Director of Product, Games Experience

Gannett | USA TODAY NETWORK; United States; Remote; USD 150,000 - 165,000; Full time

Job summary

Gannett | USA TODAY NETWORK is seeking a seasoned Product Manager to enhance the USA Today Crossword gaming experience. This role involves developing new puzzles and optimizing gameplay while collaborating with cross-functional teams to drive engagement and audience growth. Candidates should have a strong background in product management within the online gaming sector, combined with excellent analytical and communication skills.

Qualifications

• 5-10+ years of product management experience in online gaming.
• Bachelor's degree required; MBA preferred.
• Experience with agile software development methodology.

Responsibilities

• Build and execute a product roadmap for USA Today Crossword and other games.
• Analyze performance metrics to identify new product opportunities.
• Partner with engineering and design teams to define user stories.

Skills

Product Management

Agile Development

Critical Thinking

Data Analysis

Communication

Education

Bachelor's degree

MBA or advanced degree

Job description

Posted Tuesday, June 24, 2025 at 4:00 AM

|Current Gannett Employees- Please ensure you are using our abbreviated process on the internal Careers site by logging into Dayforce through MyApps|

Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE: GCI) is a diversified media company with expansive reach at the national and local level dedicated to empowering and enriching communities. We seek to inspire, inform, and connect audiences as a scalable, growth focused media and digital marketing solutions company. We endeavor to deliver essential content, marketing solutions, and experiences for curated audiences, advertisers, consumers, and stakeholders by leveraging our diverse teams and suite of products to enrich the local communities and businesses we serve. Our current portfolio of trusted media brands includes the USA TODAY NETWORK, comprised of the national publication, USA TODAY, and local media organizations in the United States, and Newsquest, a wholly-owned subsidiary operating in the United Kingdom. Our digital marketing solutions brand, LocaliQ, uses innovation and software to enable small and medium-sized businesses to grow, and USA TODAY NETWORK Ventures, our events division, creates impactful consumer engagements, promotions, and races. Gannett open roles are featured on various external job boards. When applying to a position at Gannett, you should be completing an application onGannett Careers viaDayforce .Job postings directing you to complete an application on other external sites may not be valid. To connect with us, visitwww.gannett.com

About company:We build the websites , apps, newsletters, and other products that power the digital offerings of a major national brandand hundreds of local news brands across the country. We've been a distributed team since before it was cool, with a hybrid culture shaped by a combination of fully remote teammates and those working from local offices across the countr y . Our geographic diversity puts us closer to our audiences, helping us keep them at the center of our work. And because many of us live in communities served byjournalism, we take extra pride in helping it succeed .

What You’ll Do: Our USA Today Crossword s e xperience has a highly engaged following and broad audience reach with its challenging and inclusive daily crosswords and other puzzles . We are looking for a se asoned product manage ment professional to grow our rapidly expanding portfolio. You will add new capabilities and features to optimize the playing experience on existing games and will develop new puzzles and games to delight our current players and attract new ones.

You’ll partner with leaders across the organization, including Marketing, Data Intelligence, Engineering, and UX to build and execute an ambitious roadmap centered on exponentially growing our portfolio and audience.

The ideal candidate will be passionate not just about games but about creating great product experiences that deliver impact to business and audience goals. He/she will have a bias toward action, taking on new opportunities and tough challenges with a sense of urgency, high energy, and enthusiasm.

The ideal candidate will be as passionate about crafting great product s as they are about setting a new high score.

Responsibilities include :

Build and execute a product roadmap for a best-in-class games portfolio covering the USA Today Crossword and other puzzles and games.

Develop exclusive capabilities, features and games for our registered players and subscribers

Translate business and content criteria and objectives into clearly defined requirements that populate a robust roadmap and articulate a product strategy.

Analyze performance metrics, measure successand use this data to identify new product opportunities that will build habit-forming engagement among users to play more frequently and subscribe to premium experiences .

Have experience identifying product -market fit and be able to develop plans to best optimize experience to target audiences.

Create intuitive and fun experiences forpuzzles and games through continuous experimentation and iteration.

Prioritize the product roadmap based on optimization opportunities, and input from key partners.

Partner with the engineering and design teams to define user stories, acceptance criteria, prioritize and conduct user acceptance testing.

Qualifications:

5-10+ years of product management experience and/ or related experience in the online gam ing industry

Bachelor's degree. MBA and/or advanced degree preferred.

Deep experience with agile software development methodology .

Firm understanding of relevant web design and development technologies to translate business requirements to engineering teams.

Ability to think critically and constructively about complex business problems, clearly communicate analysis, and present solutions that address business needs.

Experience using data and metrics to independently test theories, confirm assumptions, and measure success with attention to detail.

Curious and open-minded, with a knack for synthesizing and prioritizing customer and stakeholder requests.

Detail-oriented with excellent organization, analytical, and problem-solving skills.

Decisive with a bias towards action.

A highly motivated self-starter who can work effectively across cross-functional teams and also make things happen on your own.

A strong communicator with excellent written and verbal skills.

A team player and fun to work with. Loves to share inspiration and new ideas with your direct and indirect teams.

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The annualized base salary for this role will range between $150,000 and $165,000. Base compensation is reflective of many factors, including, but not limited to, the market in which one lives/works, individual education level, skills, certifications and experience. Note: variable compensation is not reflected in these figures and based on the role, may be applicable.

Gannett Co., Inc. is a proud equal opportunity employer committed to building and maintaining a diverse workforce. As such, we will consider all qualified applicants for employment and do not discriminate in connection with employment decisions on the basis of an applicant or employee’s race, color, national origin, ethnicity, ancestry, citizenship status, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, religion, age, marital status, personal appearance (including height and weight), sexual orientation, family responsibilities, physical or mental disability, medical condition, pregnancy status (including childbirth, breastfeeding or related medical conditions), education, genetic characteristics or information, political affiliation, military or veteran status or other classifications protected by applicable federal, state and local laws in the jurisdictions where Gannett employs employees. In addition, Gannett Co., Inc. will provide applicants who require a reasonable accommodation, as a result of an applicant’s disability or religion, to complete this employment application and/or any other process in connection with an individuals’ application for employment with Gannett Co., Inc. Applicants who require such accommodation should contact Gannett Co., Inc.’s Recruitment Department at [e-mail].