Principal Product Manager (Dataplane)
Core
Lead the vision and roadmap for Tailscale's dataplane platform, ensuring fast, secure, and reliable connectivity for over 7 million monthly active devices across diverse network topologies.
Role type
Principal Product Manager (Infrastructure/Networking)
Builds
Open source and commercial technology spanning Tailscale client, DERP, Subnet routers, WireGuard, Exit Nodes, Peer Relays, and App Connectors.
Domain
Cloud networking, secure interconnection, and distributed infrastructure.
Deliverable
production ML models | product features | dashboards & analysis | research | client delivery | infrastructure | physical/clinical work
Required skills
Product management for networking/transport/edge/infrastructure products, deep networking fluency (L4 routing, NAT traversal, congestion, latency), defining performance commitments and SLOs, operating under production expectations.
Preferred skills
VPN/tunneling protocols (WireGuard, IPsec), globally distributed infrastructure operations, subnet routing/BGP/MPLS, application-layer connectivity (service mesh, API gateways), operator control surface design, regulated industry background.
Technologies
WireGuard, DERP, Subnet routers, Exit Nodes, Peer Relays, App Connectors, NAT traversal, DNS, Kubernetes, CI/CD.
Responsibilities
Set vision and roadmap for dataplane including WireGuard behavior and relay expansion; Define performance and reliability as customer-facing product requirements; Own connectivity product strategy end to end including regional expansion and sovereign deployment requirements; Drive roadmap for operational primitives like subnet routers and exit nodes; Own application-layer connectivity surface for AI agents and Kubernetes workloads; Own operator control surface for network engineers and IT admins; Partner with GTM and Customer Success on production traffic commitments; Represent dataplane externally as a domain authority.
Seniority
Principal, strategy & mentorship