Product Director, News Discovery (algorithmic-driven discovery)
The New York Times is unrivaled among its peers in the quality, depth and breadth of its journalism. Connecting our expanding readership to the best that the Times has to offer is one of our most vital and exciting challenges.
As the Product Director, News Discovery you will be responsible for setting the overall vision and product roadmap for some of our most important on-platform digital destinations, where our readers and subscribers come to discover and engage with the full breadth of our news report.
Your portfolio will include, but is not limited to the New York Times home screen (nytimes.com) across all platforms – web, mobile web and native apps and you’ll need to consider both the surfaces where users browse for content as well as the role that algorithmic-driven discovery can play on these critical surfaces.
Your challenge will be to make these digital “front pages” more useful, more usable and more engaging for all users, whether they are new to the Times or are long-tenured subscribers.
Your work will depend on close, collaborative partnerships with colleagues across news, product, design data, revenue and algorithmic personalization teams.
Ideally you demonstrate:
- A belief in our mission. You have a passion for the news and for making the Times an indispensable daily destination for our readers.
- A user-first mindset. You have a deep empathy for user problems, coupled with a relentlessly curious approach to solving for them.
- A love of product management and design. You can vigilantly prioritize in a rapidly-changing environment and are versed in the best practices of agile product development.
- A deep fluency in data. You are always looking to better understand your users and opportunities to serve them through qualitative and quantitative insights.
- The ability to get things done. You have record of success leading cross-functional teams in highly collaborative environments, where priorities aren’t always aligned.
Responsibilities:
- Own the overall product plan and roadmap for the New York Times home screen across all platforms.
- Partner with our machine learning & data science-driven teams to make our key discovery surfaces, including our mobile experiences, smarter.
- Work closely with the engineering and design leads to develop feasible, viable and desirable product solutions.
- Manage multiple streams of work and direct reports. While the Times home screen is a key piece of your portfolio you will be expected to drive other related initiatives as well.
- Work closely with the VP Product, News Experience to create clear product plans that incorporate input from all stakeholders and connect to enterprise goals.
- Work with our partners in Advertising and Marketing to ensure that the products you ship also meet our revenue goals.
- Clearly communicate performance and use data to evaluate and prioritize roadmap.
- Own all product communication with senior leadership and champion the vision to the other teams and groups within the company.
- Contribute to a culture of collaboration across all disciplines.
Qualifications:
- 6+ years of product management experience
- Experience managing others
- Strong understanding of the business model levers that drive a subscription business
- Experience working on products shaped by algorithms, data science and machine learning
- Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, both written and in person
- Strong grasp of the engineering challenges and core technologies that drive a media business
- Strong knowledge of product and software development techniques, including agile methodologies
- Experience in developing a web/mobile product and inspiring software developers and UX/UI designers
- Excellent analytical skills with strong user empathy and awareness driven by qualitative research methods
- Real passion for The Times’ mission and a commitment to be a part of our innovation and growth
- This position is based in our New York City headquarters