Principal Product Manager, Personalization

Spotify Los Angeles; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 120,000 - 170,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible work location

Learning opportunities

Share incentives

Parental leave

Employee assistance program

Job summary

Spotify is seeking a Principal Product Manager to lead Search Personalization, shaping how hundreds of millions of users find content, spanning ranking, relevance, and AI-powered features. This role sits at the intersection of search systems, AI, and user experience, guiding two squads and collaborating with engineering leadership.

You will influence product strategy, mentor PMs, and drive cross-functional alignment while operating in a flexible London/Stockholm setup.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of product management experience, with 3+ years leading search, discovery, or information retrieval products at scale (100M+ users).
• Deep technical understanding of search systems—ranking architectures, retrieval strategies, evaluation methodology, and trade-offs between relevance, latency, cost, and freshness.
• Experience with AI/ML-powered search features—semantic search, LLM-based reranking, recommendations, or similar—and leading a team through the transition to AI-native search.
• Track record of managing complex stakeholder landscapes with competing priorities and limited resources, and building principled prioritization frameworks.
• Strategic thinking at portfolio level—synthesizing multiple initiatives, setting a coherent vision, and communicating it to executives.
• Clear, convincing communication translating technical complexity for leadership, bet owners, and cross-functional partners.
• Experience mentoring and developing early-career PMs, and influencing without formal authority.
• Familiarity with music, audio, or media technology and understanding content-rich platforms.
• Experience operating Search as a platform serving multiple internal teams or content verticals.
• Experience in content integrity, trust & safety, or regulatory compliance in search or discovery contexts.

Responsibilities

• Set the product strategy and multi-cycle roadmap for Search Personalization at Spotify — spanning ranking, relevance, retrieval, AI-native features, quality, and trust.
• Drive the evolution of Search toward AI-native experiences — AI Overviews, semantic search, LLM reranking — balancing innovation with quality and cost discipline.
• Own the Search quality bar: define how relevance, trust, compliance, and user experience connect into a holistic quality framework with measurable outcomes.
• Manage Search’s role as a shared surface across many company strategies — build prioritization frameworks, communicate trade-offs, and represent Search at executive forums.
• Influence and coach junior PMs working in Search.
• Partner with engineering leadership to make architectural decisions balancing short-term delivery with long-term Search health.
• Drive cross-functional alignment where Search intersects.

Skills

Product strategy

Leadership

Search/IR

AI/ML

Job description

The Personalization team makes deciding what to play next easier and more enjoyable for every listener. From Blend to Discover Weekly, we’re behind some of Spotify’s most-loved features. We built them by understanding the world of music and podcasts better than anyone else. Join us and you’ll keep millions of users listening by making great recommendations to each and every one of them.

Spotify Search handles billions of queries across every market, language, and content type — music, podcasts, audiobooks, videos, playlists, and more. We’re looking for a Principal Product Manager to lead the Search Personalization within our Conversation Product Area, setting the product strategy for how hundreds of millions of users find and discover content on Spotify. This is a leadership role at the intersection of search systems, AI, and user experience. You’ll own the end-to-end strategy for search results — from ranking and relevance to AI-powered features like semantic search, LLM reranking, and AI Overviews — while leading two key Search squads (results ranking and query suggestions). Search is the front door to Spotify; this role shapes what people find when they walk through it.

What You'll Do

• Set the product strategy and multi-cycle roadmap for Search Personalization at Spotify — spanning ranking, relevance, retrieval, AI-native features, quality, and trust.
• Drive the evolution of Search toward AI-native experiences — AI Overviews, semantic search, LLM reranking — balancing innovation velocity with quality and cost discipline.
• Own the Search quality bar: define how relevance, trust, compliance, and user experience connect into a holistic quality framework with measurable outcomes.
• Manage Search’s role as a shared surface across many company strategies — build prioritization frameworks, communicate trade-offs, and represent Search at executive forums.
• Influence and coach junior PMs working in Search.
• Partner with engineering leadership to make architectural decisions that balance short-term delivery with long-term Search infrastructure health.
• Drive cross-functional alignment where Search intersects.

Who You Are

• You have 8+ years of product management experience, with 3+ years leading search, discovery,or information retrieval products at scale (100M+ users).
• You have a deep technical understanding of search systems — ranking architectures, retrieval strategies, evaluation methodology, and the trade-offs between relevance, latency, cost, and freshness.
• You have experience with AI/ML-powered search features — semantic search, LLM-based reranking, recommendations, or similar — and can lead a team through the transition from traditional to AI-native search.
• You have a track record of managing complex stakeholder landscapes with competing priorities and limited resources, and can build frameworks for principled prioritization.
• You think strategically at the portfolio level — you can synthesize across many concurrent initiatives, set a coherent vision, and communicate it clearly to executives.
• You communicate with clarity and conviction, with the ability to translate technical complexity into compelling narratives for leadership, bet owners, and cross-functional partners.
• You have experience mentoring and developing early-career PMs, and can influence without authority or direct reporting lines.
• You bring familiarity with music, audio, or media technology and understand the unique dynamics of content-rich platforms.
• You have experience operating Search as a platform that serves multiple internal teams or content verticals.
• You have worked in content integrity, trust & safety, or regulatory compliance in the context of search or discovery systems.

Where You'll Be

• This role is based in London or Stockholm.
• We offer you the flexibility to work where you work best! There will be some in person meetings, but still allows for flexibility to work from home.

Learn about life at Spotify

Spotify is an equal opportunity employer. You are welcome at Spotify for who you are, no matter where you come from, what you look like, or what’s playing in your headphones. Our platform is for everyone, and so is our workplace. The more voices we have represented and amplified in our business, the more we will all thrive, contribute, and be forward-thinking! So bring us your personal experience, your perspectives, and your background. It’s in our differences that we will find the power to keep revolutionizing the way the world listens.

At Spotify, we are passionate about inclusivity and making sure our entire recruitment process is accessible to everyone. We have ways to request reasonable accommodations during the interview process and help assist in what you need. If you need accommodations at any stage of the application or interview process, please let us know - we’re here to support you in any way we can.

Extensive learning opportunities, through our dedicated team, GreenHouse.

Flexible share incentives letting you choose how you share in our success.

Global parental leave, six months off - for all new parents.

All The Feels, our employee assistance program and self-care hub.

Flexible public holidays, swap days off according to your values and beliefs.

Principal Product Manager, Audio and Media Playback