The Wirecutter, the product review and buying guide arm of The New York Times Company, seeks a Product Director to wholly oversee its products and properties.
In this role, you will be responsible for defining product vision, strategy and roadmap. You will work closely with the General Manager as well as the editorial and revenue teams to ensure a deep understanding of all product requirements. You’ll partner with leadership to set priorities across teams and projects. As the product owner, you’ll develop a thoughtful vision and cohesive strategy for the future of the brand, including growth of the current sites as well as expansion onto other platforms, the data infrastructure for the property’s editorial commerce operation, and collaboration between The New York Times digital properties and Wirecutter.
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Approaching this role with previous editorial product experience, you’ll be continuously driving process improvement for ideation, conceptualization, implementation and testing of new features. You’ll apply user, a/b, and other forms of data driven testing to validate feature launches and to identify new editorial and monetization opportunities.
Ideally you demonstrate:
An ability to problem solve in a highly collaborative culture. Working with all teams at the Wirecutter as well as New York Times leadership, you will define and implement innovative product solutions that address the needs of all departments across the properties, our commerce platform, as well as integrations across the company. You’ll have a direct responsibility to both revenue and editorial, making sure their needs are being met in ideation of products that exist across the portfolio of products.
A user-first mindset with an ecommerce product approach. To build on the successful approach of the Wirecutter, marrying editorial and commerce that puts user needs first, you’ll evolve and optimize the website, platform, and New York Times integrations by always advocating what is best for the user. You’ll rely on a healthy balance between data driven and user centric design and decision-making.
Extensive leadership skills. You’ll have managed both direct reports and cross-functional teams as well as partnering with cross-functional teams both in co-located and distributed teams. With an ownership mentality you’ll manage and empower the team to deliver best-in-class products in a high-performing working environment.
Responsibilities:
Own the overall product plan and roadmap. Working closely with the GM, create clear annual and quarterly plans, incorporating input from all stakeholders, that depict how the strategy will achieve our company goals.
Define and put in place metrics and systems to track product vision and strategy. Clearly communicate performance and use data to evaluate and prioritize roadmap.
Be the product evangelist. Own all product communication with senior leadership on current insights and emerging trends, as well as championing the vision to the product development, editorial, revenue, and other teams in the company.
Team with the development and design directors to handle user experience and technical complexity as it arises, and uncover ways to ensure product success while employing more feasible solutions.
Closely partner with business and editorial to ensure all opportunities are being evaluated, tested and executed.
Stay on top of process efficiencies and uncover opportunities to bring external thinking into streamlining strategic and operational development.
Directly manage a team of product managers and contribute to a culture of collaboration across all disciplines
Qualifications:
Up to 7+ years of product management experience
Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, both written and in person. Experience communicating with distributed teams and leadership team members.
Strong technical background and understanding with an excellent grasp of the engineering challenges and core technologies that drive a media/commerce business
Extensive knowledge of product and software development techniques and agile methodologies
Deep experience in developing a web/mobile product and steering software developers and UX/UI designers
Excellent analytical skills with strong user/consumer empathy and awareness driven by qualitative research methods
Real passion for The Times’s and The Wirecutter’s mission and a commitment to be a part of our innovation and growth
BS/BA in business, computer science, design or other quantitative discipline
This position is based in New York, NY.
Culture and benefits:
You’ll be helping to power, distribute and push the limits of what’s possible for our award-winning journalism. We’ve won more Pulitzer Prizes than any other organization, and you’ll be able watch their announcement with members of our newsroom.
We are committed to career development, supported by a formal mentoring program as well as tuition reimbursement. We have frequent panel discussions and talks by industry leaders (Sheryl Sandberg, Melinda Gates and Ta-Nehisi Coates are a few recent examples).
We believe diversity fuels innovation and creativity, and we have a variety of employee groups dedicated to fostering a diverse and inclusive workplace.
We offer a generous parental leave policy, which was recently expanded in response to employee feedback. Birth mothers receive 16 weeks fully paid, adoptive parents and birth fathers receive 10 weeks also fully paid. Similarly, we offer competitive health and dental insurance, as well as 401k matching.
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