---
title: Founding product marketing manager
description: Shape Hornet's positioning, messaging, and public launch for developers and technical buyers.
location: London, UK
applySubject: "Application: Founding Product Marketing Manager"
order: 90
---

## The retrieval engine built for agents

Hornet is an ambitious startup building the next generation of retrieval infrastructure. Our engine powers agentic systems with an API surface that agents can configure, deploy, feed, query, and optimize autonomously. Building on battle-tested technology, serving billions of users, petabytes of data, and millions of requests per second, we're rethinking retrieval for the agentic era.

We serve enterprise clients globally, enabling them to get quality work done with agents. Most of our team is based in Trondheim, Norway.

## The role

We are looking for a **Founding Product Marketing Manager** to shape how we explain Hornet to developers and technical buyers as we prepare for our public launch.

As our first product marketing hire, you will work directly with the founders, engineering, and commercial team to turn deep technical capabilities into a clear story: who Hornet is for, which problems it solves, and why customers should choose it.

Your first priority will be getting that story ready for launch. You will develop our positioning and messaging, write launch announcements and website copy, and make sure the team has the materials to introduce Hornet clearly and consistently. You will own the work from customer research and the first draft through technical review and publication.

After launch, you will build on that foundation with product announcements, customer stories, and materials that help developers evaluate Hornet and help our commercial team explain its value.

## What you'll do

* Develop Hornet's positioning and messaging for developers, engineering leaders, and enterprise buyers.
* Plan and deliver our public launch with the founders, including the narrative, announcements, supporting content, and communications timeline.
* Write and edit product announcements, launch posts, website copy, newsletters, and social posts.
* Work with engineering to understand the product in depth and turn technical capabilities into clear explanations of customer value.
* Talk with customers and prospects to understand their problems, how they evaluate retrieval infrastructure, and the language they use.
* Create product overviews, presentations, use-case narratives, and competitive comparisons that support technical evaluations and sales conversations.
* Turn customer outcomes, demos, and benchmark results into credible stories, working with engineers to keep every claim accurate.
* Establish a repeatable process for product launches and ongoing announcements as Hornet ships new capabilities.
* Work with the commercial team to test messaging and improve it based on customer feedback, adoption, and qualified opportunities.

## What we're looking for

* Experience in product marketing for a technical B2B product, ideally in developer tools, infrastructure, databases, search, or AI.
* Excellent writing and editing skills, with examples of product messaging, launch announcements, or other work you have written yourself.
* Experience taking a product or significant new capability to market, from positioning through launch.
* Enough technical curiosity and fluency to read documentation, explore an API-driven product, and ask engineers good questions.
* Ability to explain complex technology clearly to developers while making its business value understandable to technical decision-makers.
* Strong customer research skills and an ability to turn what you learn into useful positioning and content.
* Good judgment about differentiation, evidence, and what a technical audience will find credible.
* Ability to work independently, prioritize, and deliver finished work in an early-stage company.

Experience with retrieval systems, AI agents, or enterprise infrastructure buying processes would be particularly relevant.

## Who we're looking for

* **Hands-on:** You enjoy writing, editing, and shipping the work yourself.
* **Curious:** You want to understand how the product works and why customers need it.
* **Clear:** You make complex ideas easy to understand without losing the technical substance.
* **Customer-minded:** You start with the customer's problem and use their feedback to sharpen the story.
* **High-agency:** You take ownership of ambiguous work and bring people together to get it done.
* **Direct:** You communicate honestly and support your claims with evidence.

## What we offer

* The opportunity to shape Hornet's product story and public launch as our first product marketing hire.
* Direct collaboration with the founders and a small team with deep technical expertise.
* Significant influence over positioning, launches, and how we bring the product to market.
* Close collaboration with both U.S. and Norway-based teams.
* Competitive salary.
* Equity: Significant equity stake from our ESOP in an early-stage, venture-backed company.

## To apply

Send your CV, a short note about why this role interests you, and two or three examples of product marketing work you have written or led. Tell us what you owned and who the work was for.