Product Manager - Digital Mobile & Streaming

Hearst•New York, NY

About The Position

Hearst Television is looking for a Product Manager to help define the next generation of local news. You will own the day-to-day execution and optimization of our mobile and OTT app suite, ensuring that when news breaks, our users receive a high-performance, reliable, and immersive streaming experience. Reporting to the Sr. Technical Product Lead, you will serve as a key bridge between technical feasibility and user experience. You thrive on the challenge of platform fragmentation—shipping a unified experience across everything from Android to Apple TV—and use behavioral analytics to drive engagement and retention for a truly binge-worthy product.

Requirements

Hands-on experience with submission and lifecycle management for the Apple App Store, Google Play, Roku Publishing, and Amazon Developer Console.
Foundational knowledge of HLS/DASH protocols and digital advertising standards (VAST/VMAP), including the nuances of Server-Side Ad Insertion (SSAI).
Understanding of notification payload architecture (Airship/Braze), including deep-linking and TTL settings for time-sensitive alerts.
Proficiency in Jira/Confluence and analytics platforms (GA4, Conviva, Looker). Familiarity with AI-enhanced development tools (e.g., Cursor, FigmaAI) for rapid prototyping and documentation.
Understanding of geo-fencing and API-driven weather/data feeds (e.g., The Weather Company) and how they integrate into consumer interfaces.
3-5 years in Product Management, specifically within digital media, news, or streaming.
Proven success managing 2-3 full app-store release cycles from submission to post-launch optimization.
Proven ability to leverage data (GA4, Conviva, or A/B testing) to diagnose product friction, optimize the user funnel, and justify roadmap prioritization through quantitative storytelling.
Bachelor’s degree in Technology, Business, Design, or equivalent professional experience.
Exceptional ability to draft technical documentation, executive briefs, and release notes for non-technical stakeholders.
Ability to pivot priorities instantly based on the breaking news cycle or market shifts.

Responsibilities

Own the end-to-end delivery of features. Act as the primary Product Owner for engineering and design teams, leading grooming, sprint planning, and retrospectives to ensure high-velocity, high-quality releases.
Translate complex stakeholder needs and newsroom requirements into actionable user stories with clear technical acceptance criteria.
Monitor critical streaming KPIs (crash rates, re-buffering, video starts) and QoE metrics. Lead "hotfix" prioritizations and triage platform-specific bugs during high-traffic breaking news or severe weather events.
Ensure a consistent "Hearst" experience across a fragmented device landscape, balancing feature parity between high-end mobile devices and lower-memory, resource-constrained OTT hardware.
Use A/B testing and behavioral data to refine the user funnel, focusing on converting "app downloads" into "Daily Active Users".
Partner with Digital Content and Sales/Ad-Ops to balance editorial urgency with technical feasibility and advertising impact.