What I Look For in an AI Product Manager
Beyond the Job Description and Resumes – these are the six core characteristics of a 0-to-1 product builder I want to hire
I'm currently hiring a Senior Product Manager to join my team at Google Labs, and it’s a role focused on building entirely new, 0-to-1 AI products. This process has forced me to crystallize what I truly look for in a candidate from a hiring manager's perspective, especially for this unique environment.
So, I’m starting a mini-series to pull back the curtain on my hiring philosophy. In future posts, we’ll get into the tactical side—resumes, videos, and take-home questions. But first, we need to start with the foundation.
After much thought and reflection on the almost 100 candidates I’ve screened, it all comes down to these six core characteristics.
The Six Core Characteristics I Look For
1. Exceptional Product Taste & User-Centric Craft
This is the innate ability to distinguish between a "good" idea and a truly magical, category-defining user experience. This product manager doesn't just build features; they champion the product's craft, ensuring the core interactions are intuitive, simple, and delightful. They have a sharp, well-honed instinct for what resonates with users on an emotional level, and they can translate complex AI capabilities into elegant and valuable products that people love. This taste isn't just theoretical; it's demonstrated through shipped products, ambitious prototypes, or personal projects that reveal a unique point of view and a purposeful attention to the details that matter.
2. Visionary Leadership & Systems Thinking
Technology is advancing so rapidly that an idea based on today's models can be commoditized or obsolete by the time it launches. A great AI PM must therefore anticipate these shifts, connecting today’s market opportunities with tomorrow's technological possibilities. They are a systems thinker, not a feature PM, because they know that incremental improvements are the most vulnerable to disruption.
This means they naturally look beyond the immediate solution. Instead of stopping at the first-order product that solves a user's current problem, they ask the critical "what next?" question to uncover the second-order opportunity: the enabling platform, the paradigm-shifting workflow, or the tool that lets thousands of others build their own solution. They form a strong, unique point of view and inspire a cross-functional team to build towards it.
3. “Clarity in Chaos” & Empathetic Resolve
Building from zero to one is inherently chaotic. This product manager thrives in that ambiguity, cutting through the noise to bring order and focus to their team. They are skilled at holding competing priorities in tension, synthesizing contradictory feedback into a clear path forward without being paralyzed by indecision. When the strategy needs to shift, they guide the team through pivots with purpose, ensuring adaptation feels like strategic evolution, not chaotic thrash. They foster a culture of trust and collaboration and lead with empathy.
The Blueprint: What "0 to 1" looks like on paper.
The Fantasy: What everyone expects "0 to 1" to feel like.
The Reality: What it actually feels like to be in the messy middle of "0 to 1."
4. Compelling Product Storytelling
When creating something entirely new, you can't rely on traditional data to justify the vision. This PM excels at "reading the tea leaves" - interpreting early, ambiguous signals - and weaving a compelling narrative that inspires belief and action. They are master storytellers who can articulate a product's "why" with such clarity and passion that it motivates engineers, designers, and leadership to invest in the vision. This skill is crucial for securing buy-in and taking others on the journey of building the future.
5. Full-Spectrum Execution & Ownership
This individual is a true "full-spectrum" product manager who transitions seamlessly between high-level strategy and hands-on execution. They embody a deep sense of ownership, taking complete responsibility for the product's entire lifecycle and its ultimate success. They are proactive operators with a bias for action who do whatever it takes to move the product forward. They don’t just ideate; they ship, and they do it intelligently by constantly finding ways to de-risk core assumptions along the way.
6. Deep AI Intuition & Applied Creativity
This product manager is not just a manager of AI products; they are a creative builder with hands-on experience. They have a deep technical intuition about modern AI concepts, understanding both their immense potential and their limitations. This is demonstrated by a passion for experimenting with AI in their own time and a proven ability to leverage it to make themselves more productive or accomplish new things. They think in terms of systems and workflows, not just model capabilities exposed as incremental features or optimizations, and can think critically about how to push the boundaries of what AI can do.
These six characteristics, taken together, paint a picture of the kind of PM who thrives in the ambiguous, fast-paced, and exhilarating world of 0-to-1 product building. It’s a high bar, but building the future demands it.
In Part 2, I dive into the more tactical side: what I look for in the resume:
What I Look For in an AI PM - Part 2: The Resume Test
Reviewing applications for the Senior Product Manager role on my team takes time. A lot of time. I’ve even had AI help me with parts of the process, creating a prompt based on the six characteristics I wrote about in Part 1 to see if Gemini could give me a quick take on resumes. The challenge? Resumes, as they’re often written, don’t really reveal that …
Or you can jump straight to Part 3:
“They are master storytellers who can articulate a product's "why" with such clarity and passion that it motivates.. a crucial for taking others on the journey of building the future.”
This is my favourite quote here! Thanks for sharing your insight, its highlighted soft skills to hone. Good luck on your search!