Product Manager - Media

At Pencil, we are driving innovation in advertising technology through our state-of-the-art SaaS product, which harnesses Generative AI to redefine content creation. Our mission is to make AI the default in advertising without replacing creative people. To achieve this, we need to make sure that our technology isn’t just in the hands of big brands - we need to try to help small businesses and creative individuals too.

You’ll own delivery of a program with a hard Phase 1 window (Sept → Dec): turn the contractual scope into a sequenced backlog, keep the milestone gates honest, and coordinate the moving parts — the squad, the internal teams whose surfaces the product plugs into, an external data-API dependency, and the specialists who will operate the product with enterprise brands. The users are media practitioners; the product only lands if its PM understands their craft — how campaigns are planned and trafficked, how product and creative data flow through the ad platforms, what an agency team actually does with a recommendation. You are the person who keeps the build honest to that reality. This is a permanent position: the program is the first mission, not the job’s boundary.

Key Responsibilities

• Own the Backlog: Every feature framed as a functional outcome with acceptance criteria a domain-literate reader can sign, written at the ticket level, before dev starts.
• Sequence Build: Coordinate a 3-4 month build with the squad’s tech lead across dependencies on the surrounding Media pod and an external data API.
• Run Milestones: Manage milestone cadence with program stakeholders, handling deliverables, risks, and descopes early and in writing.
• Own Design Track: Brief and coordinate the freelance designer, keeping design scoped to MVP surfaces.
• Prepare Pilot: Build onboarding flows for first enterprise clients, operator playbooks with specialists, and impact measurement plans.

Your Background

• Media Domain Knowledge: Worked in or close to paid media, ad platforms, or commerce/retail media (agency, brand, or ad-tech side) with a deep understanding of media workflows.
• 3+ years of product management experience on technical products (platforms, APIs, data, or AI products).
• Proven delivery against fixed milestones with external stakeholders.
• Excellent writing skills for tickets, acceptance criteria, and milestone updates.
• Based in Europe, working CET hours.
• Nice to have: LLM products and evaluation, partner-agency squads, and both agency-side and brand-side exposure.

Success Metrics

• Milestone gates met, with risks and descopes surfaced proactively in writing.
• High-ticket quality with clear acceptance criteria.
• Successful pilot readiness and enterprise client onboarding.