At a Glance
- Tasks: Lead the development of AI-powered tools for critical industries and shape innovative product strategies.
- Company: Join a fast-growing tech startup revolutionising physical industries with cutting-edge AI solutions.
- Benefits: Competitive salary, share options, generous leave, private healthcare, and flexible working.
- Other info: Be part of a diverse team committed to tackling significant societal challenges.
- Why this job: Make a real impact in transforming essential industries while growing your career in a dynamic environment.
- Qualifications: 4+ years in product management with a strong technical background and experience in scaling systems.
The predicted salary is between 70000 - 90000 £ per year.
We live in a world that runs on physical industries like energy, logistics, and manufacturing. These sectors are essential to our economy and daily lives, yet they are held back by inefficiencies, fragile legacy systems, and decades-old ways of working. This is not just a business problem; it is a societal one. When grids fail, supply chains stall, or factories falter, entire economies are disrupted.
These companies face unique, complex challenges that typical software was never designed to solve. Cogna was founded to change this. Our mission is to give critical industries their own AI-powered Software Factory: a way to build and deploy bespoke digital tools that solve pressing operational challenges.
Since our launch in May 2023, we’ve seen incredible customer traction and revenue growth. We’re backed by leading VCs, including Notion Capital and Hoxton Ventures, and we’re building a world-class team to take on one of the most important challenges of our time. We’re a team of around 75 today, on a path to Series B and scaling towards 150.
Tackling challenges at this scale takes people who are curious, adaptable, and motivated by impact. If our mission resonates with you, we encourage you to apply, even if your experience doesn’t match every requirement. We are committed to building a diverse team that reflects the industries and societies we serve.
We are looking for a deeply technical, systems-thinking Product Manager to own the core platform that powers Cogna’s AI-first software creation tools. You will be responsible for building large-scale, globally distributed backend systems and for shaping how AI is used in a reliable, reusable capability across the company.
A central part of this role is owning our Agent Platform: a managed set of agents that any of our product teams can easily spin up and surface within their own products. These agents perform a variety of tasks across our platform, including building customer solutions, performing customer service tasks, data security and privacy testing, and context-rich business artifact generation. You will work hand-in-hand with engineering to make AI a dependable building block, not a one-off feature.
This role suits someone who thrives in a 0→1 environment but knows how to operationalise product development for scale. You’ll be joining as we move past the startup stage into scale-up, so you’ll need to bring judgement on how to build for growth.
What You’ll Do:
- Own the Agent Platform: Define and ship a managed set of agents that product teams across Cogna can spin up to do a defined set of things, making AI a usable part of our products.
- Build systems at scale: Partner with engineering to design and deliver large-scale, globally distributed backend services and APIs that are extensible and built to grow.
- Go deep on AI/LLMs: Shape how large language models are used at a systems level, you understand what it means for an LLM to have a context bundle, to save and manage state, and how that translates into reliable product behaviour.
- Drive iterative development: Ship MVPs that solve core problems, measure them, and evolve them based on real usage, comfortable discovering something doesn’t work and quickly trying something else.
- Run delivery hands-on: We don’t have TPMs, so you’ll keep dev teams aligned on agreed priorities and track delivery closely in Linear.
- Decide with low signal: Make good calls with limited customer data, relying on technical judgement and intuition where complete signal isn’t available.
- Own outcomes: Define success metrics and use data to track adoption, reliability, and impact, iterating to improve.
What We’re Looking For:
- Experience: 4+ years in product management, with a track record across both 0→1 work and scaling systems in high-growth environments.
- Scale-up experience: You’ve worked at mid-to-large company scale, not only at startups you know what a scaling journey actually looks like.
- Deeply technical background: You’ve been a highly technical PM working on backend services, ideally services that have scaled, and you can speak intelligibly about building systems at scale.
- AI/LLM depth: You understand how to build systems that utilise AI context bundles, state, and what it takes to bring LLMs into reliable product experiences.
- Comfortable with AI tooling: You’re happy using tools like Claude Code and Claude Design to prototype and move quickly.
- Enterprise mindset: You’ve built for enterprise customers and understand how they think about experimentation and satisfaction.
- Thrives in ambiguity: You don’t need full clarity before taking action, and you stay effective when signal is low.
- Experimentation mindset: Highly agile, comfortable trying something, measuring it, and changing course quickly.
- Well-rounded PM: You bring the full gamut of product skills rather than a narrow focus (we’ve found purely analyst, technical-program-management, or testing backgrounds tend to fit less well).
What We Offer:
- Competitive salary and share option plan
- 25 days annual leave, plus public holidays
- Excellent pension scheme, with Cogna paying 7.5%
- Enhanced parental leave: 12 weeks full salary for all parents (plus up to 4 weeks pre-birth for birthing parents)
- Private healthcare, including family cover and pre-existing conditions
- Flexible hybrid working with 2 days per fortnight in our Farringdon office
- Regular social events and offsites
- Access to a gym and fitness classes in our office building
Product Manager, Platform in London employer: Cogna
Cogna is an exceptional employer that champions innovation and impact in the critical industries of energy, logistics, and manufacturing. With a competitive salary, generous benefits including enhanced parental leave and private healthcare, and a vibrant work culture that encourages curiosity and adaptability, employees are empowered to grow alongside the company as it scales. Located in Farringdon, our flexible hybrid working model and regular social events foster a collaborative environment where every team member can thrive.
StudySmarter Expert Advice🤫
We think this is how you could land Product Manager, Platform in London
✨Tip Number 1
Network like a pro! Reach out to people in your industry on LinkedIn or at events. A friendly chat can lead to opportunities that aren’t even advertised yet.
✨Tip Number 2
Prepare for interviews by researching the company and its products. Understand their mission and how you can contribute, especially in areas like AI and backend systems.
✨Tip Number 3
Showcase your problem-solving skills during interviews. Share examples of how you've tackled challenges in previous roles, especially in scaling systems or using AI.
✨Tip Number 4
Don’t hesitate to apply through our website! Even if you don’t tick every box, we value diverse experiences and are keen to see what unique perspective you can bring to the team.
We think you need these skills to ace Product Manager, Platform in London
Some tips for your application 🫡
Be Authentic:When you're writing your application, let your personality shine through! We want to get to know the real you, so don’t be afraid to share your unique experiences and perspectives.
Tailor Your Application:Make sure to customise your application for the Product Manager role. Highlight your relevant experience with AI and backend systems, and show us how you can contribute to our mission at Cogna.
Showcase Your Impact:We love seeing how you've made a difference in your previous roles. Use specific examples to demonstrate your achievements and how they relate to the challenges we face in critical industries.
Apply Through Our Website:We encourage you to apply directly through our website. It’s the best way for us to receive your application and ensures you’re considered for the role. Plus, it’s super easy!
How to prepare for a job interview at Cogna
✨Know Your Product Inside Out
Before the interview, dive deep into Cogna's mission and the specifics of the Agent Platform. Understand how AI is integrated into their products and be ready to discuss how your experience aligns with their goals. This shows genuine interest and helps you connect your skills to their needs.
✨Prepare for Technical Questions
Given the technical nature of the role, brush up on your knowledge of backend systems and AI/LLMs. Be prepared to discuss your past experiences in building scalable systems and how you've tackled challenges in a 0→1 environment. Use specific examples to illustrate your points.
✨Showcase Your Experimentation Mindset
Cogna values agility and experimentation, so come equipped with examples of how you've iterated on products based on user feedback. Discuss any MVPs you've shipped and how you measured their success. This will demonstrate your ability to adapt and thrive in ambiguity.
✨Ask Insightful Questions
Interviews are a two-way street! Prepare thoughtful questions about Cogna's future plans, the challenges they face in scaling, and how they envision the role of AI evolving within their products. This not only shows your enthusiasm but also helps you gauge if the company is the right fit for you.