Founding Product Manager, Atlas Intelligence

About Atlas Obscura

Atlas Obscura is the world's leading guide to hidden wonders. We help millions of curious travelers discover the extraordinary — and we're building the next generation of tools to do it.

We're standing up Atlas Intelligence, a new unit focused on the data of travel discovery — on and off our platform. We believe that user, content, and distribution data, read well, can guide both our consumers and our clients toward the extraordinary. Our thesis: in a world of automated discovery, human taste is the differentiator, and we have more of it — and more data about it — than anyone in travel.

Atlas Intelligence is home to several projects. The first products to market are Destination Intelligence, a B2B platform that measures how destinations appear in AI search (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity), giving Destination Marketing Organizations and travel brands visibility intelligence they've never had before; and Automotive Intelligence, a similar platform for the auto sector that already has a car manufacturer under contract. Our pipeline is growing fast. Other work includes using our own content data — on and off platform — to bring human taste more directly into the automated platforms and partners that increasingly mediate travel.

The Role

This is a scrappy, entrepreneurial, roll-up-your-sleeves role for a creative doer. You'll be the founding product manager for Atlas Intelligence — and at the start, you are the team. No direct reports, no one to hand the build to: just you, an extraordinary set of data, the AI tools to work it, and the mandate to make something category-defining.

This is not a roadmap-and-handoff PM role. You will personally build the products — conceiving them, setting up the queries, modeling the scores, and engineering the front end (using Claude Code). Our CEO is a close partner in the vision and has spent significant time on the initial builds and data analysis — you won't be starting from scratch. There's real work to build on, clear product ideas, and market feedback already in hand. Our SVP of Engineering advises, manages backend infrastructure, and maintains data collection where appropriate — but the product itself is yours to build, hands on keyboard.

What You'll Do:

• Conceive the products and own them end to end — from idea to shipped feature
• Set up the data queries and model the scores and metrics at the core of each product — and be able to defend the methodology
• Engineer the front end yourself using Claude Code, with backend and data-collection support from our SVP of Engineering
• Define the metrics, visualizations, and reporting that make our products indispensable
• Translate AI-search and content data into insights that DMOs, travel brands, and our own consumers can act on
• Work with clients directly to understand needs, run demos, and turn feedback into product
• Help us go from one paying customer to several in your first six months

You'll have real ownership and direct partnership with the CEO. Take these platforms from V1 to category-defining products, and chart what Atlas Intelligence becomes next.

What We're Looking For

Required:

• A genuine data scientist's toolkit — comfort with data, probabilities, and statistical reasoning; the ability to look at a dataset, ask sharp questions, model a score, and translate the result into a product decision
• Ability to build a data-driven web product yourself — front-end development (React/TypeScript or similar), SQL query design, and score/metric modeling. You've shipped working software, not just specs
• A working understanding of how LLMs and AI search actually function, and fluency with AI build tools (Claude Code or similar)
• 3+ years of product management or equivalent ownership experience, ideally with data products or analytics platforms
• Client-facing experience — you've sat with users, run demos, gathered feedback, and turned it into product
• Self-starter energy — you're comfortable being a team of one, wearing every hat, and moving fast
• Excellent written and verbal communication

Nice to have:

• Background in travel, hospitality, destination marketing, or media
• Experience with B2B SaaS go-to-market
• Experience with modern data visualization tools (Recharts, D3, Plotly)

What Success Looks Like

By end of Month 1: You're fully engaged in owning the Atlas Intelligence roadmap, in partnership with the CEO, who is active in this vision — you've met our existing clients, identified the top three product improvements that will unlock paid conversion for our next wave, and launched our free version across existing clients.

By end of Month 2: You've defined the metrics framework that tells us whether the product is winning, and built out the features that will become paid upgrades.

By end of Month 3: Atlas Intelligence is generating revenue, you have a clear 12-month strategy for the unit, and we're a rising leader in AI adtech for travel.

What We Offer

• Opportunity to shape the foundation of a platform in growth mode
• Chance to work with a passionate team dedicated to celebrating the world's hidden wonders
• A collaborative culture that values curiosity, creativity, and exploration
• Competitive salary of $120,000-$130,000 commensurate with experience
• Comprehensive health, dental, and vision insurance
• Flexible work arrangements – work from anywhere in the U.S.
• Equity participation in Atlas Obscura

Atlas Obscura is committed to building a diverse team that reflects the community we serve. We encourage applications from candidates of all backgrounds and experiences.

How To Apply

To apply, please submit your resume and cover letter about why this role interests you.