Product Manager - Prop Trading - Breakout

About the company and team

Payward, the company behind Kraken, NinjaTrader, Breakout, xStocks, Payward Services, and CF Benchmarks, has been building modern financial infrastructure for more than 15 years with the goal of supporting an open, global financial system.

Breakout is a crypto prop trading program that lets skilled traders access trading capital. Traders can keep up to 90% of profits, complete a single-step evaluation, and then operate funded accounts of up to $200K with 24/7 profit withdrawals.

This is a compact, high-accountability team where each hire has a direct influence on the product. The trading experience is the main competitive advantage, and this role is responsible for shaping it. You will collaborate with traders, engineers, and operators who work quickly, reason carefully, and expect a high standard of work.

Reporting to the Head of Product, the Product Manager for Prop Trading will own the full trading journey across Breakout Prop and Kraken Prop on both web and mobile.

What you'll do

• Own the roadmap for the trading experience in your area, including sequencing, requirements, and delivery, in close partnership with the Head of Product.
• Define what excellent prop trading user experience should look like: fast, intuitive, and suited to serious derivatives traders.
• Push short-term priorities forward and work toward feature parity with leading products in the market, including Hyperliquid and others.
• Shape the product strategy for agentic and API-based trading so advanced users can access prop capital programmatically.
• Work with Kraken Pro engineering to create a product feel that fits naturally into the crypto ecosystem while meeting the needs of prop traders.
• Collaborate closely with the risk team to convert execution details into product requirements, including A-book versus B-book mechanics, drawdown rules, and their impact on user experience.
• Set clear standards for completion on trading features, covering requirements, edge cases, acceptance criteria, and iteration after launch.

What you need

• Strong product management background, ideally 3 to 6+ years at a senior level, with meaningful ownership of a trading or execution product.
• Deep knowledge of derivatives trading, including perpetuals, futures, margin, leverage, order types, and risk controls.
• Experience building products for professional or semi-professional traders who expect speed and low friction.
• Proven ability to deliver technically complex features end to end at a high standard.
• Skill in writing precise product requirements that engineers can implement without repeated clarification.
• Clear opinions on trading UX, backed by direct experience using top-tier trading terminals.
• Comfort working through technical details, including API documentation, data contracts, and architectural tradeoffs.
• Experience with real-time product behavior such as streaming prices, live profit and loss, and order state updates.
• Familiarity with trading infrastructure concepts like order routing, execution layers, risk engines, and position monitoring.
• Exposure to agentic workflows, algorithmic trading, or API-first product design is a plus.
• Ability to operate independently, set direction, and own a domain with little supervision.
• Excellent written communication for PRDs, tickets, and asynchronous updates.
• Experience coordinating across multiple engineering teams and managing cross-functional dependencies.
• Strong trader empathy and an understanding of the importance of product reliability when positions are open.
• Crypto-native mindset or strong curiosity about crypto and why prop trading matters in the space.

Additional information

Applications are reviewed on an ongoing basis unless a separate deadline is provided.

Applicants may remove or obscure details on their resume that reveal age, date of birth, or attendance/graduation dates from educational institutions.

The company evaluates qualified applicants with criminal histories in line with the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance.

Commitment to inclusion

Payward is built by people from many regions and backgrounds, and the company values diverse perspectives. Hiring is based on merit and the organization encourages applicants to consider roles even if they do not meet every listed requirement, especially if they are passionate or knowledgeable about crypto.

Candidates may be asked to complete job-related skills or work-style assessments during the hiring process. These assessments are used consistently across candidates for similar roles and are considered together with experience and interviews.

Payward is an equal opportunity employer and does not allow discrimination or harassment based on race, ethnicity, age, gender identity, citizenship, religion, sexual orientation, disability, pregnancy, veteran status, or any other protected characteristic under applicable laws.