The New York Times is seeking a passionate, experienced Technical Product Manager to join our News Products Team. The News Products team is responsible for the product evolution and business performance of our core New York Times website and mobile applications. We are at the forefront of redefining what subscription-driven journalism can be.
Our mission is to provide our customers with a deeply useful service that helps them understand the world and lead richer lives. We are focused on building best-in-class products to satisfy our users curiosity across all platforms where they need us: from our website and native apps to off-platform partners and newsletters. We work to understand both our consumers and our business deeply and evolve the product quickly.
The ideal candidate will possess a strong blend of strategic thinking and operational skills to get features out the door. You will work in a highly collaborative, cross-functional environment with multiple stakeholders. Your focus will be on connecting the broad newsroom and business goals of the organization into a product that continually meets our consumer’s needs.
We are seeking someone who:
- Can vigilantly prioritize in a rapidly-changing environment;
- Can bring clarity to ambiguous and complex situations;
- Operates with a sense of urgency;
- Understands the technical concepts behind the core components of our React / GraphQL-based web platform and can communicate the what and why of these technologies to non-technical people;
- Understands the tradeoffs between various implementation paths and can properly balance the need for product speed and flexibility with the cost of technical debt;
- Understands the multiple facets of web performance and can relate those to user behaviors or business goals;
- Can take a high-level, strategic view on our web platform to grasp how changes at various parts of the stack (e.g., edge cache, rendering layer) affect the end-user; and
- Can articulate and advocate for a web ecosystem that enhances product capabilities through properly designed integrations with other business functions (e.g., advertising, analytics, marketing).
- Comfortable coordinating across diverse teams from Systems and Infrastructure to Design and Editorial
- Understands the importance and balance of user research, data, testing and judgement in the product development process;
- Can step outside their defined role in order to get something done;
- Is in their element at the intersection of technology, operations, and business;
- Is infinitely curious about the ever changing platforms on which users consume content;
Responsibilities:
- Identify opportunities for the web platform based on user needs, technical capabilities, revenue impact and input from stakeholders.
- Use consumer feedback, site metrics, market research, and competitive analysis to create compelling cases for what we should do and why.
- Partner with marketing to find ways to meet subscriber and revenue goals by converting engaged readers into new subscribers and satisfying and retaining our existing subscribers.
- Identify, define and drive priorities across multiple technology teams
- Define the product roadmap including the strategic approach, key phases of product releases, milestones and deliverables for core news experiences.
- Represent the needs of both our users and our business to the various technology teams that comprise our flagship website.
- Ruthlessly prioritize what the team works on and be able to clearly explain why these initiatives are important to our larger company goals.
- Clearly and effectively communicate the what, the why and the how up and down the organization including, but not limited to major launches, status of roadmap and goals.
- Work closely across editorial, advertising, data and marketing to ensure that user, commercial and technological interests are balanced and aligned.
- Build strong cross-departmental collaborative relationships with stakeholders that generate positive feedback (this includes the engaging program stakeholders in the goal-setting process, defining high-level priorities, keeping them in the loop, and smooth execution amongst them).
- Scope feature requirements, write use cases and specifications for product launches via Github, JIRA, Confluence and other tools.
- Monitor key performance metrics, clearly communicate what the numbers represent, and provide insight to drive product development recommendations.
Qualifications:
- Passion for The New York Times and our mission.
- 3 to 5 years of product management or technical experience at a medium-large scale media or consumer product focused company.
- Bachelor’s degree; a technical background or experience strongly preferred.
- Strong skills in data analysis and interpretation; deep experience with analytics platforms (e.g. Google analytics, Localytics) and AB testing methodologies.
- Excellent customer intuition; demonstrated success in creating innovative and user-friendly, customer-facing features and communicating these through wireframes and mockups.
- Strong technical background, including knowledge of frontend, backend, infrastructure and mobile application technologies, and experience in an agile environment.
- Ability to work collaboratively in a highly matrixed organization to create a results-driven, team-oriented environment.
- Willingness to roll up the sleeves and do whatever is necessary to meet team goals.
- Nimbleness and comfort with ambiguity; a track record of responding quickly to rapidly evolving threats and opportunities.
- Ability to prioritize and manage multiple tasks.
- Ability to know an audience and to communicate clearly and concisely across written, verbal and visual mediums.