Product Manager - Creator Activation

About SubstackSubstack is building a new economic engine for culture, giving the brightest, most interesting, and most creative people on the internet the power of their own publishing platform. Substack empowers independent writers, artists, videographers, podcasters, and creators of all types to create, share, and make a living off their work through subscriptions — offering them creative freedom, ownership, and a direct connection to their audiences.The RoleThis role is focused on Creator Activation: helping new creators reach early traction quickly and confidently, by shaping the product experience, guidance, and feedback loops that turn “starting a Substack” into sustained publishing and meaningful growth.You’ll work at the intersection of creator understanding, onboarding/education, product analytics, and network distribution. Success in this role means: clarifying what creators are trying to achieve, identifying the early behaviors that predict long-term success, and building scalable product systems that encourage those behaviors and make progress visible.What You’ll DoCreator Activation StrategyDevelop a deep understanding of why creators choose Substack, what their goals are, and Substack’s competitive position vs. other platformsIdentify the “first-mile” actions that set creators up for traction and success, and define how the platform communicates, reinforces, and rewards those actionsMap creator journeys across segments (e.g., bringing an existing audience vs. building on-network), and define activation paths that meet creators where they areMeasurement, Analytics & InsightsMeasure the growth of new creators and overall network health: are creators able to bring existing audiences into Substack, and also benefit from distribution within the Substack network?Define activation and retention metrics, build dashboards, and establish leading indicators that help teams understand what’s working (and what’s not)Identify gaps in product analytics and instrumentation, and partner with Data/Engineering to design solutions to fill themRoadmap & ExecutionBuild a compelling roadmap across short-term, medium-term, and long-term horizons to improve creator activation and early successHelp design and spec projects across the spectrum from experiment, to feature, to large-scale initiativePartner with your EM counterpart to inspire and lead a cross-functional team of engineers, designers, and analysts, creating clarity and accountability at every levelCross-functional Leadership & GTMWork closely with Product, Partnerships, Growth, and Creator teams to align activation strategy with broader company strategyDrive go-to-market strategy and product storytelling for activation improvements: what changed, why it matters, and how creators benefitWhat We’re Looking For4+ years of experience as a Product ManagerStrong creator empathy and a clear mental model for why creators choose platforms and how they evaluate tradeoffsExcellent analytical skills, competence in SQL, and experience with BI tools; comfortable defining metrics and building measurement frameworksExperience running experiments and shipping iterative improvements to onboarding, education, or activation funnelsComfortable operating at every level of abstraction (from high-level product strategy to “what should this CTA say” level details)Deep experience with software design; demonstrated ability to balance ease of use with flexibility across creator segmentsStrong communication skills: able to write compelling strategy docs, internal or external blog posts, and present to the company regularlyAn ability to roll up your sleeves and do what needs to be doneWhy This Role, Why NowCreators are arriving at Substack with higher expectations (and more alternatives) than ever. The biggest leverage in improving creator outcomes is often in the first days and weeks: clarity on what to do next, confidence that progress is happening, and early signals that the network can help.This role exists to turn creator intent into momentum: building the product systems, guidance, and analytics that help new creators find traction, bring audiences with them, and benefit meaningfully from on-network distribution — strengthening both creator outcomes and overall network health.CompensationSubstack's compensation package includes a market-competitive salary, equity for all full-time roles, and exceptional benefits. Our cash compensation range for this role is $190,000–$230,000. Final offer amounts are determined by multiple factors including candidate experience and expertise.Substack