Principal Product Manager, Search
About The Position
Scribd, Inc. is on a mission to advance human understanding. Our four products — Scribd®, Slideshare®, Everand™, and Fable — help billions of people across the globe move beyond access and into insight, application, and expertise. We support a culture where our employees can be real and be bold; where we debate and commit as we embrace plot twists; and where every employee is empowered to take action as we prioritize the customer. We believe the best work happens when individual flexibility is balanced with meaningful community connection. Scribd Flex empowers employees to choose the workstyle and location that support their best performance, while committing to intentional in-person moments that strengthen collaboration and culture. Occasional in-person attendance is required for all Scribd, Inc. employees, regardless of location. So what are we looking for in new team members? At Scribd, Inc., we hire for “GRIT.” Traditionally defined as the intersection of passion and perseverance toward long-term goals, GRIT reflects the mindset we expect from every employee. For us, it also serves as a practical framework for how we work: setting and achieving Goals, delivering Results within your role, contributing Innovative ideas and solutions, and strengthening the broader Team through collaboration and attitude. This posting reflects an approved, open position within the organization. We're looking for a Principal Product Manager to set the strategy and drive execution for Scribd's Search team. In this pivotal role, you'll transform our search experience into a best-in-class discovery engine serving 200 million monthly visitors across a corpus of 300 million documents. Leveraging advanced retrieval and ranking algorithms, LLM-powered semantic understanding, and fine-grained behavioral signals, you'll deliver highly relevant search results that help students, educators, and professionals find exactly what they need — fast. Success here means defining a compelling vision, crafting metrics that truly matter, and experimenting your way to breakthrough features that redefine search relevance and discovery — all in close partnership with Engineering, Analytics, Data Science, Design, and Machine Learning teams who turn strategy into production reality.
Requirements
- The ideal candidate combines deep technical fluency in ML/AI with seasoned product management chops and a track record of translating data-driven insights into meaningful product wins
- 8+ years of product management experience, including 5+ years leading search or recommendations products in a high-traffic consumer environment
- Demonstrated success shipping ML-driven features that moved core business metrics (engagement, conversion, or revenue) for large scale products
- Deep familiarity with retrieval and ranking algorithms, embeddings, and feature stores — paired with the ability to reason about end-to-end customer journeys for distinct user segments
- Track record of thriving amid ambiguity: shaping a multi-year vision, aligning cross-functional teams, and delivering incremental wins along the way
- Exceptional written and verbal communication skills — adept at crafting product briefs, bringing in inputs from multiple teams, and presenting data-backed decisions to senior leadership
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematics, or a related technical field (or equivalent practical experience)
Nice To Haves
- Hands-on proficiency with SQL and a scripting language (Python or R) for rapid data exploration, prototyping, and model evaluation
- Experience designing LLM- and GenAI-enhanced user experiences that go beyond raw chat to deliver task-specific value
- Familiarity with modern ML operations tooling — from vector databases to end-to-end model-ops workflows (MLOps / LLMOps) — and the ability to collaborate with engineering teams that rely on these systems
- Passion for the written word and open knowledge — a genuine drive to build products that democratize expertise and help people learn, teach, and create
Responsibilities
- Chart the long-term search strategy — own a multi-year roadmap spanning query understanding, retrieval, ranking, and results presentation across Scribd's surfaces, guiding every user from intent to the right document
- Partner with ML Engineering & Applied Research — translate cutting-edge retrieval and ranking research into production systems that blend semantic embeddings, BM25, and real-time behavioral signals for best-in-class relevance
- Define the metrics that matter — establish and monitor leading indicators of search success: query success rate, zero-result rate, click-through, and downstream subscription conversion and retention
- Balance short-term wins with long-term vision — ship incremental relevance improvements that hit revenue goals while building an extensible search platform aligned with Scribd's 3-year AI strategy
- Fuse data with the voice of the customer — synthesize experiment results, query analytics, user interviews, and feedback sessions to inform prioritization and feature design
- Communicate with clarity and influence — align product, engineering, design, content, and executive stakeholders by clearly articulating requirements, timelines, deliverables, and expected impact, securing buy-in at every stage
Benefits
- Scribd Flex (flexible work model)
- Comprehensive health, dental, and vision coverage
- Mental health support and disability coverage
- Generous paid time off, including vacation, sick time, holidays, winter break, volunteer time, and sabbaticals
- Paid parental leave and family support benefits
- Retirement matching and employee equity
- Learning and development programs and professional growth opportunities
- Wellness and home office stipends
- Complimentary access to the Scribd, Inc. suite of products
- Enterprise access to leading AI tools
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Principal
