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Rippling is building a developer platform that enables developers to build software on top of Rippling, connect Rippling to custom data, and eventually sell applications to Rippling customers. As Director of Product, App Platform, you will lead the apps pillar of this platform, transforming powerful internal primitives into a coherent developer product.
You will define the strategy for Rippling's application platform and app ecosystem, including the Object Graph, Object Platform, custom apps, workflows, functions, documents, sites, localization, and related capabilities. This is a strategically important, technically complex product area requiring someone who has built for developers before and can make complex platform architecture feel simple, reliable, and worth building on.
Key responsibilities include:
- Set the App Platform strategy by defining how Rippling's app primitives come together into a clear, scalable developer platform
- Make developers the customer by building APIs, schemas, permissions, tooling, documentation, observability, and lifecycle experiences that help developers build confidently
- Lead the Object Graph and Object Platform roadmap, shaping the shared data and platform foundation that first-party teams, solutions teams, customers, and external developers build on
- Enable AI-native app creation by making the platform usable by AI coding agents through machine-readable interfaces, deterministic behavior, safe permissions, and actionable errors
- Build and lead the team by hiring, coaching, and developing product leaders for this broad product area
- Drive ecosystem impact by helping scale custom apps and creating the foundation for third-party developers to build and sell software on Rippling
Rippling is a San Francisco-based company that has raised $1.4B+ from top investors including Kleiner Perkins, Founders Fund, Sequoia, Greenoaks, and Bedrock. The company provides an integrated platform for HR, IT, and Finance, enabling businesses to manage and automate every part of the employee lifecycle in a single system.
The role requires working in-office at least three days per week for office-based employees within a defined radius of a Rippling office.
REQUIREMENTS:
- 12+ years of product management, engineering, platform, or technical product leadership experience
- Track record of building substantial products for developers, such as developer platforms, APIs, infrastructure products, app platforms, marketplaces, workflow platforms, or data platforms
- Strong technical fluency across data models, APIs, permissions, systems boundaries, reliability, tooling, and developer workflows
- Excellent product judgment and ability to turn fragmented platform capabilities into clear product strategy and roadmap
- Experience leading product teams, hiring and developing PMs, and operating across executive, engineering, design, GTM, and customer-facing stakeholders
- Comfort creating clarity in ambiguous, early, or newly elevated product areas
- Nice to have: experience with third-party developer ecosystems, app marketplaces, AI-native development workflows, coding agents, object graphs, data clouds, or enterprise application platforms
