Director, Growth Products & Experiences

Scpress; Northern (KY); Remote; USD 145,000 - 185,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Healthcare coverage

401(k) with employer match

Paid time off

Mental health resources

Wellness programs

Pet coverage

Job summary

McClatchy seeks a Director, Growth Products & Experiences to own the opportunity and the path to market for a portfolio of new consumer products and internal tools that power them. You will collaborate with cross-functional teams to turn ambiguous ideas into practical prototypes and scalable execution plans.

This role demands strong product judgment, systems thinking, and commercial instinct. You will lead 0-to-1 initiatives from concept through launch, use AI to speed prototyping, and

Qualifications

• 5+ years in product management, growth product, or 0-to-1 roles in consumer technology or digital media.
• Strong product sense, systems thinking, and business judgment.
• Hands-on prototyping with internal tools and AI-focused approaches.

Responsibilities

• Lead 0-to-1 initiatives from concept through launch with clear KPIs.
• Build and test prototypes quickly using AI tools.
• Collaborate with engineers and designers to iterate prototypes as the source of truth.
• Set launch criteria and quality gates to ensure timely shipping.
• Keep scope and dates in a single source of truth and build fast workflows.
• Partner with content teams and editors to inform early.
• Present strategy and progress to leadership and cross-functional partners.
• Ethically use AI and automation to improve work efficiency.

Skills

Product management

Growth strategy

Prototyping

AI tooling

Cross-functional

Job description

The Director, Growth Products & Experiences will help lead high-priority initiatives across our new consumer product portfolio. This role sits at the intersection of content, engineering, audience, data, and revenue, working closely with leadership teams to identify where the business is going and developing the products, tools, and experiences to get there.

We are looking for a \"builder\" product manager who combines sharp strategic thinking with a bias toward shipping. Someone deeply curious about audience behavior, media business models, emerging technology, and the future of content consumption — who translates those signals into working products inside a fast-moving organization.

The Role

As Director, Growth Products & Experiences, you will own the opportunity and the path to market for a portfolio of new consumer products and the internal tools that power them.

This role collaborates with cross-functional teams to drive new initiatives from concept through execution. You will bring structure to ambiguous problems, evaluate new opportunities, and translate ideas into functional prototypes with scalable execution plans. Success requires strong product and strategic judgment, systems thinking, commercial instinct, and the ability to operate effectively in high-autonomy, fast-moving environments.

What You'll Do

• Lead 0-to-1 initiatives from concept through launch and optimization, with clear KPIs and transparent reporting on outcomes.
• Build and test prototypes quickly with AI tools, bringing a strong point of view on the experience of both consumers and teammates who use internal tools.
• Work in the same artifacts as engineers and designers, iterating on working prototypes as the source of truth for product decisions.
• Set launch criteria and quality gates, including what is good enough to ship when AI systems operate at scale. Identify decisions that cannot easily be reversed, and document tradeoffs when timing and capability conflict.
• Keep scope, requirements, decisions, and launch dates in one reliable source of truth. Build workflows that help the team execute faster without sacrificing quality.
• Partner with content teams as a peer: bring forward ideas, challenge assumptions when evidence warrants it, and become someone editors involve early.
• Present strategy, progress, and results to leadership and cross-functional partners. Keep the right people informed through clear communication in the team’s everyday tools.
• Ethically use AI and automation to improve your work and free up time for core responsibilities.

What You'll Bring

• 5+ years in product management, growth product, or 0-to-1 roles in consumer technology, digital media, or a related high-growth environment. Media or publishing experience is a strong plus.
• Strong product sense, systems thinking, and business judgment. You can connect product, operational, financial, and growth considerations, then turn ambiguity into a clear path forward.
• A hands-on prototyping practice and design fluency. You can build compelling prototypes yourself, especially for internal tools, and make sound UX decisions. Formal design or user research experience is a plus.
• A record of taking ownership: setting a quality bar, making and documenting decisions, anticipating roadblocks, and acting without waiting to be asked.
• Something you built from scratch with AI central to the process, plus shipped products, prototypes, or experiments you can walk us through. We care more about what you have made than where you have worked.

Join us to help define what comes next for local media in an era of AI and audience transformation. If you’re energized by experimentation, passionate about product, and motivated by mission-driven work, we want to hear from you.

The anticipated base salary range for this position is between 145k - 185k annually. Individual base pay may vary within that range depending on job-related knowledge, skills, experience, relevant education, department equity, training, geography, and local wage and hours laws.

• healthcare coverage for employees and families
• 401(k) with employer match
• competitive PTO and company holidays
• mental health resources
• wellness programs
• pet coverage

For details, visit McClatchyLivewell.com .

Location & Travel

This role is fully remote and must be based in the United States. Some travel is required for in-person meetings, typically 1–4 times per year.

Why Work at McClatchy

We are redefining what local journalism looks like in an era of AI, creator-driven media, and reinvented consumer behavior. Our reporting reaches more than 65 million readers a month across 30+ iconic brands, informs the communities we serve, and shapes the civic conversation in real time. This is your opportunity to help build the products, tools, and experiences that decide how that work reaches people over the next decade — and to do it inside a company small enough for your fingerprints to show and old enough for the mission to matter.

Equal Opportunity Employer
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