Product Manager, Core Product

Character.AI is building what comes after television, after gaming, after social media. We're creating a new medium—one where anyone can bring a character to life and share it with millions. Our platform is already one of the largest consumer AI products on Earth. Millions of people use Character every day to talk, play, learn, and create. Now we're building the tools and formats that will define what entertainment looks like for the next decade. The company has scaled rapidly to tens of millions of monthly active users, reached unicorn status within roughly two years, and was named Google Play’s AI App of the Year, reflecting both mainstream adoption and strong cultural relevance. Product Overview The Core Product team owns the foundational experiences that define Character.AI identity and long-term differentiation: - Conversations: Long-form, emotionally engaging interactions powered by frontier language models. - Characters: Creation, discovery, and interaction with AI characters that feel alive and distinct. - Creative & Creator Tools: Systems that empower users and creators to expand the content ecosystem. The product challenge is not simply making AI work, but translating rapidly evolving model capabilities into polished, intuitive, and magical consumer experiences that keep users engaged for hours at a time. Role Overview: Product Manager, Core Product This role shapes the heart of Character.AI As a Product Manager on Core Product, you will own the experiences that users spend the most time with—conversations, characters, discovery, and creation. The role sits at the intersection of AI research, engineering, design, and entertainment, requiring exceptional product intuition and the ability to operate in high ambiguity. Success is measured less by short-term metric spikes and more by sustained session depth, emotional engagement, and product quality. Key Focus Areas - Emotional Resonance: Creating products that feel alive, personal, and meaningful. - 0→1 Innovation: Shipping open-ended, ambiguous experiences that unlock new forms of AI entertainment. - AI-to-Product Translation: Turning new model capabilities into tangible, delightful user value. - Creator Ecosystem: Expanding tools that empower creators and grow the content supply side. Key Responsibilities - Own end-to-end product development for core user experiences, including conversations, character interactions, and discovery - Execute on product vision and ship ambiguous, open-ended experiences leveraging current and future AI model capabilities - Develop deep user empathy by understanding motivations, behaviors, and emotional needs - Partner closely with AI research to identify opportunities enabled by new model capabilities - Collaborate with engineering, design, and community teams to deliver polished, intuitive products - Build and iterate on creator-facing tools that expand the platform’s content ecosystem - Partner with data science to measure engagement depth, product quality, and user satisfaction - Drive cross-functional execution, release coordination, and continuous improvement. Key Requirements - 5+ years of consumer product management experience - Proven track record launching successful products from 0→1 or major evolutions at scale - Strong intuition for products where engagement, session depth, and delight matter - Ability to balance near-term execution with long-term product vision - Strong design sensibility; experience in design or design-adjacent roles strongly preferred - Comfort operating in ambiguity and partnering closely with engineering and research teams. What Character.AI Is Looking For Character.AI is seeking a “Product Architect”—a PM who values craft, taste, and intuition as much as execution. This role is ideal for someone who wants to define what AI entertainment feels like, not just optimize funnels or dashboards. Ideal Candidate Profile - A creative, taste-led PM or senior designer transitioned into product - Background in entertainment, gaming, social, interactive media, or UGC platforms - Strong aesthetic judgment and obsession with product polish - Curious and conversant in AI/ML concepts, able to push research teams with the right questions - Bias toward shipping high-quality experiences over incremental metric tweaks ABOUT CHARACTER.AI Character.AI empowers people to connect, learn and tell stories through interactive entertainment. Over 20 million people visit Character.AI every month, using our technology to supercharge their creativity and imagination. Our platform lets users engage with tens of millions of characters, enjoy unlimited conversations, and embark on infinite adventures. In just two years, we achieved unicorn status and were honored as Google Play's AI App of the Year—a testament to our innovative technology and visionary approach. Join us and be a part of establishing this new entertainment paradigm while shaping the future of Consumer AI! At Character, we value diversity and welcome applicants from all backgrounds. As an equal opportunity employer, we firmly uphold a non-discrimination policy based on race, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, veteran status, or disability. Your unique perspectives are vital to our success.