Senior Product Manager

Own how Kiwis join, fund and grow with Kernel, shaping the everyday investor experience from first sign-up to long-term goals.

About the role

We've organised our product team into streams of work, and we're looking for a Senior Product Manager to start out in our experience stream: everything from signing up and making a first deposit, through to how investors view their portfolio, track progress and plan towards their goals.

This is a true product management role, not a backlog-only product owner role. You'll own your slice of the product from top to bottom: setting the strategy, making the case to our leadership team and Board, then working hands-on with design and engineering to bring it to life. You'll report to our Chief Product Officer and join a small, close-knit product and design team.

We set goals quarterly, work in two-week sprints and ship daily. It's agile with a lowercase "a": wide guardrails, clear outcomes and room to explore. The stream will evolve as we grow, so you'll be comfortable with scope that shifts over time.

About Kernel

We're a 100% Kiwi owned and operated fintech on a mission to make wealth accessible for every Kiwi. Our investment platform brings together KiwiSaver, Managed Funds, US shares and ETFs, and Smart Saver accounts, all in one place, and is trusted by 80,000+ investors.

We're at an exciting stage: scaling fast, expanding our team and building the foundations for what's next. Our culture is collaborative, hands-on and ambitious, built on trust, innovation and saying it like it is. Things move quickly here, and every person plays a key role in shaping our future.

What you'll do

• Own the strategy, roadmap and prioritisation for your area, starting with onboarding, activation and the post-deposit investor experience

• Set outcome-based goals each quarter and track the product metrics that show whether we're moving the needle

• Pitch your initiatives to the leadership team and Board, explaining the customer value and commercial impact

• Work hands-on with designers and engineers to take features from concept to shipped

• Draw out ideas and insight from across the business, and turn them into clear narratives, specifications and well-formed tickets

• Champion the customer, partnering with Design on research and testing before committing engineering effort

• Deliver new ways for Kiwis to fund, invest and plan, from smoother first deposits to richer goals and portfolio insights

• Partner with Marketing on go-to-market so new releases land well and drive strong uptake

• Work with Compliance and Customer Success to make sure what we ship meets our regulatory obligations and works for customers

About you

You're confident in your craft without needing to be the loudest voice in the room. You know the best ideas often already exist in the team, and you're great at surfacing them, building alignment and making the call. When something contradicts the goal, you'll say so and change it.

You'll be great if you bring

• 5+ years' product management experience, with a track record of launching and scaling digital products

• Experience building retail, customer-facing apps or web products, and a high bar for UX and UI

• Strong commercial understanding and the ability to link product decisions to revenue and growth

• Hands-on agile experience in teams that ship often, without needing rigid Scrum to get things done

• Confidence defining and tracking product metrics in analytics tools such as Mixpanel

• Strong research, analysis and decision-making skills

• Excellent written and verbal communication, turning complexity into clarity for any audience

• Stakeholder management up and down, from engineers to executives and the Board

• Curiosity, humility and a willingness to challenge the status quo

• Experience in fintech, wealth or another regulated financial services environment is a bonus, but not essential

Why you'll love it at Kernel

• Own a full vertical, from strategy to shipping with the team

• Work with an engineering team that ships daily and pivots quickly when the evidence says so

• Build the experience that 80,000+ investors use to grow their wealth

• Join a team built on trust, collaboration and flexibility, where feedback is constructive and everyone has a voice

• Enjoy the best of both worlds with a flexible hybrid setup: connect in person while keeping the freedom to work from home up to a couple of days each week (minimum 3 days a week in the office)

• Southern Cross health insurance that covers pre-existing conditions, with discounted cover for your family

• A 13-week parental leave top-up to full pay, and free, confidential wellbeing support through our EAP

• Professional development support and a learning budget

• Extra Kernel holidays, office snacks, coffee and a dog-friendly office

Join our team

Not sure you meet every requirement? We encourage you to apply. We value growth, impact, and mindset just as much as specific experience. If this opportunity sounds like you, send us your cover letter explaining why you’re excited about the role and working at Kernel, along with your CV.

Visit our careers page for more on working at Kernel and follow us on LinkedIn & Instagram. to stay connected.