How do you evaluate a Consumer product company or opportunity and if it is a good job to take?

There are really 3 types of consumer companies

• The bigs: Google, Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Airbnb, Spotify etc - these are mega corporations that have achieved product market fit and are now monetizing at an incredible scale. In general their orgs are huge, processes are locked in, and PMs have very thin surface areas to work on and usually there is limited innovation vs optimization opportunities. But you are also working on products that literally touch hundreds of millions of users daily.
• Hyper scale companies: these are companies that have found product market fit AND have achieved escape velocity meaning users are adopting their solution and there is exponential growth. Consumers are very fickle and building the best mouse trap doesnt mean you will succeed. So often times, it's not clear how consumers chose this company but when they do it's rare and growth is astronomical. In these cases, hyperscale companies are VERY messy and growing pains are very real. Re-orgs are constant, quick shifts in resources are there and usually there's challenges with leadership growing from hands on to scaled communicators that lead to growing pains. But the energy and excitement and sense of team is undeniable. Also for the PM its a rare opportunity of being able to constantly revisit all aspects of your skills (people leadership, process shifts, product strategy) while having the opportunity to drive major growth within an org.
• Product/Market Fit seekers: These are orgs that have yet to achieve either a product market fit or a growth flywheel. The organizations are generally smaller, you are working more closely together, process usually will not get in the way and PMs own very large aspects of the product but there's no guarantee even if you execute flawlessly that the product will succeed (see fickle consumers!). So companies at this stage tend to pivot more often, have large tensions on how long you give a specific strategies a chance if the metrics arent showing growth.  

Advice I typically give to PMs exploring new opportunities, especially in the consumer space

• Understand where you want to grow as a PM. Depending on that, all stages of a company offer big opportunities. But you first have to be honest with yourself at what skills you're looking to hone
• Understand what energizes you. Consumer is a great opportunity to build things you'd love to use. In product market fit seeking org, this is especially important as you are still trying to find your way so being passionate about the mission or product is key to unlock the solution.
• Is it clear which stage this company is in. More often than not, I see PMs assume the consumer company is at hyper scale, but is actually still searching for product market fit and growth flywheels. Make sure you ask the right questions to undersand where they're truly at.  
• Level of work/life balance. this again is a personal choice, but you do need to be honest with yourself how much you want to give to this company. Some people thrive in highly intense, give it your all, enviornments (where a hyper scale or product market fit seeking company would work great), others want more structure and rhythm to their days (where the bigs can offer consistency and less chaos). Theres no wrong answer, just right fit.

Note I didn't mention comp or equity. This usually is the first thing people think of and is 100% a valid quesiton, but I've found over my career, the best outcomes I've had was more aligned to my growth, understanding what I needed from an org at that point in my career vs just joining the next 'rocketship'

Let's split evaluating the company and evaluating the opportunity.

When evaluating the company - or if it's a huge company like Google, the division - I like to think about three criteria first and foremost:

1.  User value - Is the company delivering undenyable user value with the product/service it's offering? A company that is set out to solve for concrete user needs with a great product/service is set up for success. There are of course many other related components such as good market positioning, differentiation from competition and a sound business model, but providing user value is the foundation that underpins everything else. 
2.  Growth potential - Big or small, what are the next steps for the company? Think next year, 5 years and 10 years from now. What could this company become? This will help you determine the longevity and trajectory of the business. Keep in mind growth can come in many forms; 0>1, scaling after launch, breaking into new territories, expansion into new markets or even mergers and aquisitions.
3.  Funding / organizational support - This is likely an obvious thing to consider from the lens of smaller early-stage companies, but I'd argue it's something you need to consider within larger organizations too. For example, Google Assistant is critical to Google's Ambient Computing vision and therefore has strong organizational support from CEO down. 

As for sizing up the opportunity within the company, a couple of key factors come to mind:

1.  Scope - What is it that you will individually be responsible for? How much support will you be given from peers and cross-functional partners? This will help you evaluate what you'll realistically be able to change through your sphere of influence within the company. Too small of a scope can leave you frustrated and dejected, whereas too large a scope could set you up for failure or burnout.
2.  Leadership - What is it that the leadership team bring to the table? Do they possess the expertise needed to drive the company towards its mission? Do they have skills that would be beneficial for you to learn through exposure to them?