Principal Product Manager, Ads Delivery & Optimization

Nextdoor; United States; Hybrid; USD 200,000 - 335,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity grant

Hybrid work model

Health plans

OneMedical membership

Job summary

Nextdoor, the essential neighborhood network, is seeking a Principal Product Manager for Ads Delivery & Optimization. You will own the strategy and roadmap for how campaigns meet advertiser goals through bidding, pacing, ranking and outcome measurement, partnering with Engineering, ML, Data Science, Revenue and Marketing.

This highly technical role sits at the center of Nextdoor’s Ads ecosystem, combining platform capabilities with optimization products to impact advertiser outcomes, revenue

Qualifications

• 12+ years in product management, with ads tech, marketplace optimization or ML-driven ranking.
• Strong fluency in ads delivery, bidding, pacing, ranking, attribution and experimentation.
• Technical partnering with Eng, ML and Data Science on models and experiments.
• Ability to balance advertiser outcomes with revenue, delivery and user experience.

Responsibilities

• Own strategy, roadmap and execution for Ads Delivery and Optimization across bids, pacing, ranking and measurement.
• Collaborate with Eng, ML and Data Science to define objectives, run experiments and deploy models.
• Expand optimization across advertiser goals, formats and surfaces (clicks, leads, purchases, app installs).
• Build reliable measurement foundations with attribution, signals and reporting.
• Translate complex ML and automation into intuitive advertiser products and drive adoption.

Skills

Product management

Ads delivery

ML-driven ranking

Experimentation

Cross-functional leadership

Communication

Strategy

AI tooling usage

Tools

Claude

Gemini

ChatGPT

Glean

Job description

#TeamNextdoor

Nextdoor (NYSE: NXDR) is the essential neighborhood network. Neighbors, public agencies, and businesses use Nextdoor to connect around local information that matters in more than 350,000 neighborhoods across 11 countries. Nextdoor builds innovative technology to foster local community, share important news, and create neighborhood connections at scale. Download the app and join the neighborhood at nextdoor.com.

Meet Your Future Neighbors

The Monetization Team at Nextdoor empowers businesses of all sizes to connect meaningfully with their local communities. Our advertising platform helps marketers reach the right audiences, drive measurable outcomes, and scale their growth efficiently.

As a Principal Product Manager, Ads Delivery & Optimization, you will lead the strategy and roadmap for how campaigns turn advertiser goals into effective delivery and measurable outcomes. You will own bidding, pacing, ranking, outcome optimization, and the measurement foundations that make these systems reliable.

This is a highly technical and strategic role at the center of Nextdoor’s Ads ecosystem. You will partner with Engineering, Machine Learning, Data Science, Revenue, Finance, and Product Marketing to evolve our auction, bidding, pacing, ranking, measurement, and ML-driven optimization systems. Your work will span platform capabilities and optimization products, directly impacting advertiser outcomes, revenue growth, delivery efficiency, and the neighbor experience.

At Nextdoor, we operate in an AI-first environment and expect every team member to actively use AI tools as part of their workflow. We aren't looking for prompt engineers; we’re looking for people who use tools like Claude, Gemini, ChatGPT, and Glean to challenge their own thinking and take full ownership of AI-assisted outputs.

We also offer a warm and inclusive work environment that embraces a hybrid employment model, blending an in office presence and work from home experience for our valued employees. The hiring team will go over these expectations with you if you are being considered for a role near one of our offices in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, New York, and London.

The Impact You’ll Make

• Own the strategy, roadmap, and execution for Ads Delivery and Optimization across auctions, bidding, budget pacing, ranking, conversion optimization, and automation.
• Partner with Engineering, Machine Learning, and Data Science to define model objectives, design experiments, and drive deployment, monitoring, and iteration.
• Expand optimization across advertiser goals, formats, and surfaces, including clicks, leads, purchases, app installs, video, Search Ads, SMB products, and emerging inventory.
• Build the measurement foundations that make optimization reliable, including attribution, event and label quality, calibration, reporting, and privacy-constrained signals.
• Turn complex optimization capabilities into intuitive advertiser products, including auto-bidding and other automation that improves outcomes and simplifies campaign management.
• Drive tradeoffs across advertiser performance, revenue, delivery efficiency, platform investment, and the neighbor experience. Align senior stakeholders on strategy, decisions, risks, and performance.

What You’ll Bring to the Team

• 12+ years of product management experience, including significant experience in advertising technology, marketplace optimization, or ML-driven ranking and delivery systems.
• Deep expertise in ads delivery and optimization, including auctions, bidding, budget pacing, ranking, conversion optimization, attribution, or experimentation.
• Strong technical fluency and experience partnering with Engineering, Machine Learning, and Data Science on models, experimentation, calibration serving systems, and platform architecture.
• Strong product judgment and experience balancing advertiser outcomes, revenue, delivery, measurement quality, and user experience when data or signals are imperfect.
• Experience translating complex ML, automation, and infrastructure capabilities into intuitive advertiser products that drive measurable value and adoption.
• Demonstrated ability to set strategy, lead complex initiatives across teams, influence senior stakeholders without formal authority, and communicate technical concepts clearly.
• Experience with performance advertising, auto-bidding, privacy-constrained attribution, mobile measurement, or ML-powered products at scale is a plus.

Rewards

Compensation, benefits, perks, and recognition programs at Nextdoor come together to create our total rewards package. Compensation will vary depending on your relevant skills, experience, and qualifications.

The starting salary for this role is expected to range from $200,000 - $335,000 on an annualized basis, or potentially greater in the event that your 'level' of proficiency exceeds the level expected for the role. The salary range will be determined by the candidate’s geographic location.

We expect to award a meaningful equity grant for this role. With quarterly vesting, your first vest date will take place within 3 months of your start date.

When it comes to benefits, we have you covered! Nextdoor employees can choose between a variety of health plans, including a 100% covered employee only plan option, and we also provide a OneMedical membership for concierge care.

At Nextdoor, we empower our employees to build stronger local communities. To create a platform where all feel welcome, we want our workforce to reflect the diversity of the neighbors we serve. We encourage everyone interested in our mission to apply. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, age, or any other trait that unfairly targets a group of people. In accordance with the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we always consider qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.

For information about our collection and use of applicants’ personal information, please see Nextdoor's Personnel Privacy Notice, found here.