Senior Product Marketing Manager, App Platform

We’re a global team of over 400 people, working together to push the boundaries of open-source technology and multi-cloud solutions. Our vision is to become the trusted Data & AI Platform for everyone, leveraging the most popular open-source technologies like Apache Kafka, Aiven for PostgreSQL, Aiven for Clickhouse, and Aiven for OpenSearch. to help companies accelerate time-to-market, drive efficiency, and build innovative solutions across any cloud.

About this Team:

In our Product team at Aiven, we believe engineers can drive significant impact through coding and problem solving. Here, you'll have the opportunity to contribute to challenging projects that transcend the cloud provider limitations, work alongside exceptional engineers, and continuously expand your technical expertise. We strive to create an environment that encourages problem solving and results over following directions, so we make better decisions for our customers, our products and our employees.

Who we are:

So, how do we become the trusted open-source data platform for everyone? By listening closely to our customers and taking action to ensure they achieve their business goals. You see, the software we create is merely a means of delivering value. Our thinking is customer-first. That’s why our customers are at the front and centre of all we do. And in the spirit of sideways thinking, we’re by their side as well. Actively helping them solve their challenges. Collaborating. Sharing. And innovating. In other words, it really isn’t just about who we are. It’s about who our customers are – and where they want to be.

The Role:

We're looking for a highly motivated, self-starting Product Marketing Manager for Applications to be the crucial link between our product's technical excellence and the real-world challenges developers face. Your mission will be to ensure our product is not only adopted but also becomes a trusted, integral part of the developer's toolkit.

Embedded directly within our Developer Experience Product Domain, you'll collaborate closely with Product Management, Engineering, and Design, as well as our Marketing and Sales teams.

The ideal candidate is innately driven to uncover the core of our products, users, business, and competition through rigorous data exploration. You'll craft clear, specific, and jargon-free communication that profoundly resonates with customers, consistently bringing energy and a customer-centric focus to elevate the quality of all the work.

What You’ll Do:

• Deep domain expertise: Develop a comprehensive understanding of the applications space, including the architecture, use cases, and value proposition within the market.
• Technical validation: Acquire practical experience with Aiven services and their interaction with applications and builders to ensure product credibility and a deeper understanding of user workflows.
• Value proposition mastery: Transform intricate technical capabilities into clear, differentiated value propositions that resonate with specific target audiences, building the Aiven brand as the embodiment of technical excellence, reliability, and a genuine commitment to simplifying developer workflows.
• Challenge and strategic influence: Proactively challenge Product Leadership to ensure strategic alignment between product development and market viability. Advocate for early consideration of market positioning and revenue impact in roadmap planning, pushing back on initiatives where the marketing strategy or potential for revenue growth is unclear before significant development investment.
• Domain content strategy: Lead the planning and facilitation of content creation and distribution (in collaboration with Engineering and the Product Advocate) that engages with the target audience, aligns with SEO best practices, targets relevant keywords, and simplifies complex technical topics for the target audience.
• Own and drive customer insights: Own and drive the processes for gathering and analyzing customer insights through win/loss interviews and continuous feedback loops, directly informing external messaging and proactively refining the product's value proposition.
• Continuous learning: Proactively stay abreast of the rapidly evolving applications landscape, including new players, patterns, features, versions, emerging trends, and the broader market dynamics relevant to the domain.
• Pre-launch: Lead the cross-functional orchestration of integrated messaging and content plans across all relevant channels to generate pre-launch anticipation and drive early interest.
• Post-launch: Continuously analyze launch performance data, adoption and user feedback to identify key areas for optimization, informing iterative improvements to messaging, content, and go-to-market strategies.
• Sales enablement: Develop and maintain comprehensive technical sales enablement materials (battlecards, competitive analyses, demos) to equip the sales team with the knowledge and resources needed to effectively sell Aiven's solutions.
• Market & competitive intelligence: Continuously analyze market trends and the competitive landscape to inform domain and GTM strategies.

How We’ll Measure Success:

Your success will be measured by your direct contribution to the Organic Rate of Growth. This metric isolates the true impact of our product by stripping away paid marketing and direct sales efforts.

Your core contribution lies in your ability to clearly articulate the value proposition and seamlessly connect it with genuine user needs, thereby fueling organic sign-ups and fostering growth within the product itself.

What We’re Looking For:

• Product Marketing Experience: 3+ years in B2D product marketing, with a strong focus on technical products, preferably in the applications space.
• Developer Toolkit Expertise: Deep understanding of developers, their toolbox and how it integrates with data and application technologies and their practical use cases.
• Strong PLG experience: Ability to showcase previous work artifacts and explain their impact in the company PLG growth.
• Results Driven: Track record of driving organic growth through effective product marketing initiatives.
• Experience with content syndication and developer-focused marketing channels (e.g., Hacker News, Reddit, GitHub, technical communities, developer conferences).
• Technical Translation: Proven ability to transform complex technical concepts into clear, concise, and compelling marketing messages for both technical and business audiences.
• Go-to-Market Prowess: Demonstrated experience developing and executing GTM strategies for new product launches and feature releases, including messaging, content creation, and sales enablement.
• Market Intelligence: Experience conducting thorough market research and competitive analysis within the applications landscape to inform product positioning and messaging.
• Analytical Acumen: Strong analytical skills to interpret performance data, measure marketing effectiveness, and identify optimization opportunities.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills: Ability to speak credibly to technical audiences and simplify complex concepts without oversimplifying.
• Cross-functional Collaboration: Proven ability to work seamlessly with product management, engineering, sales, and marketing teams.

Our Offer:

If you ask us what’s the best thing about working for Aiven, many will probably say it’s the high concentration of talent from around the world that we have here. Enjoy the agile environment of a hyperscale scale-up where you can truly make an impact and have fun while at it.

We invest in you:

• Participate in Aiven’s equity plan.
• With Aiven locations spanning the globe, we want all of our crabs to find the right balance with our hybrid work policy.
• Get the equipment you need to set yourself up for success.
• Step up your career game with real employer support (use one of our learning platforms, annual learning budget, and more).
• Get holistic wellbeing support through our global Employee Assistance Program.

Make a difference at Aiven:

• Contribute to open-source projects that you find meaningful outside of work - and get paid for it!
• Our Plankton program recognizes extra work to the open source ecosystem for developers and non-developers alike.
• Use up to 5 days per year to volunteer for a good cause of your choice.
• Join one of our team member resource groups - empower yourself and others in missions that resonate with you.

What else:

• Your wellbeing matters: we’ve got your wellbeing covered with private medical & dental health insurance, as well as a childbirth cash benefit.
• Need insurance? We’ve got you covered - benefit from our: Employer's liability insurance, Personal Accident, Illness & Travel Insurance, Group Life Assurance, Office Insurance, Group Income Protection and Business & Leisure Travel Accident Insurance.
• Looking after your future: benefit from our provided Pension Plan.

Amazing! What’s next:

Once applying you should hear from our Talent Experience team within five days regarding the status of your application. If you are selected to move forward, you can generally expect four stages with us:

• 60-minute call with one of our Talent Partners
• 60-minute Depth of Expertise Interview with the hiring manager
• 60-minute Skills interview and/or presentation with the wider team
• 60-minute Values interview

How to Recognise and Avoid Employment Scams:

There has been a rise in fake job postings used by scammers to get personal information. Please familiarise yourself with the red flags of a potential scam.

Here at Aiven, all of our emails relating to recruitment come from an @aiven.io, @greenhouse.io or @eu.greenhouse.io domain and all of our interviews are conducted over video call or in person, our interviews will never occur over text or chat. If you’re unsure of the legitimacy of a job opportunity/offer pertaining to Aiven, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us at [email protected].

Equal Opportunities:

Aiven provides equal employment opportunities to all qualified employees and applicants for employment without regard to age, gender identity, national or ethnic origin, religion, sexual orientation, physical and mental ability, marital and family status or without regard to any other similar personal attributes. Aiven complies with applicable local laws governing non-discrimination in employment in every location in which the company operates. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation, training and any other terms and conditions related to employment.

At Aiven we are committed to providing reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities or special needs in our working environment and job application procedures. We make all reasonable accommodations for persons with disabilities or who otherwise need support to thrive in the workplace. We are committed to continuously improving workplace accessibility. There is an option to request a discussion in the application process but if you have any questions before applying please write to us at [email protected].