Program Manager, Pro Performance - United States - LawnStarter

Description

About LawnStarter

LawnStarter is the nation's leading on-demand marketplace for lawn care and outdoor services, with over $100M in annual bookings. We connect homeowners with vetted local service professionals (Pros) who handle everything from weekly mowing to pool cleaning. We're profitable, growing 30%+ YoY, and expanding beyond lawn care to become the one-stop shop for all outdoor home services.

About the Pro Experience Team

Our marketplace only works when Pros succeed. We have 10,000+ active service providers across the country, and their quality directly determines whether customers stay or churn. The Pro Experience function owns everything that helps Pros get better at their jobs and more engaged with the platform—gamification, training, and the feedback loops that drive continuous improvement.

This is a new function. You'd be the first dedicated hire focused on Pro success and engagement.

The Role

You'll own the programs that help Pros progress from new signups to high-performing Gold and Platinum tier providers. This means designing and running gamification programs, building training initiatives, and partnering with Support to improve the Pro experience.

What makes this role different:

- You're building the function. You'll own it end-to-end and shape what Pro Experience means at LawnStarter.

- You influence outcomes through programs, not authority. You won't manage the Pro Support team or own the Pro App—but you'll partner closely with both to drive results.

- Your north star is supply quality. More Pros reaching Gold and Platinum tiers (better ratings, higher completion rates, fewer cancellations).

What You'll Own

- Gamification programs: We've launched challenges, badges, and tier-based incentives. They work, but they're not optimized. You'll dial in what's working, cut what isn't, and expand the program based on data and Pro feedback.

- Pro training and upskilling: New Pros need to understand how to succeed on the platform. Experienced Pros want to grow their businesses. You'll define the training strategy—whether that's partnerships (like Greenius), in-house content, or community-driven knowledge sharing—and execute it.

- Pro Support partnership: You won't manage the Support team, but you'll own the feedback loop—identifying common pain points, advocating for Pro-facing improvements, and ensuring Support has what they need to help Pros succeed.

Problems to Solve

Gamification works, but it's not systematic.

We've run pilots that show real results—92% of participants want to do more challenges, and competition motivates Pros more than cash bonuses. But the program isn't yet a reliable, repeatable system. Challenges are ad-hoc. Tracking is manual. We need someone to turn experiments into a scalable engagement engine.

New Pros struggle to reach Blue tier.

The path from Intro to Blue tier (and beyond) isn't clear enough. New Pros don't fully understand how ratings, completion, and cancellations affect their standing—or what behaviors lead to success. We need better onboarding education and early intervention when Pros are struggling.

Pros don't feel like partners.

We have 20+ duplicate requests from Pros about metrics fairness—weather delays, vacation mode, appeals processes. Pros are sophisticated and call out when something feels unfair. Building trust requires better communication, clearer rules, and visible responsiveness to feedback.

Training content is scattered.

Tips and best practices are the #1 content request from Pros, but we don't have a cohesive training program. Greenius is one option (150+ courses on equipment, safety, operations), but we haven't validated the partnership or built the integration. Someone needs to own the strategy and execute.

What Success Looks Like (Year 1)

- Gamification program systematized: Consistent challenge cadence, automated tracking, clear playbook for what works. Measurable lift in targeted behaviors.

- Pro tier progression improving: Higher percentage of Intro Pros reaching Blue tier within 30 days. More Blue/Silver Pros advancing to Gold/Platinum.

- Training strategy defined and launched: Whether Greenius, in-house, or community-driven—you've validated the approach, built the MVP, and have early adoption metrics.

- You're the go-to person for Pro experience: Product, Ops, and Support come to you with Pro engagement questions. You have the data and relationships to influence decisions.

Requirements

Who You Are

You've designed and launched gamification programs before. Not just ideated. Actually shipped. You know the difference between what sounds good in a brainstorm and what actually changes behavior. You've seen challenges fail because the math was wrong or the tracking broke, and you've learned from it.

You understand behavioral psychology. You can explain why variable rewards work better than fixed ones, why fairness perception matters as much as actual fairness, and why "competition > money" isn't surprising. Frameworks like Octalysis, Hook Model, or similar are familiar territory.

You get things done through influence. You move work forward by building trust, showing clear evidence, and making decisions easy for others to support. You take responsibility for results even when the work is carried out by teams you don't manage.

You measure everything. You're not satisfied with "we ran a challenge and people liked it." You want to know: what was the baseline, what changed, was it statistically significant, did it persist after the incentive ended? You'll build the dashboards and feedback loops yourself if you have to.

You can write. Training materials, Pro communications, internal proposals—this role requires clear, compelling writing. Pros are busy and skeptical. You need to earn their attention.

AI-native. You actively use AI tools (ChatGPT, Claude, etc.) to accelerate your work— analyzing cohort data, building challenge mechanics, synthesizing feedback at scale. You experiment with new AI capabilities and find ways to apply them to engagement programs and training. This is unlikely to be a good fit if you're skeptical of AI tools or prefer to do everything manually.

This Role Is NOT

- A people management role. This is an IC position. You'll partner with the Pro Support team but won't manage them. If you're looking to build and lead a large team, this isn't the right fit right now.

- A product management role. You won't own the Pro App roadmap or make decisions about core platform features. You'll influence those decisions through data and advocacy, but the PM owns the product.

- A role where you set strategy from above. You're hands-on. You'll be in the weeds building challenge mechanics, analyzing cohort data, and running experiments. If you want to be purely strategic, this will feel too tactical.

Benefits

Compensation & Benefits

- Base salary: $95k-$135k

- Equity: Stock options

- Healthcare: Medical, dental, and vision coverage

- Location: Fully remote (US-based)

- PTO: Flexible time off policy

LawnStarter provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, or genetics. We comply with applicable state and local laws governing nondiscrimination in employment.