VP of Product

We live in a world that runs on physical industries like energy, logistics, 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.

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.

What You'll Do:

You will own product strategy end-to-end, defining the “why” behind every feature, abstraction, and platform investment, and ensuring the roadmap is ruthlessly aligned to Cogna’s commercial goals — from ARR growth to vertical expansion and US entry. As the product editor, you will protect the coherence of our platform, resisting unnecessary complexity and choosing abstractions that scale across our entire application fleet. You will build and lead a modern, AI-native product team — growing it from 5 to ~10 while designing a hybrid human + agentic operating model — and ensure Product acts as a speed multiplier for the whole organisation. You will also set the quality bar for end-user experience across every Cogna-built application and lead the adoption of AI-driven product development practices, including robust evaluation frameworks for AI-generated outputs.

What We Are Looking For:

• A degree in computer science, engineering, or mathematics, or equivalent technical experience
• Proven ability to lead product for technically complex systems built for non-technical end users — you understand the complexity under the hood without losing sight of the person using the product
• Strong technical fluency across APIs, data models, and system architecture — you can go deep with engineers and hold your own
• Sharp commercial instincts — you can walk into any business and quickly identify how it makes money and what the key levers are
• Experience building products in complex, multi-stakeholder environments
• Proven ability to scale and lead product teams of 5+ people
• Hands-on with AI tools and opinionated about how they change product work
• Outcome-driven: you measure behaviour change, not features shipped
• Strong judgment and editorial instinct

Nice To Have:

• A background that started in software engineering before moving into product
• Developer tooling or platform experience, backed by genuine technical depth
• Enterprise or industrial domain experience
• AI-native product architecture experience
• Series A → B (or similar scaling) experience
• Design systems leadership