The Role
At Karoo, product transcends teams and departments. We believe everything we do, internally and externally, is a product; from how clinical operations run, to how we engage patients, to the software our engineers ship. Product is the connective tissue of our organization.
This means the Director of Product won’t sit in an engineering silo translating tickets. You’ll be a connective force across the entire company, shaping how the organization itself operates as much as the software we build. It’s one of the most expansive and influential product mandates you’ll find at this stage.
We are not building another tech or care management layer on top of a broken system. Plenty of companies have tried to bolt software and wraparound services onto the traditional VBC playbook, and it hasn't worked. We are approaching this differently: integrating financial alignment, clinical enablement, and technology as one model and in partnership with our practices partners, not as three separate silos.
The person we’re looking for should be energized by that. We want deep healthcare and VBC expertise, and we want someone who is excited to challenge the conventional wisdom of how this work gets done. If you’re looking to re-skin a familiar product, this isn’t it. If you want to invent net-new ways of thinking about and solving the hardest problems in value-based care, keep reading.
The Director of Product will be Karoo’s most influential product hire, reporting directly to Karoo’s CTO. You will be responsible for defining the product vision in partnership with leadership, building product management practices from scratch, and owning the full arc of product work across discovery, prioritization, roadmap, and cross-functional execution.
This is a highly autonomous role for a builder who thrives in early-stage environments. Expect a deliberate mix of two balances:
- Leader and doer. You’ll set the product vision and begin shaping a small product team while still rolling up your sleeves and doing real, hands-on product work yourself.
- Today and tomorrow. You’ll improve what we use and rely on right now while designing what we’re building for the future, and you’ll do this across the whole company, not just within engineering.
What You'll Do
Product Strategy & Vision
- Partner with executive leadership to define Karoo’s product vision and strategy aligned with clinical, operational, and business goals.
- Translate Karoo’s care model and value-based strategy into a clear, opinionated product roadmap.
- Balance short-term execution with long-term platform thinking.
- Continuously refine product direction based on user feedback, data, and evolving company priorities.
Product Discovery & Definition
- Lead discovery efforts across key user groups, including care delivery teams, provider partners, patients, internal stakeholders
- Synthesize clinical, operational, and market insights into clear product requirements and priorities.
- Write product briefs, PRDs, and acceptance criteria that enable efficient engineering execution.
- Make thoughtful tradeoffs when resources are constrained.
Execution & Delivery
- Own end-to-end product execution, from problem definition through launch and iteration.
- Partner closely with Engineering to plan sprints, prioritize backlogs, and deliver high-quality features.
- Ensure releases are well-scoped, clearly communicated, and aligned with operational readiness.
- Track product performance post-launch and iterate based on outcomes.
Process & Team Building
- Establish lightweight but effective product management processes appropriate for an early-stage startup.
- Introduce consistent practices for roadmap planning, prioritization, and stakeholder communication.
- Define the structure and hiring plan for a growing product team.
Cross-Functional Collaboration
- Serve as the primary product partner to Clinical Operations, Market Operations, Data, and Growth teams - treating each of their workflows as a product in its own right.
- Translate complex clinical and operational needs into intuitive product solutions.
- Act as a connective tissue between engineering, clinical, and business stakeholders.
- Support leadership discussions with clear product insights and tradeoff recommendations.
Data, Analytics & Outcomes
- Define success metrics for product initiatives tied to care delivery, efficiency, and value-based performance.
- Partner with Data and Analytics to ensure product instrumentation supports insight and decision-making.
- Use data to inform prioritization and continuous improvement.
What We're Looking For
- Seven or more years of experience in product management or product strategy
- Experience drafting then creating user flow diagrams, user testing, user interviews, product strategy, roadmapping, etc.
- Proven track record of turning ideas into shipped products, especially in early-stage or fast-paced environments
- Healthcare experience including healthcare data regulations (e.g., HIPAA, HITRUST) and standard healthcare data formats (e.g., FHIR).
- Excitement for net-new thinking. You see established VBC approaches as a starting point to challenge, not a template to copy.
- Ability to act as both a “doer” and a team leader commensurate with a startup environment
- Exceptional communication, synthesis, and storytelling skills; you know how to translate vision into action
- Strong analytical and strategic thinking; you can prioritize effectively and back decisions with data
- Comfortable wearing many hats and working with limited structure or resources
- Empathetic toward users, obsessed with clarity, and energized by solving complex problems
Why Join Us
- A genuine chance to rethink how value-based care is built and to define the Karoo product suite from the ground up.
- Competitive salary and equity in an early-stage startup
- Opportunity to define and shape the Karoo product suite
- Fully-remote work environment available
- Full benefits package
- A collaborative and transparent company culture that values creativity and ownership