Key Responsibilities
- Set the vision and roadmap for the Tailscale dataplane, including WireGuard behavior, DERP relay expansion and capacity, subnet routers, exit nodes, and client-side networking to make connectivity automatic and reliable.
- Define performance and reliability as customer-facing product requirements.
- Own connectivity product strategy end-to-end: regional expansion, capacity planning, relay health observability, enterprise and private DERP/Peer Relay offerings, and sovereign or regulated deployment requirements.
- Drive the roadmap for operational primitives such as subnet routers, exit nodes, and Peer Relays, including deployment topology, high-availability modes, route management UX, and production operational tooling.
- Own the application-layer connectivity surface (App Connectors, Services, DNS, and network segmentation) for traffic routing to SaaS, cloud resources, AI agents, CI/CD, and Kubernetes workloads.
- Own the operator control surface for network engineers and IT admins to configure, segment, monitor, and troubleshoot networks at scale via admin console and CLI.
- Partner closely with the embedded Network Features design lead to create legible product surfaces from abstract networking systems.
- Own connectivity behavior across NAT types, operating systems, mobile carriers, enterprise firewalls, and unusual networks, improving success rates and debuggability.
- Partner with GTM, Customer Success, and Solutions Engineering on production traffic commitments, regulated deployments, and strategic enterprise deals; translate customer learnings into roadmap priorities.
- Represent Tailscale's dataplane externally to enterprise customers, cloud partners, infrastructure vendors, and the networking community as a domain authority.
Requirements
- 10+ years in product management owning networking, transport, edge, or infrastructure products at scale (e.g., CDNs, edge platforms, SD-WAN, overlay networks, cloud networking, service mesh, API gateways, DNS/traffic management, or identity-aware proxies).
- Deep networking fluency across the stack: comfortable with routing, NAT traversal, MTU/MSS, congestion, latency, and packet loss below L4, and equally fluent at the application layer on overlay routing, proxies, connectors, DNS, and network segmentation.
- Ability to engage engineers on networking and application teams as a peer.
- Demonstrated ability to define performance commitments, customer-facing SLOs, operate under production expectations, and handle when systems miss commitments.
Nice-to-Haves
- Familiarity with VPN/tunneling protocols (WireGuard, IPsec, OpenVPN) or low-level networking stacks (kernel, eBPF, userspace).
- Experience operating globally distributed infrastructure POPs, relays, and edge nodes, including capacity planning, regional expansion, and performance tradeoffs.
- Familiarity with subnet routing, BGP, MPLS, cloud VPC peering, or data residency constraints.
- Experience with application-layer connectivity: service mesh, API gateways, DNS, proxies/connectors, or network segmentation and policy.
- Track record building operator control surfaces (admin console and CLI) for network engineers and IT admins.
- Background in regulated industries (finance, healthcare, government).
- Public technical writing, conference talks, or open-source networking contributions.
- Hands-on experience with Tailscale at work or home.
Compensation
US Pay Range: $197,000–$246,000 base salary (target range for new hires; individual offers may vary based on experience and skill set). Total compensation includes base salary, equity, and comprehensive benefits.
TailscaleUnited States
