Company
Navigating cancer is like embarking on a treacherous hike—without a map, gear, or guide. Manta Cares provides the most comprehensive self-advocacy toolkit available, empowering patients every step of the way. We are transforming the cancer journey.
Manta Cares is a digital health company founded and led by cancer patients, survivors, caregivers, and oncologists. Our team brings over 50 years of combined healthcare experience, with backgrounds at McKinsey, Stanford, MIT, and ASCO, among others. Backed by top-tier venture funds—including Pear Ventures, Sozo Ventures, and 1843 Capital—we are generating revenue through partnerships with leading life sciences organizations.
Opportunity for Impact
At Manta Cares, every feature we build directly impacts patients, caregivers, and advocates navigating the challenges of cancer. In this capacity, you’ll bridge Product and Engineering, translating strategy into well-scoped, technically sound, and execution-ready tickets to drive seamless development and meaningful impact on day one.
With strong strategic product thinking in place, your role is to complement that strength with deep technical execution—owning feature readiness, technical refinement, and product analytics to keep development cycles smooth and engineering tightly aligned. If you thrive on turning complex ideas into actionable plans and optimizing processes in a fast-moving, early-stage environment, this role is for you.
Role & Responsibilities
Manta Cares is hiring a Founding Technical Product Manager to bridge Product and Engineering, ensuring seamless execution. You’ll translate product ideas into engineering-ready tickets, scope features, and refine technical requirements to streamline development and deliver high-impact tools for cancer patients and caregivers.
The Founding Technical Product Manager will:
Translate product ideas into clear, engineering-ready specs, ensuring all features are well-defined and technically feasible before development begins.
Work closely with engineers to scope and refine features, proactively identifying edge cases, dependencies, and technical challenges.
Own the creation of engineering-ready tickets, writing clear user stories, acceptance criteria, and technical considerations to ensure smooth execution.
Manage the product backlog, keeping it organized, prioritized, and up to date for efficient sprint planning.
Ensure proper instrumentation and data tracking, defining requirements to measure user behavior, feature adoption, and product performance.
Act as the first line of validation for tickets, ensuring all necessary technical details are included before development starts.
Facilitate backlog grooming and sprint planning, helping to align engineering and product teams for smooth execution.
Support sprint retrospectives, identifying areas where the scoping and handoff process can improve.
Identify process inefficiencies and recommend improvements, ensuring product and engineering collaboration runs smoothly.
Help unblock engineers by providing detailed product specs, reducing ambiguity and ensuring fast, effective execution.
Professional Qualifications
Strong technical understanding of how software is built, including APIs, databases, and system design.
Experience working directly with engineers to break down projects into well-scoped, actionable work.
Ability to write clear, detailed product specs and tickets, ensuring engineering can execute efficiently.
Proficiency in Jira, Shortcut, or similar tools for backlog management and technical documentation.
Strong analytical skills, with the ability to define and track key product metrics.
Excellent communication skills, able to bridge the gap between Product and Engineering.
Experience in a resource-constrained startup environment, ideally at the 0-1 or early-stage level (Seed to Series A).
Bonus: Prior experience as a software engineer or in a highly technical role.
Personal Characteristics
Mission-Driven & Impact-Oriented – Passionate about building products that improve the lives of patients and caregivers.
Highly Organized & Detail-Oriented – Thrives on clarity, structure, and process-driven execution.
Technically Fluent – Comfortable discussing engineering concepts and thinking through technical feasibility.
Problem-Solver – Able to anticipate risks, identify edge cases, and proactively resolve challenges.
Execution-Focused & Adaptable – Moves fast, iterates effectively, and thrives in an early-stage startup environment.
Resourceful & Comfortable with Ambiguity – Has worked in small teams, worn multiple hats, and knows how to operate with limited resources.
Collaborative & Communicative – Excels in cross-functional teamwork, ensuring alignment across Product and Engineering.
If an employer mentions a salary or salary range on their job, we display it as an "Employer Estimate". If a job has no salary data, Rise displays an estimate if available.
Are you passionate about transforming the lives of cancer patients through innovative technology? Join Manta Cares as our Founding Technical Product Manager in sunny Palo Alto! At Manta Cares, we’re on a mission to provide the most comprehensive self-advocacy toolkit for patients, empowering them on their journey through cancer. As a key player in our team, you'll bridge the gap between Product and Engineering, translating visionary ideas into clear, actionable tasks that resonate with our mission. If you have a knack for breaking down complex concepts into easily understandable specifications and possess a strong technical background, this role is perfect for you! You will ensure every feature we develop is well-defined and executable, thereby having a direct impact on patients and caregivers alike from day one. With our experienced team, backed by top-tier investors, your input will be instrumental in shaping products that genuinely address the needs of our users. Your technical prowess and talent for organization will help keep our development cycles smooth while maintaining alignment between product and engineering teams. If you're ready to dive into a fast-paced, early-stage environment and leverage your skills to make a real difference in the healthcare industry, we’d love to hear from you. Let’s work together to change the cancer journey for the better!
Pear Accelerator is the best program for pre-seed and seed-stage founders to launch iconic companies from the ground up. We deliberately keep the program "small batch" to maximize the attention each founder gets from our partners. Our companies ...
130 jobsSubscribe to Rise newsletter