Lead Product Manager, Search

Scribd, Inc.; Seattle (WA); Hybrid; USD 151,000 - 244,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Scribd Flex (flexible work model)

Health, dental, and vision coverage

Mental health support and disability

Generous paid time off

Parental leave and family support

Retirement matching and equity

Learning and development programs

Wellness and home office stipends

Complimentary Scribd access

Enterprise AI tools

Job summary

Scribd, Inc. seeks a Lead Product Manager to own the Search experience for a user base of hundreds of millions. You will guide strategy, partner with ML, data science, design and engineering, and ship features that improve relevance, discovery and engagement across Scribd surfaces.

You will operate in a hybrid model with a focus on building a scalable search platform that supports Scribd’s AI strategy and business goals.

Qualifications

• 6+ years of product management experience, including 4+ years leading search or recommendations products.
• Shipping ML-driven features that impact engagement, conversion or revenue.
• Experience designing LLM- and GenAI-enhanced user experiences.

Responsibilities

• Set long-term search strategy and multi-year roadmap for query understanding, retrieval, ranking, and results.
• Translate research into production systems blending embeddings, BM25, and real-time signals.
• Define key success metrics and monitor them to drive revenue and retention.
• Ship incremental relevance improvements aligned with a multi-year AI strategy.
• Synthesize experiments and user feedback to inform prioritization and design.
• Communicate requirements and timelines clearly to cross-functional teams and leadership.

Skills

ML/AI fluency

Product management

Data-driven decision making

Cross-functional collaboration

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematics, or related field

Tools

SQL

Python or R

Prototyping tools

Job description

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 employees can be real and bold, debate and commit, embrace plot twists, and prioritize the customer. Flexibility and community connection are core values, with flexible work models and occasional in‑person attendance required.

We hire for GRIT—a blend of passion, perseverance, and a practical framework of setting goals, delivering results, generating innovative ideas, and strengthening team collaboration.

This posting reflects an approved, open position within the organization.

Lead Product Manager, Search

Qualifications

• Here’s what that means for you: showcasing the ability to set and achieve goals, deliver results, generate innovative ideas, and positively influence the broader team through collaboration and attitude.
• 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.
• 6+ years of product management experience, including 4+ 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.
• Experience designing LLM- and GenAI-enhanced user experiences that go beyond raw chat to deliver task-specific value.
• Hands-on proficiency with SQL and a scripting language (Python or R) for rapid data exploration, proficiency with prototyping tools, and model evaluation.
• 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).

Bonus Points

• 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

We’re looking for a Lead 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.

Success here means defining a compelling vision, crafting metrics that truly matter, and experimenting the 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.

• 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.

Compensation

At Scribd, Inc., your base pay is one part of your total compensation package and is determined within a range. Our pay ranges are based on the local cost of labor benchmarks for each specific role, level, and geographic location.

In the state of California, the reasonably expected salary range is between $177,000 and $256,000.

In the United States, outside of California, the reasonably expected salary range is between $151,000 and $244,000.

In Canada, the reasonably expected salary range is between $179,000 CAD and $228,000 CAD.

This position is also eligible for a competitive equity ownership and a comprehensive benefits package.

Location

Employees must have their primary residence in or near one of the following cities. This includes surrounding metro areas or locations within a typical commuting distance.

United States:

• Atlanta
• Austin
• Boston
• Dallas
• Denver
• Chicago
• Houston
• Jacksonville
• Los Angeles
• Miami
• New York City
• Phoenix
• Portland
• Sacramento
• Salt Lake City
• San Diego
• San Francisco
• Seattle
• Washington D.C.

Canada:

• Ottawa
• Toronto
• Vancouver

Mexico: Mexico City

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

Equal Opportunity Statement

Scribd, Inc. is committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, disability status, or any other characteristic protected by law. We encourage people of all backgrounds to apply, and believe that a diversity of perspectives and experiences create a foundation for the best ideas.

We want our interview process to be accessible to everyone. You can inform us of any reasonable adjustments we can make to better accommodate your needs by emailing [e-mail] about the need for adjustments at any point in the interview process.

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