General Manager, Consumer Utility Apps

The Opportunity Own the business. Build the team. Find the growth. Make it scale. Mode is considering the acquisition of a global consumer VPN product built around private, secure access, streaming, gaming, and everyday internet freedom. We are looking for the General Manager who can take ownership of the business and turn its next chapter into something significantly bigger. This is not a role for someone who wants to manage a roadmap from the sidelines. You will run the business like an owner: own the P&L, set the strategy, build the team, make the calls, challenge assumptions, and be accountable for the results. You won't build every capability yourself. Mode's shared-service teams, including User Acquisition and Monetization, will provide specialized expertise and execution. Your job is to set the business priorities, partner closely with these teams, and ensure we get the outcomes we need. If you need a perfectly built organization, a long approval chain, or someone else to tell you what to do next, this probably isn't your role. What You’ll Own The business P&L: revenue, operating expenses, EBITDA, forecasting, and overall business performance. The growth strategy: where we play, how we win, what we stop doing, and where the next meaningful upside comes from. The product direction: partnering closely with Product and Engineering to turn user insight, data, competitive intelligence, and experimentation into a focused roadmap. Growth and monetization outcomes: partnering with Mode's shared User Acquisition and Monetization teams to establish priorities, evaluate performance, and drive improvements across acquisition, conversion, retention, LTV, CAC, ROAS, ARPU, and profitability. The operating model: building a business that moves fast, uses resources intelligently, and does not confuse headcount with progress. The team: starting with a Product Manager and a small group of engineers, then adding the talent the business actually needs as it evolves. The integration into Mode: preserving what works, fixing what doesn't, and using Mode's shared capabilities where they create leverage. Build the Team You will build and lead the core team dedicated to the VPN business. The initial structure is expected to include a Product Manager and a few engineers, with additional dedicated roles determined based on business priorities, capability gaps, and demonstrated need. Mode's shared-service functions will provide capabilities such as User Acquisition and Monetization, allowing the GM to build an intentionally lean business-unit team while accessing specialized expertise across the broader company. Define the organizational structure and capabilities needed to achieve growth and profitability goals. Recruit and lead high-performing talent with clear ownership, measurable goals, and high accountability. Build strong partnerships with shared-service leaders and ensure their priorities are aligned with the needs of the business. Add people when they create meaningful leverage, not simply because that's how traditional organizations are built. Create a culture where speed, curiosity, ownership, good judgment, and results matter more than hierarchy. Grow the Business You own the outcomes, even when you don't directly own the function. Partner with Mode's User Acquisition team to establish growth priorities and improve channel mix, creative strategy, CAC, ROAS, payback, LTV, and profitable scale. Partner with Mode's Monetization team to optimize pricing, packaging, paywalls, trials, onboarding, conversion, retention, renewal, ARPU, and LTV. Bring deep knowledge of the product, customer, and business economics to shared-service partners so they can execute against the right opportunities. Build a strong experimentation cadence and ensure learnings translate quickly into action. Identify new markets, channels, partnerships, customer segments, and revenue opportunities. Know the funnel cold and understand what's moving the numbers and what isn't. Remain accountable for growth, revenue, and profitability results regardless of organizational reporting lines. Operate AI-Native Mode is an AI-Native company, and we expect every team member to actively use AI to work smarter, move faster, and improve outcomes. Use AI and automation as a core part of how the business analyzes, experiments, makes decisions, and operates. Build AI fluency and adoption into the expectations for every role on the business unit team. Look to AI and automation before adding unnecessary process, complexity, or headcount. Your First 90 Days Learn the business fast: customers, economics, technology, acquisition channels, subscription funnel, infrastructure, team, risks, and opportunities. Establish the performance baseline and identify the handful of metrics that truly matter. Build and align the initial business unit team. Identify the highest-impact growth, monetization, product, and cost opportunities. Create a focused operating plan with clear priorities, owners, targets, and timelines. Start shipping improvements. We value thoughtful analysis, but not analysis as a hiding place. What You’ll Bring 8+ years of experience in consumer technology, mobile apps, SaaS, subscriptions, or a related digital business, with meaningful leadership responsibility. Demonstrated experience owning a P&L or carrying direct accountability for significant revenue and profitability outcomes. Strong command of consumer mobile economics: subscriptions, conversion, retention, LTV, CAC, ROAS, payback, and margin. Experience building and leading cross-functional teams, including identifying organizational needs and hiring key talent. Strong partnership skills across Product, Engineering, UA/Marketing, Analytics, Finance, Legal, and other shared functions. Highly analytical, commercially sharp, and comfortable making decisions in ambiguity. A builder's mindset: you can move from strategy to spreadsheet to product discussion to recruiting conversation without losing momentum. Experience with VPN, cybersecurity, privacy, networking, mobile utilities, or adjacent consumer subscription products is strongly preferred. Experience in understanding the role of Government regulations in the VPN space. Experience scaling or integrating an acquired digital product is a plus. High AI fluency and a demonstrated habit of using AI to make yourself and your team materially more effective. You’ll Probably Love This Role If… You want the autonomy of running a business without having to start one from zero. You like finding the one or two moves that matter more than the twenty things everyone else is busy doing. You care about both growth and profit, and don't think they should live in separate meetings. You are comfortable being accountable when the numbers are great and when they aren't. You want to build an exceptional team. What Success Looks Like The VPN business becomes a stronger, faster-growing, more profitable business with a clear strategy, focused product roadmap, efficient operating model, and a high-performing core team. You will be able to explain exactly what drives the business, where the next level of growth will come from, what the team is doing about it, and whether it is working, using data, not assumptions. Bottom line: we're looking for someone who wants to own the outcome, not just the function.