Director, Product Management, O&O Ad Products

Hearst•New York, NY

10d•$175,000 - $200,000•Hybrid

About The Position

The Director, O&O Ad Products is responsible for product management leadership across Hearst Newspapers’ owned-and-operated digital advertising products. This role partners closely with the Head of O&O Ad Product (Revenue), while remaining embedded within the Product organization to ensure strong product discovery, delivery discipline, and platform coherence. This role owns: Product definition Roadmap execution Cross-functional delivery Performance learning and iteration The Director will work closely with Product, Engineering, Data, Ad Operations, and Sales teams to optimize existing products and bring new O&O ad products to market — including first-party data–powered solutions, and emerging products and formats.

Requirements

7–10+ years of experience in product management, ad products, or digital media platforms.
Experience working on advertising or monetization-related products within a publisher, media, or platform environment.
Strong understanding of digital advertising fundamentals, including direct-sold and programmatic models (depth not required across all areas).
Proven ability to lead cross-functional product initiatives without direct authority.
Comfort working with data, metrics, and experimentation to inform product decisions.
Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills.

Nice To Haves

Exposure to first-party data products, audience segmentation, or privacy-aware ad solutions.
Experience with self-serve platforms or scaled, repeatable commercial products.
Familiarity working in complex, multi-market organizations.

Responsibilities

O&O Ad Product Management & Execution
Own product management for O&O advertising products, from discovery and definition through launch, iteration, and sunsetting.
Translate commercial strategy and market needs (defined in partnership with the Head of O&O Ad Product and Sales teams) into clear product requirements and delivery plans.
Maintain and evolve the O&O ad product roadmap within the Product organization, ensuring alignment with broader platform and data strategies.
New Product Development
Lead product discovery and delivery for new O&O ad opportunities, including:
Self-serve advertising packages
Sponsorship programs
First-party data–enabled ad products and targeting capabilities
Partner with Engineering, Data and Design to scope MVPs, test hypotheses, and iterate based on performance and feedback.
Data & Platform Partnership
Work closely with the VP of Data and Data teams to:
Incorporate first-party data products into O&O ad experiences
Ensure privacy-safe, compliant use of audience data
Define measurement frameworks and success metrics for ad products
Collaborate on product requirements related to data infrastructure, reporting, and insights surfaced to advertisers and internal teams.
Cross-Functional Collaboration
Serve as the primary Product counterpart to:
Programmatic Local Direct and National Sales
Ad Operations Revenue Operations
Support go-to-market readiness by partnering with Product Marketing and Revenue teams on product documentation, internal enablement, and launch coordination.
Ensure consistent product behavior and expectations across markets, while allowing for controlled flexibility where needed.
Performance & Learning
Define and track product-level KPIs (e.g., adoption, usability, performance indicators), in partnership with Revenue and Data teams.
Use performance insights to inform backlog prioritization, iteration, and product decisions.
Document learnings and patterns to improve future product development across the ad portfolio.