Product Manager, Display Ads

USA TODAY Co.; United States; Remote; USD 125,000 - 135,000; Full time

Job summary

USA TODAY Co. seeks a Product Manager to leadDisplay and Paid Ads initiatives across enterprise and SMB segments. You will shape strategy, work with Engineering, Data Science, Sales, Marketing, and Customer Success to deliver scalable solutions that improve advertiser outcomes and monetization.

You will own the roadmaps, define success metrics, and drive execution from discovery to launch, while balancing value, tech complexity, and business impact. This role is remote within the United States.

Responsibilities

• Own and execute a significant portion of the Display and Paid Ads product roadmap.
• Identify market opportunities, customer needs, and platform changes that inform roadmap investments across the programmatic landscape.
• Define product strategy for programmatic bidding, O&O display inventory monetization, automation, measurement, and advertiser-facing capabilities.
• Evaluate emerging trends in programmatic display, AI, and digital advertising to identify opportunities for product innovation and inventory packaging.
• Lead initiatives from discovery through launch and ongoing optimization.
• Translate business challenges and customer needs into clear product requirements, user flows, success metrics, and rollout plans.
• Partner directly with Engineering and Data Science to deliver scalable product solutions.
• Balance customer value, business impact, and technical complexity when making prioritization decisions.
• Own key business metrics including revenue growth, advertiser retention, campaign performance, inventory utilization, platform adoption, and profitability across assigned products.
• Drive innovation across programmatic bidding strategies, yield optimization, automation, and display asset recommendations.
• Translate emerging AdTech, SSP/DSP capabilities, and industry innovations into differentiated product experiences.
• Define measurement frameworks and success metrics to evaluate product effectiveness and campaign viewability.
• Use data and experimentation to inform product investments and improve advertiser performance.
• Partner with Customer Success, Sales, Marketing, and Operations to ensure successful activation and adoption of new display capabilities.
• Build alignment across stakeholders and influence decisions without direct authority.
• Present product strategy, recommendations, tradeoffs, and outcomes to leadership teams.

Skills

Product management

Display advertising

Programmatic advertising

Data-driven decisions

Job description

We are looking for a Product Manager who combines strong product management skills with deep expertise in Display advertising, programmatic ecosystems, and paid ads. You will lead strategic initiatives across our display and paid ads portfolio, helping thousands of Enterprise and SMB advertisers improve performance through programmatic optimization, automation, and platform innovation.

The ideal candidate is an experienced product leader who can identify opportunities, define strategy, influence stakeholders, and deliver measurable business outcomes. You will partner closely with Engineering, Data Science, Customer Success, Sales, and Marketing to build scalable solutions that improve advertiser outcomes, optimize inventory monetization, and drive business growth.

Key Responsibilities

Product Strategy & Vision

• Own and execute a significant portion of the Display and Paid Ads product roadmap.
• Identify market opportunities, customer needs, and platform changes that should inform roadmap investments across the programmatic landscape.
• Define product strategy for programmatic bidding, O&O display inventory monetization, automation, measurement, and advertiser-facing capabilities.
• Evaluate emerging trends in programmatic display, AI, and digital advertising to identify opportunities for product innovation and inventory packaging.

Product Execution & Delivery

• Lead initiatives from discovery through launch and ongoing optimization.
• Translate business challenges and customer needs into clear product requirements, user flows, success metrics, and rollout plans.
• Partner directly with Engineering and Data Science to deliver scalable product solutions.
• Balance customer value, business impact, and technical complexity when making prioritization decisions.
• Own key business metrics including revenue growth, advertiser retention, campaign performance, inventory utilization, platform adoption, and profitability across assigned products.

AI, Optimization & Measurement

• Drive innovation across programmatic bidding strategies, yield optimization, automation, and display asset recommendations.
• Translate emerging AdTech, SSP/DSP capabilities, and industry innovations into differentiated product experiences.
• Define measurement frameworks and success metrics to evaluate product effectiveness and campaign viewability.
• Use data and experimentation to inform product investments and improve advertiser performance.

Cross-Functional Leadership

• Partner with Customer Success, Sales, Marketing, and Operations to ensure successful activation and adoption of new display capabilities.
• Build alignment across stakeholders and influence decisions without direct authority.
• Present product strategy, recommendations, tradeoffs, and outcomes to leadership teams.

Required Qualifications

• 5+ years of product management experience delivering customer-facing, platform, SaaS, or technology products.
• 3+ years of experience in digital advertising with a specific focus on Display and Programmatic advertising. Experience with programmatic exchanges, SSPs/DSPs, campaign optimization, and automation is strongly preferred.
• Deep understanding of the programmatic landscape, including bidding strategies, yield optimization, viewability, attribution, conversion tracking, and AI-driven campaign management.
• Experience partnering directly with engineering teams to deliver products from concept through launch.
• Demonstrated ability to translate ambiguous business problems into clear product strategies and execution plans.
• Strong analytical and data-driven decision-making skills.
• Experience leading cross-functional initiatives across Product, Engineering, Data Science, and Go-to-Market teams.
• Excellent written, verbal, and stakeholder communication skills.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with ad serving platforms (e.g., Google Ad Manager, Equativ, Xandr) and inventory packaging strategies.
• Experience optimizing Owned & Operated (O&O) inventory and working with creative display formats.
• Experience building AI-powered, automation, optimization, recommendation, or workflow-based products.
• Experience working with Data Science teams, experimentation frameworks, or machine learning concepts.
• Familiarity with SQL, analytics platforms, or data-driven product development.
• Experience serving SMB advertisers at scale.
• Experience working in agency technology, advertising technology, marketing technology, or Google Partner environments.

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The annualized base salary for this role will range between $125,000 and $135,000. 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.