Product Lead -Contract (Palo Alto)

As a Product Lead, you will work on the venture project (Tanekt), which is incubated at Moon Creative Lab, that aims to build products and experiences for amateur gardeners in the United States. As a project lead, your task would be to design and manage this project's path as it develops from an early-stage, pre-product incubation project to deploy MVP.

You will combine knowledge of the amateur vegetable seed industry with a competency in product management to develop a novel product offering for the amateur vegetable seed market. You will have access to Moon’s resources, including design researchers, product designers, UI/UX designers, software engineers, marketers, and others to support your efforts.

• You have an entrepreneurial mindset - You have experience utilizing a lean start-up approach to: (I) run hypothesis-driven iterations; (ii) craft a go-to-market strategy; and (iii) build a minimum viable business. You are prone to action and are comfortable in fast-paced ambiguous environments. Being resourceful is second nature, and you believe that more can be done with less.
• You are a go-getter - You are proactive in finding solutions even if the obvious solution is right in front of you. You like to ask the right questions, synthesize multiple perspectives, and then find the critical path to making the best solution come to life. You are comfortable getting your hands dirty, but find ways to make things run more smoothly next time.
• You are an over-communicator - This will be a high touchpoint role where you will work across disciplines: between design, engineering, our business partners, and company leadership. You’re an over-communicator who is able to eloquently bring the right context to the stakeholders you’re working with.

This is scheduled as a 6-month contracting engagement. It will support an effort to develop this project from an interesting problem space and target market into an investable product or service and business model.

• Build and maintain Product Vision and Priorities
• Own product and material development process end-to-end, prioritizing and allocating work, building and tracking timelines, KPIs, and deadlines, and identifying resource gaps and constraints
• Manage product requirements, features, and budgets. Establish strategies and tactical plans for each formula product, and communicate them clearly across stakeholders
• Work with our existing global network of research partners, consultants, and brands (This will require coordination across multiple timezones)
• Engage cross-functionally across Design Research, Product Design, and Engineering to accomplish venture goals

• 2+ years of Product Management experience
• Background in, or familiarity with entrepreneurship
• Experience working with designers and engineers on consumer-oriented products
• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent work experience in agriculture, agriculture science, horticulture or related field
• Experience with vegetable farming, either professionally or as an amateur grower
• Product Launch experience (software products preferred)
• Strong communication and presentation skills: written and verbal
• Strong business acumen with demonstrated understanding of the financial aspects of product development
• You have an ownership mindset and are a strategic thinker. Setting goals and priorities when appropriate, creating and executing plans, measuring KPIs and metrics, and aligning tactics with key results all comes naturally to you
• You’re nimble, scrappy, and a leader in ambiguous situations. You create solutions to problems, take proactive ownership, and keep a positive attitude even when times are tough
• Possess eye for creativity and quality in product execution
• Ability to travel between Moon offices (Silicon Valley and Tokyo)

• Experience working at start-ups
• Experience applying human-centered design thinking
• Experience working with distributed teams across multiple time zones
• Japanese language skills

If you identify with Moon's values and would like to contribute to our work, please submit your resume and optionally, a cover letter.

Moon Creative Lab is an equal opportunity employer; applicants are considered for all roles without regard to race, color, religious creed, sex, national origin, citizenship status, age, physical or mental disability, sexual orientation, marital, parental, veteran or military status, unfavorable military discharge, or any other status protected by applicable federal, state or local law.

Moon Creative Lab is a human-centered venture studio that powers the creation of new businesses. Moon’s mission is to help Mitsui & Co, one of Japan’s largest organizations, in its pursuit to become a more future-forward, entrepreneurial company. We work to unlock the creativity of Mitsui’s 45,000 strong global workforce to build innovative businesses that will have an exponential impact on the world. We do this by bringing together the best talent in design, engineering, product and more to create bold new ventures from zero to launch. 

Moon transforms ideas into bold new ventures and provides the resources and expertise to light the way to a more creative future.  We are human-centered in our approach and hands-on in our delivery. Our team of talented designers, engineers, product leaders and marketers help our idea owners connect with real users to create prototypes and MVPs and bring them to market quickly. At Moon, you will:

• Address real human needs that have far-reaching social impact
• Work across disciplines, across industries, and across cultures 
• Start with people and leverage the beauty and messiness of human-centered design

Moon is looking for people who are passionate about unlocking the innate creativity of others while designing impactful businesses. Come join us!