Senior Technical Product Manager, NAPP
The New York Times · New York, NY
- On site
- Full-time
- $165,000 / year
- New York, NY
Job highlights
- Build AI-powered content platforms for The New York Times.
- Develop a modern Discovery Engine for varied content.
- Manage complex technical dependencies and data providers.
- Define retrieval strategies and data enrichment pipelines.
- Shape the future of AI in journalism delivery.
About the role
About The New York Times
The mission of The New York Times is to seek the truth and help people understand the world. That means independent journalism is at the heart of all we do as a company. It’s why we have a world-renowned newsroom that sends journalists to report on the ground from nearly 160 countries. It’s why we focus deeply on how our readers will experience our journalism, from print to audio to a world-class digital and app destination. And it’s why our business strategy centers on making journalism so good that it’s worth paying for.Mission Overview & Responsibilities
The New York Times is looking for a Senior Technical Product Manager to build content and data platforms to shape the future of how we deliver journalism to our users. The New A.I. Products and Platforms (NAPP) mission is a critical, company-wide initiative tasked with building the next generation of A.I.-powered products to accelerate The New York Times' essential subscription strategy. The mission operates across two core portfolios. A.I. Platforms is dedicated to empowering all teams across the company by building out robust platform capabilities, documentation, and guidance. A.I. Products focuses on quickly developing and scaling new A.I. prototypes and products. The New York Times has been producing work-class journalism for 175 years and we publish hundreds of new articles, recipes, videos, podcast, and other media every day. We are looking for a Senior Technical Product Manager to transform our content retrieval services. The goal is to create a modern, intelligent Discovery Engine that offers a variety of content, including video, audio, summaries, and articles. This engine will power the next generation of Times products. You will navigate deep technical complexity and high-stakes organizational dependencies. You will bridge the gap between our core internal data providers and our AI application builders to ensure our AI has Times expertise at its heart. This is a hybrid role based in our New York City office. As a Senior Product Manager, you will be a necessary member of the AI Platforms portfolio. You will oversee context engineering for AI applications at The Times, starting with the scaling and launch of a modern content retrieval product. You will be a key collaborator with other data platforms at The Times to build a new infrastructure layer for the A.I. era. And you will work with consumer product teams to advance content and user data capabilities to advance NAPP and The Times' product development lifecycle, from prototyping to production.Responsibilities
- Own the Discovery Engine Roadmap: Lead the development of the Discovery Engine from to full production migration, including deep collaboration with consumer teams on NAPP and across the company.
- Cross-Functional Dependency Management: Serve as the primary partner for our Publishing, Data Platforms and the ML Function to secure clean data feeds and manage the creation and use of embeddings for text and users.
- Retrieval & Ranking Strategy: Define and tune the hybrid search logic that balances semantic similarity, keyword match, and personalization signals to ensure high-quality retrieval for diverse AI-powered use cases.
- Data Enrichment & Ingestion: Oversee the pipelines for AI-generated metadata – including editor-in-the-loop workflows – and ensure non-text assets like video and audio transcripts are indexed and searchable.
- Validation & Performance: Define and monitor technical KPIs, including P95 query latency, throughput, retrieval accuracy, cost and downstream AI application performance using tools like Braintrust and StatSig in partnership with downstream product teams.
- Vendor Evaluations: Lead technical pilots (e.g. vector databases, knowledge graphs) to de-risk architectural decisions and inform our long-term build-vs-buy strategy.
- Visioning: Identify and scope opportunities for infrastructure that would provide additional context or unlock new capabilities for The Times (for example, Knowledge Graphs or semantic data layers).
- Demonstrate support and understanding of our value of journalistic independence and a strong commitment to our mission to seek the truth and help people understand the world. You will report to the Director, A.I. Platforms.
Basic Qualifications
- 5+ years of Product Management experience, with a focus on high-scale backend systems, search infrastructure, or data platforms.
- Deep technical literacy in AI/ML.
- Demonstrated experience with vector databases (e.g., Pinecone, turbopuffer), embeddings, and RAG architectures.
- Experience discussing complex technical dependencies, API design, and system boundaries with engineering partners.
- Data Fluency and experience working with large-scale data pipelines (ETL/ELT) and defining metadata schemas for diverse content types.
- Experience working across organizational silos (Engineering, Data Science, and Product).
Preferred Qualifications
- A profound curiosity for journalism and the future of the information ecosystem.
- Experience building digital information or education products in the LLM space, with a focus on trust, reliability, and quality in AI systems.
Key skills/competency
- Technical Product Management
- AI/ML Platforms
- Content Retrieval
- Discovery Engine
- Vector Databases
- RAG Architectures
- Data Pipelines
- Cross-Functional Collaboration
- API Design
- Search Infrastructure
Skills & topics
- Technical Product Manager
- AI
- Machine Learning
- Product Development
- Data Platforms
- Content Strategy
- Search Technology
- Vector Databases
- RAG
- New York City
How to get hired
- Tailor your resume: Highlight experience with AI/ML, search infrastructure, data platforms, and vector databases, aligning with The New York Times' needs for a Senior Technical Product Manager.
- Showcase technical depth: Emphasize your ability to discuss complex technical dependencies, API design, and system boundaries with engineering teams.
- Demonstrate cross-functional skills: Provide examples of successfully working across Engineering, Data Science, and Product silos to drive projects.
- Express passion for journalism: Convey a genuine interest in The New York Times' mission and the future of the information ecosystem in your application and interviews.
- Prepare for technical interviews: Be ready to discuss your experience with AI/ML concepts, vector databases, RAG architectures, and large-scale data pipelines.
Technical preparation
Master AI/ML concepts and applications.,Understand vector databases and RAG architectures.,Practice discussing complex system boundaries.,Familiarize with large-scale data pipelines.
Behavioral questions
Describe a complex technical challenge you solved.,How do you manage cross-functional dependencies?,How would you define search retrieval strategy?,Share experience working across organizational silos.
Frequently asked questions
- What is the main goal of the Senior Technical Product Manager role at The New York Times?
- The main goal for the Senior Technical Product Manager at The New York Times is to build content and data platforms, specifically focusing on transforming content retrieval services to create a modern, intelligent Discovery Engine that will power the next generation of Times products.
- What specific technologies are important for this Senior Technical Product Manager position?
- Key technologies for this role include AI/ML, vector databases (like Pinecone, turbopuffer), embeddings, RAG architectures, and large-scale data pipelines (ETL/ELT). Experience with search infrastructure and backend systems is also crucial.
- How does The New York Times approach AI development with the NAPP mission?
- The New A.I. Products and Platforms (NAPP) mission at The New York Times focuses on building next-generation AI-powered products. It operates through AI Platforms, which provides robust capabilities to company teams, and AI Products, which develops and scales new AI prototypes and products.
- What does 'cross-functional dependency management' entail for a Senior Technical Product Manager at The New York Times?
- For this role, cross-functional dependency management involves serving as the primary partner for Publishing, Data Platforms, and the ML Function to ensure clean data feeds, manage embeddings, and align efforts across different departments to achieve product goals.
- What kind of experience is required for The New York Times Senior Technical Product Manager role?
- The New York Times requires at least 5 years of Product Management experience, with a focus on high-scale backend systems, search infrastructure, or data platforms. Deep technical literacy in AI/ML and experience with specific technologies like vector databases and RAG are essential.
- Is this a remote or hybrid role at The New York Times?
- This is a hybrid role based in The New York Times' New York City office, indicating a requirement for in-office presence.
- What is the salary range for the Senior Technical Product Manager position?
- The annual base pay range for this Senior Technical Product Manager role at The New York Times is between $144,000 and $165,000 USD, with potential eligibility for variable pay and benefits.