Product Lead

NLV Overview NextLadder Ventures is a time-bound venture with one goal: empower millions of Americans to reach their potential by 2040. A first-of-its-kind fund, NextLadder Ventures invests in breakthrough technologies that remove barriers to economic success and put people in control of their futures. Blending philanthropic and venture capital, we invest in accelerating the design, development, and deployment of promising solutions in a new market for Navigation Technology - tools that help people navigate pivotal moments and access the resources they need. Backed by more than $1 billion in capital, we offer flexible, risk-tolerant funding — in the form of grants and direct investments — to nonprofits and early-stage companies building products that are impactful and scalable. Position Summary NLV is working toward a seamless, personalized navigation journey for low-income Americans in their critical moments. As our first full-time technical hire, the Product Lead will enable the technical vision for how we get there across our portfolio and in the broader NavTech field. This is a high-autonomy role where you will shape our technical strategy; identify the most significant technical unlocks and connection points (including across NLV’s portfolio) to accelerate the NavTech field. You will be empowered to make high-impact, frontier-oriented technical bets that unlock value for the entire ecosystem, build critical infrastructure in a range of forms from standards to products, and define NLV’s role alongside partners to make seamless navigation journeys possible. Good candidates for this role can take a mandate and turn it into quick and strategic action, shaping their own position as they go. Key Responsibilities Owns and continuously sharpens NLV's working view of the NavTech stack, including direct solutions (our portfolio and other NavTech builders), the potential connection points, and the foundational infrastructure that could unlock impact and value for the whole field. Identifies patterns across the portfolio and wider NavTech builder ecosystem that could inform reusable components in the NavTech stack (e.g., connectors, evaluation harnesses, reference implementations, data or context layers, common schemas) and finds innovative paths to advance them. Architects solutions, including guiding design and build of proofs of concept through to reusable components and open source infrastructure and ensures builds meet user needs and are sustainable in the long-run. Advises and enables NLV portfolio organizations – sitting shoulder-to-shoulder to understand success, work through technical challenges, advise on roadmaps, architectures, and frontier technology use, and connect them to other technical expertise. Develops and tests technical delivery models in partnership with the NLV team, our portfolio, builders, and field leaders. Finds the right ways to encourage adoption and integration with existing workflows. Galvanizes technical…