Product Software Engineer

Ryan Mahoney

Director of Product, FirstWho

“Finding engineers who write clean code is easy, but finding engineers who treat code as a business tool is rare. This role needs someone who builds features but also kills them if the data says so, yet most candidates want to ship code instead of checking if ideas work. You need someone who admits when their idea failed without getting defensive and explains technical trade-offs to partners who aren't engineers. Many applicants showcase perfect deployments but hide the messy product decisions behind them, so we need evidence of them changing direction based on user feedback, not just completing tickets.”

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Competency Questions

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Product Software Engineering Core

Integrates product discovery, feature engineering, infrastructure, and business alignment to deliver customer value through rapid experimentation and validated learning.

Business Alignment & Metrics

Analyzes feature impact and reports on technical KPIs to validate hypotheses and drive data-informed iteration decisions.

Interview round: Hiring Manager Technical

You realize a feature you built isn't moving the key metric you expected. How do you respond?

Positive indicators

Investigates root cause of metric stagnation
Proposes experiment to improve results
Accepts failure as part of learning

Negative indicators

Defensive about the work performed
Assumes metric tracking is wrong immediately
Gives up on the feature entirely

Attitude Questions

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Accountability Mindset

A consistent psychological commitment to accepting full responsibility for decisions, actions, and results, characterized by proactive problem-solving rather than reactive justification, ensuring alignment between individual contributions and organizational goals.

Interview round: Recruiter Screen

How do you handle situations when an external dependency blocks your progress?

Positive indicators

Solution-oriented approach
Early warning system
Collaborative problem solving

Negative indicators

Waits passively for resolution
Blames other team publicly
Stops all work

Progression Framework

This table shows how competencies evolve across experience levels. Each cell shows competency at that level.

Product Software Engineering Core

7 competencies

Competency	Junior	Mid	Senior	Principal
Business Alignment & Metrics	Tracks basic task metrics and understands business context of implemented features, monitoring usage data to support learning validation.	Analyzes feature impact and reports on technical KPIs to validate hypotheses and drive data-informed iteration decisions.	Links technical decisions to business outcomes and ROI, applying innovation accounting principles to measure time-to-learn metrics.	Drives business strategy through technical innovation and market analysis.
Core Development & Implementation	Implements defined features using established patterns and tools under supervision, writing testable and measurable code aligned with MVP guidelines.	Develops complex modules independently and ensures code quality standards while executing build-measure-learn cycles.	Owns service reliability, refactors legacy code, and mentors junior developers on product thinking and engineering practices.	Defines engineering standards, technical vision, and cross-system integration strategies.
Data Management & Infrastructure	Writes basic queries and manages local data structures, ensuring data integrity for measurement instrumentation embedded in features.	Optimizes database performance and manages cloud resources to support feature data requirements and metrics collection.	Designs data models and ensures infrastructure reliability to support rapid experimentation and global stakeholder needs.	Defines data governance strategy and infrastructure evolution.
Deployment & Release Management	Executes deployment scripts and monitors release status for feature launches, following established CI/CD procedures.	Configures CI/CD pipelines and handles rollback procedures to enable frequent, safe deployments for experimentation.	Optimizes release frequency and ensures zero-downtime deployments to support rapid experimentation cycles.	Defines release governance and deployment architecture.
Product Discovery & Requirements	Gathers basic requirements and documents user stories with guidance, ensuring learning outcomes from experiments are captured for team knowledge sharing.	Analyzes feature feasibility and collaborates with product managers on scope to validate problem-solution fit.	Leads discovery sessions and defines technical constraints for product decisions, translating business needs into technical specifications.	Aligns long-term product strategy with technical roadmap and market opportunities.
System Architecture & Design	Follows existing architectural patterns and design guidelines when implementing features, ensuring code consistency with team standards.	Designs subsystem components and evaluates trade-offs within feature scope to ensure scalability and maintainability.	Architects full services and ensures system cohesion across multiple teams, designing for scalability and reduced friction.	Sets organizational architecture standards and evolves system topology.
Testing & Quality Assurance	Writes unit tests and executes manual test cases for implemented features, ensuring testable code with adequate coverage before release.	Develops integration tests and automates QA workflows to ensure feature reliability and enable rapid iteration.	Defines testing strategy and ensures coverage standards across services to maintain quality at scale.	Establishes quality culture and tooling ecosystem.

Sample Job Description Content

Product Software Engineer

Tech Startup

What you'll do

Build production features – Write clean, tested code daily in VS Code that directly addresses user pain points identified during discovery
Iterate on live features – Adjust functionality weekly using Mixpanel and SQL data to improve conversion rates and user engagement
Define feature hypotheses – Partner with product and design stakeholders in Miro to set success metrics before writing any code
Conduct usability testing – Join monthly customer sessions via Zoom to observe real usage and validate engineering assumptions firsthand
Design API contracts – Collaborate with backend peers using Swagger to ensure internal services support flexible frontend experiences
Run A/B experiments – Deploy landing page variants weekly using Optimizely to test value propositions before full-scale build
Maintain system reliability – Manage dependency updates and security patches weekly with Snyk to prevent technical debt accumulation
Own feature lifecycle – Lead build-measure-learn cycles quarterly from MVP prototype in React to validated learning based on data signals

Who you are

You thrive when you can connect the code you write to the actual problems our customers face every day. Instead of waiting for fully specified requirements, you jump into the discovery process to help shape what we build. You bring intellectual humility to every experiment, knowing that data and customer feedback matter more than your initial hypothesis. This role suits you if you find energy in direct engagement with users and treating architecture decisions as product choices that impact real people.

Collaboration comes naturally to you because you practice active listening with your product and design partners. You do not just hear words but understand the intent behind them. When technical constraints collide with business goals, you use clear communication to explain trade-offs without hiding behind jargon. You possess the professional courage to suggest a different path if the original plan risks user value or system integrity.

You understand that sustainable delivery requires professional boundary setting to protect quality and your own well-being. Feedback openness is part of your daily routine, whether you are reviewing code or discussing product logic. You measure success by the outcome of the feature in the market, not by the volume of stories closed. This mindset allows you to grow alongside the company as we democratize financial automation for growing businesses.

Why this role will be interesting

You will own the full lifecycle of a feature, from hypothesis to sunset. The hard part isn't writing the code. It is making the autonomous decision to deprecate a feature you built because validated learning shows it does not move core business metrics. Here, engineering judgment serves user outcomes, so you will treat architecture decisions as product decisions with real consequences for the SMBs relying on your cash flow automation.

This role grows you into a partner who accumulates deep subject-matter knowledge over time. You will use that expertise to shape what gets built alongside how, influencing roadmap prioritization based on engagement metrics rather than waiting for fully specified requirements.

You'll measure success by user impact, not velocity. The team values discovery participation and transparency, building trust with non-engineering collaborators through shared language and follow-through. Expect high agency and iterative refinement as you work to eliminate manual financial operations.

Our Process

Recruiter Screen30 min
Hiring Manager Technical60 min
Peer Technical60 min
Cross-Functional Partnership45 min