Product Owner for AI Startup

About Makai

Makai uses best-in-class AI and data to solve real-world operational and strategic challenges at scale. We help businesses with enterprise automation, human-machine teaming, product design and development, and market intelligence. Until now, people have had to learn and adapt to software. Makai creates solutions that adapt to people because technology will never be 100% accurate. People are essential for all of our human-machine teaming solutions.

About the role

Makai Labs is seeking a Product Owner with a strong sense of ownership, urgency, and communication. You’ll play a critical role translating business strategy into actionable development work — managing product backlogs, defining clear user stories, and ensuring that engineering and design teams have what they need to execute efficiently. The ideal candidate is detail-oriented, thrives in fast-paced environments, and excels at keeping cross-functional teams aligned through crisp documentation and proactive communication.

The ideal candidate will be able to

• Collaborate with stakeholders and Product Managers to define and prioritize product features and user stories.

• Write detailed specs, acceptance criteria, and documentation that remove ambiguity and guide development.

• Analyze and document business requirements, ensuring that technical teams understand the why behind every feature.

• Communicate proactively — especially through email and asynchronous channels — keeping teams aligned and informed.

• Identify opportunities for process improvement and efficiency across teams and workflows.

• Balance urgency with precision, ensuring high-quality execution under tight timelines.

Responsibilities

• Own the product backlog and keep priorities clear, current, and actionable.
  Facilitate Agile ceremonies: backlog grooming, sprint planning, stand-ups, and retrospectives.

• Track progress against goals, communicating updates clearly to stakeholders.

• Oversee testing and validation to ensure features meet acceptance criteria.

• Collaborate with UX/UI designers to align user experience with business intent.

• Document, analyze, and iterate based on user feedback and performance metrics.

Qualifications

• 3+ years of direct Product Owner or similar experience.

• Strong understanding of Scrum and Agile product delivery.

• Proven success writing clear, detailed user stories and functional specs.

• Excellent communication and documentation skills — responsive and concise.

• Highly organized and proactive, with strong follow-through.

• Experience working cross-functionally in fast-moving or startup environments.

• Familiarity with Jira, Confluence, and Figma preferred.

Nice-to-haves

• Experience with SaaS, AI, or ML

• Experience with product marketing and crafting go-to-market strategies

Core values for Makai employees

• Be a flexible, innovative and creative thinker

• Be congenial and a team player

• Be self-sufficient

• Be self-driven with an ownership mentality

• Have a strong work ethic

Benefits

• Fully remote role, Eastern time zone

• Opportunities to work in-person with local colleagues

• Generous PTO

• Flexible work schedule

• Free health insurance

• 401(k) matching

• Career growth & development opportunities