

• Ambiguity makes you uncomfortable

Why Work With Us

• Real ownership over high-impact bets with the authority and team to pursue them

• Leadership that values clear thinking over activity

• Permission — and expectation — to kill bad ideas early

• Access to real customers, real data, and real constraints

• Flat structure, transparent culture, and equity participation

Benefits

Our compensation package includes comprehensive benefits and perks, meaningful equity, and a competitive salary:

• 31 days of paid time off

• 100% paid telemedicine plan

• Home office setup assistance

• English learning courses

• Professional education budget

• Gym or swimming pool membership

• Co-working support

• Fully remote work

We are an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, national origin, disability, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law in the countries where we operate.