Head of Product (VP Level) – Home Improvement Marketplace — New York, NY

Location: Washington DC-Baltimore Area · Hybrid (on-site presence preferred)

Employment type: Full-time

About the Company

My client is an established, privately held home improvement company with a long track record, a strong brand in its markets, and a proven in-home sales model.

They are about to launch an online marketplace for big-ticket home improvement projects, typically $5,000–$50,000+ jobs, that connects homeowners with vetted, licensed professionals. The platform is built and nearing go-live. They need a product leader to take it through launch and turn it into a scaled business.

The Role

You’ll own the marketplace product from launch onward: the roadmap, the experience on both sides, and the metrics that tell us whether it’s working. You’ll lead product and design, set priorities for engineering, and work hand in hand with the Head of Growth, operations and sales. You’ll report directly to the executive team.

Your First 90 Days

Days 1–30: Get launch-ready

• Get deep on the existing product, architecture, roadmap and backlog, and on the build decisions already made.

• Run a launch-readiness review of both sides of the marketplace: homeowner intake and quoting, pro onboarding and vetting, matching, payments, and reporting.

• Identify and close critical launch gaps, and cut anything that doesn’t need to ship on day one.

• Make sure analytics and instrumentation are in place to measure liquidity, conversion and pro activity from the first transaction.

• Agree on launch success metrics and go/no-go criteria with the executive team and the Head of Growth.

Days 31–60: Launch

• Lead go-live in the initial markets with growth, operations and customer support.

• Run a tight daily feedback loop from homeowners, pros, support tickets and funnel data.

• Ship rapid fixes and improvements to the biggest drop-off points.

• Watch both sides of the market closely. Find where jobs aren’t getting quotes and where pros aren’t responding, and fix the product causes.

Days 61–90: Stabilize and plan to scale

• Present a post-launch review: what’s working, what isn’t, and what the data says.

• Set the 6–12 month roadmap, prioritizing liquidity, conversion, pro retention and monetization.

• Establish a weekly experiment and release cadence with clear success criteria.

• Build the repeatable playbook for opening new markets.

• Assess the team and fill gaps in product, design and analytics.

What You’ll Own

Homeowner experience

• Project intake and scoping that turns a request into a well-defined, quotable project.

• Pro discovery and matching: profiles, reviews, credentials and response times.

• Comparable quotes, consultation booking, financing at the point of decision, project tracking and reviews.

Pro experience

• Onboarding and vetting for licensing, insurance, background checks and quality standards.

• Lead and job management, billing and payouts, and performance dashboards.

• Features that help pros win and keep jobs, which is what makes the platform worth paying for.

Marketplace systems

• Matching and routing: which pros see which jobs, how fast and how many.

• Pricing and monetization, with ongoing testing.

• Trust and safety: fraud prevention, review integrity, dispute resolution and pro quality enforcement.

• Payments, including milestone billing for high-ticket jobs.

You’ll Be Measured On

• Launch: on-time go-live in initial markets against the agreed criteria.

• Liquidity: the percentage of projects receiving qualified quotes within a set time, and the match rate.

• Funnel conversion: project request to quote to booked consultation to signed job.

• Pro supply: active pros per market, response rate and speed, and retention.

• Economics: revenue per project, take rate, and contribution margin per market.

• Quality: homeowner satisfaction, dispute rate, and repeat and referral rate.

What We’re Looking For

Required

• 10+ years in product management, including 4+ years leading product teams.

• Product leadership at a two-sided online marketplace, ideally home services (Angi, HomeAdvisor, Thumbtack, Porch, Houzz, Modernize or similar), or a big-ticket marketplace in auto, real estate, solar or similar.

• Has personally led a marketplace or major product through launch and the months after. Be ready to walk through what broke, what you cut, and what you fixed first.

• Hands-on ownership of at least two of these: matching or ranking, pricing and monetization, payments, or trust and safety and pro vetting.

• Data fluency: you can write or read SQL, design an A/B test, and build the dashboard you need yourself.

• Comfort stepping into a product someone else built: you can assess it quickly, keep what works and fix what doesn’t.

Strongly preferred

• Experience with high-consideration purchases involving long decision cycles, in-home visits or financing.

• Familiarity with home services software such as field service management, contractor CRMs and consumer financing.

• Experience connecting a digital product to offline operations, for example sales teams, installers or call centers.

What This Role Is Not

• Not a long strategy-and-planning exercise. The platform is close to launch, and you need to be effective in weeks.

• Not a hands-off role. You’ll be in the data, the support tickets and the pro onboarding calls.

• Not a role with a large established team. You’ll shape and grow it.

Why This Role

• Launch and scale a marketplace with advantages most startups don’t have: an established brand, real customers, operating expertise and capital.

• A seat at the leadership table and full ownership of the product.

• Compensation: $190,000–$230,000 base + performance bonus + equity, plus full benefits including medical, dental, vision and a 401(k) with company match.

• Local candidates preferred. Remote with regular travel to the home office will be considered for exceptional out-of-market candidates.

Confidential Search

This is a confidential search on behalf of my client. All inquiries will be handled with discretion. To apply or learn more, send a message or email ••••••••.