About Upstart
Upstart is the leading AI lending marketplace partnering with banks and credit unions to expand access to affordable credit. By leveraging Upstart's AI marketplace, Upstart-powered banks and credit unions can have higher approval rates and lower loss rates across races, ages, and genders, while simultaneously delivering the exceptional digital-first lending experience their customers demand. More than 80% of borrowers are approved instantly, with zero documentation to upload.
Upstart is a digital-first company, which means that most Upstarters live and work anywhere in the United States. However, we also have offices in San Mateo, California; Columbus, Ohio; and Austin, Texas.
Most Upstarters join us because they connect with our mission of enabling access to effortless credit based on true risk. If you are energized by the impact you can make at Upstart, we’d love to hear from you!
The Team:
Upstart's Growth team is dedicated to creating a seamless product experience that allows customers to effortlessly discover and access Upstart’s credit products, both for the first time and on an ongoing basis. By building exceptional, customer-centric experiences, this team plays a crucial role in making Upstart the premier destination for consumer credit, driving growth and unifying Upstart’s product portfolio into a cohesive, multi-product marketplace.
As a Principal Product Manager focused on User Engagement, you’ll lead a core pillar of our Growth strategy – driving user activity, retention, and repeat usage through compelling, value-driven product experiences. You will shape how customers interact with Upstart beyond the initial transaction, building our in-product experience, and touchpoints that deepen trust, promote financial wellness, and ultimately unlock new monetization pathways.
In this highly cross-functional role, you'll operate at the intersection of product, design, engineering, data science, and marketing to reimagine how users stay engaged with our platform. You’ll balance bold bets with iterative testing, and combine behavioral insights with product mechanics to build delightful, habit-forming experiences that serve both user needs and business outcomes.
How you’ll make an impact
- Define and deliver the vision for engagement across Upstart’s ecosystem, building experiences across web and mobile that keep users returning and pave the path to upsell and cross-sell.
- Champion the user journey, crafting intuitive and rewarding experiences that build trust and increase lifetime value. You’ll partner with consumer research, product marketing, and data to ground your work in real-world behaviors and motivations.
- Drive experimentation at scale, using rapid iteration and clear metrics to test what works. You’ll bring clarity to ambiguity by identifying levers for activation, retention, and repeat engagement, and aligning stakeholders around the most promising paths forward.
- Lead with influence, collaborating across product lines and teams to stitch together a cohesive experience across our suite of offerings, ensuring engagement efforts ladder up to shared company goals.
- Balance vision and execution, making strategic trade-offs across short-term optimization and long-term differentiation. You'll help shape a roadmap that prioritizes measurable impact while investing in foundational capabilities for sustained growth.
Minimum Qualifications
- 10+ years of product management experience, with a strong track record driving consumer engagement, growth, or retention for digital products.
- Deep fluency in product discovery and hypothesis-driven development, including A/B testing, experimentation frameworks, and success metric definition.
- Exceptional collaboration skills, with a proven ability to align diverse stakeholders - from executive leaders to cross-functional partners - around a shared strategy.
- A user-first mindset, with the ability to distill complex customer insights into elegant, high-utility product experiences.
- Strong judgment and prioritization skills, able to identify high-leverage opportunities and navigate trade-offs with confidence and clarity.
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience building consumer products for technology companies, preferably in highly regulated industries (financial services, healthcare, etc.)
- Proven track record of building and scaling multi-product ecosystems or marketplaces in a B2C environment.
- Strong customer-centric mindset with the ability to translate customer insights into actionable product features and enhancements.
Position location This role is available in the following locations: Remote
Travel requirements As a digital first company, the majority of your work can be accomplished remotely. The majority of our employees can live and work anywhere in the U.S but are encouraged to to still spend high quality time in-person collaborating via regular onsites. The in-person sessions’ cadence varies depending on the team and role; most teams meet once or twice per quarter for 2-4 consecutive days at a time.
What you'll love:
- Competitive Compensation (base + bonus & equity)
- Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage with Health Savings Account contributions from Upstart
- 401(k) with 100% company match up to $4,500 and immediate vesting and after-tax savings
- Employee Stock Purchase Plan (ESPP)
- Life and disability insurance
- Generous holiday, vacation, sick and safety leave
- Supportive parental, family care, and military leave programs
- Annual wellness, technology & ergonomic reimbursement programs
- Social activities including team events and onsites, all-company updates, employee resource groups (ERGs), and other interest groups such as book clubs, fitness, investing, and volunteering
- Catered lunches + snacks & drinks when working in offices
#LI-REMOTE
#LI-MidSenior
At Upstart, your base pay is one part of your total compensation package. The anticipated base salary for this position is expected to be within the below range. Your actual base pay will depend on your geographic location–with our “digital first” philosophy, Upstart uses compensation regions that vary depending on location. Individual pay is also determined by job-related skills, experience, and relevant education or training. Your recruiter can share more about the specific salary range for your preferred location during the hiring process.
In addition, Upstart provides employees with target bonuses, equity compensation, and generous benefits packages (including medical, dental, vision, and 401k).
Upstart is a proud Equal Opportunity Employer. We are dedicated to ensuring that underrepresented classes receive better access to affordable credit, and are just as committed to embracing diversity and inclusion in our hiring practices. We celebrate all cultures, backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences, and know that we can only become better together.
If you require reasonable accommodation in completing an application, interviewing, completing any pre-employment testing, or otherwise participating in the employee selection process, please email [email protected]
https://www.upstart.com/candidate_privacy_policy
Top Skills
Upstart San Mateo, California, USA Office
Upstart's office in San Mateo is located on the peninsula between San Francisco and the South Bay with easy Caltrain access and proximity to several apartment complexes. The office is close to several shopping donations including an outdoor beer garden.
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