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Senior Technical Product Manager
·Germany
HybridFull-timeProduct ManagementSoftware Development
Seeking a hands-on Senior Technical Product Manager to own the Kotlin IDE plugin experience end-to-end. You will dogfood the product daily, maintain reference projects, build AI prototypes, and drive the roadmap. Requires 5+ years in technical product management and professional Kotlin/Java development experience.
Responsibilities
- Own the product vision for the Kotlin plugin, ensuring fast, correct, and trustworthy IDE support that evolves with the language.
- Use the IDE with the Kotlin plugin daily to dogfood features, catch regressions, and validate the developer experience first-hand.
- Maintain and develop reference Kotlin projects that serve as showcases for new features, conference demos, and a living test bed for DX quality.
- Build prototypes and proofs-of-concept using AI coding agents to explore and validate new capabilities.
- Own and continuously adapt the plugin roadmap across short-term release goals, mid-term initiatives, and longer-term Kotlin ecosystem projects.
- Align plugin planning with Kotlin compiler releases, IntelliJ IDEA release trains, and Android Studio constraints.
- Make explicit trade-offs and say "no" when cost, risk, or maintenance burden outweighs user value.
- Define problem statements, success criteria, and scope for features, then collaborate with engineers to validate and refine.
- Represent core Kotlin personas and prioritize recurring pain points such as false positives, slow analysis, unreliable refactorings, and onboarding issues.
- Run a consistent pipeline of monthly user interviews to ground decisions in real workflows.
- Coordinate with the Kotlin language team, Developer Advocates, framework partners, Marketing, and other teams.
- Create external visibility through what's-new posts, meetup talks, and feature previews at events like KotlinConf, Spring I/O, and Devoxx.
Requirements
- Professional software development experience in Java or Kotlin is a must.
- 5+ years of experience in technical product management or a comparable role in a complex technical domain.
- Hands-on product person who lives in the product, not someone who operates through reports and meetings alone.
- Experience with AI coding tools and agents, and curiosity about how they reshape developer workflows.
- Ability to define clear roadmaps with problem statements, success criteria, and explicit trade-offs.
- Strong communication skills in English, both written and spoken, for technical peers and executive audiences.
- Ready to represent the product externally at conferences, in blog posts, and in community interactions.
- Takes developer experience personally, feeling it in their own daily workflow.
Nice to have
- Experience developing IntelliJ plugins or working with the IntelliJ Platform SDK.
- Built or contributed to evaluation pipelines, benchmarks, or quality measurement systems.
- Given technical talks or published content aimed at developer audiences.
Benefits
- Competitive base salary reflecting skills and experience.
- Flexible work location with freedom to work from home or the office.
- Up to 30 days per year working remotely from abroad.
- Extra time off for relaxation and personal activities.
- Medical insurance allowance for you and your family.
- Learning and development opportunities including conferences, courses, and language classes.
- Relocation support for a smooth and stress-free move.
- Language classes to learn the local language or improve English.
- Hot meal or lunch allowance on workdays.
- Access to professional mental health services.
- On-site gym or sports club stipend.
- Company-wide celebrations and team gatherings.