Sr. Product Builder

Overview

Position:  Sr Product Builder

Salary:  $155K - $175K/yr d.o.e. plus benefits

Location: Remote - (If living within 31 miles of Santa Ana, CA or Austin, TX will need to be able to work 4 days on-site).

Summary

New American Funding (NAF) is a nationwide mortgage lender dedicated to providing tailored home financing solutions to borrowers across the United States. The Senior Product Builder owns a product area or platform surface spanning multiple capabilities, driving it across the full AI Development Lifecycle (AIDLC). Operating with significant ambiguity, the Senior Product Builder frames the problems others execute against, sets the AI-first build patterns the product organization adopts, and serves as the primary voice of the user across the area. Distinct from a traditional product role, the Senior Product Builder leverages AI tools to prototype, accelerate execution, and directly shape product functionality — building prototypes, proofs-of-concept, and AI-feature behavior through prompts and workflows, and establishing the reference patterns other Product Builders replicate. As a senior individual contributor, this person mentors Product Builders and contributes to hiring and product craft standards without direct management responsibility, combining deep product management fundamentals with AI-enabled product development practices and applying critical judgment to validate all AI-generated outputs.

Responsibilities

Key Responsibilities

• Own a product area or platform surface spanning multiple capabilities; drive it across the full AIDLC and define how the lifecycle is run within the area.
• Frame ambiguous problem spaces into clear, prioritized product direction; set and communicate strategy for the area aligned to company objectives, OKRs, and customer needs.
• Set the AI-first build patterns, evaluation criteria, and quality bars for AI-generated outputs that other Product Builders adopt.
• Lead user research, market and competitive analysis, and data-driven discovery at the area level; leverage AI to accelerate synthesis and translate insight into a defensible roadmap.
• Author and govern PRDs, user stories, and acceptance criteria across the area; own backlog health and AIDLC standards across multiple capabilities.
• Serve as the primary decision-maker on scope, sequencing, and tradeoffs across the area; resolve ownership seams and dependencies between capabilities and pods.
• Partner across pod engineering and design throughout the AIDLC; influence cross-pod sequencing and resolve cross-surface dependencies to keep delivery on pace.
• Build prototypes, demos, and proofs-of-concept, and design AI-powered feature behavior through prompts and workflows; establish the reference patterns other Product Builders replicate.
• Mentor Product Builders and contribute to hiring, leveling input, and product craft standards as an individual contributor, without direct reports.
• Lead go-to-market readiness and product launches across the area; tie outcomes to business metrics such as pull-through, conversion, and productivity, and iterate based on data and user feedback.
• Define and track KPIs, success metrics, and business outcomes across the area; use them to drive strategy and inform future product decisions.
• Align cross-functional stakeholders and leadership; communicate progress, tradeoffs, and decisions clearly and proactively, serving as the single point of accountability across the area’s backlog.
• Lead by example, providing a fun and healthy team atmosphere.

Qualifications

Job Competencies / Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree preferred; BA or BS.
• 7+ years of experience in Product Management, Product Ownership, Business Analysis, or a related product role.
• Mortgage, lending, fintech, or real estate industry experience required.
• Experience owning multiple products, capabilities, or a product area through the full product lifecycle.
• Demonstrated ability to set product and AIDLC standards and to mentor other product professionals.
• Deep, hands-on experience using AI tools (LLMs, code assistants, and agents) to prototype and build AI-feature behavior, and to define patterns and evaluation criteria for AI-generated outputs.
• Strong systems thinking, with comfort across integrations, platform abstractions, and cross-surface dependencies.
• Proven cross-functional leadership with Engineering, UX, Research, Analytics, and Business stakeholders.
• Data-driven mindset with the ability to define KPIs and tie product work to business outcomes.
• Excellent communication, executive presentation, and stakeholder management skills.
• Creative, fl