Product Manager- WorldCat

OCLC; Dublin (OH); Hybrid; USD 95,000 - 130,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid work environment

Health coverage

Retirement plan contributions

Tuition reimbursement

Parental leave

Job summary

OCLC is seeking a Product Manager for WorldCat to own data ingest, enrichment services, and the integration of WorldCat data across products. You will drive modernization of data infrastructure and interoperability across platforms with a focus on semantic data models.

You will partner with external stakeholders and internal teams to translate market needs into innovative, scalable solutions. Strong collaboration and communication are essential to success in this mission-driven role.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience.
• 2–4 years of product, project, or program management experience.
• 2–4 years supporting online/database services, preferably for libraries or related orgs.
• Experience with linked data schemas and technologies (RDF, BIBFRAME, SPARQL).
• Demonstrated knowledge of AI in day-to-day workflows and product development.
• Strong written and verbal communication; ability to simplify complex concepts.
• Understanding of the Product Lifecycle model.
• Proven collaboration with engineers, data scientists, and product teams.

Responsibilities

• Owns product strategy and roadmap for WorldCat data ingest and enrichment.
• Collaborates with cross-functional teams to translate market needs into solutions.
• Develops market analysis, business cases, and budgets for WorldCat.
• Maintains product roadmap and coordinates releases with Development/Finance.
• Leads cross-functional product workgroups and drives consensus.

Skills

Product management

Project management

Online/database services

Linked data (RDF/BIBFRAME)

AI in workflows

Communication

Product lifecycle

Cross-functional collaboration

Launching new ideas

Market analysis

Education

Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience

Master’s in library & information science (desired)

Tools

RDF

SPARQL

BIBFRAME

schema.org

Job description

Together we make breakthroughs possible.

At OCLC, we build technology with a purpose: to connect libraries and make knowledge accessible worldwide, because we believe that what is known must be shared. Our teams work with complex global datasets, AI and machine learning, hybrid cloud solutions, and other technologies that connect people and organizations to the information they need. We value the power of unique perspectives and experiences to unlock innovation. At OCLC, your ideas matter, whether you have two years of experience or 20. You’ll learn, create, and problem-solve with technologists, product developers, librarians, researchers, marketing pros, and support teams around the world.

Why join OCLC?

OCLC is consistently recognized as a best place to work by several independent programs. We recognize and reward people and results with a comprehensive Total Rewards package. This means competitive compensation that reflects your unique contributions—performance, experience, and skills—along with exceptional benefits, including best-in-class health coverage, retirement plans with generous company contributions, and a commitment to your overall well-being.

• We know the best ideas don’t always happen at a desk. Take a walking meeting around our 100-acre campus or enjoy lunch on the patio. We’re committed to your success—both personally and professionally. Hybrid work environment: For many roles, three days a week on-site, with occasional additional days based on business needs.
• Free use of our on-site fitness center, gym sports, group exercise classes, and game room
• Onsite catering and cafeteria subsidized by OCLC
• Health and wellness events
• Work environments with individual and team spaces and the latest technology tools
• Paid parental leave and adoption assistance
• Tuition reimbursement and Public Service Loan Forgiveness eligibility
• Company-subsidized pricing on local tickets and memberships

Join us in transforming how people everywhere access information and be part of a mission-driven team that makes a global impact.

The Job Details Are As Follows

The Product Manager, WorldCat, owns the development and delivery for OCLC’s data ingest and enrichment services and the integration of WorldCat data across products. This role advances modernization of the data infrastructure, and services that make WorldCat an entity-first semantic data layer — extending data ingest pipeline capabilities, data enrichment mechanisms, and data interoperability across established and emerging data infrastructures.

Partnering closely with external stakeholders and internal cross-functional teams, the Product Manager drives product direction to translate market needs into innovative solutions.

Responsibilities

Product Strategy and Planning

• Oversees market analysis and develops product strategy and business cases for WorldCat.
• Assess new technology and adds value to existing products by improving features to create best in class solutions, build and scale platform capabilities, and reduce costs.
• Produces and maintains the product roadmap.
• Collaborates on release plans with Development.
• Collaborates with Finance on budgets and forecasts.

Leadership and Management

• Provides leadership to cross-functional product workgroups. Leads Product management meetings. Resolves conflicts and drives consensus.
• Facilitates collaboration and communication and secures commitment between Development and Product Management and other divisional workgroups towards achievement of common goals.
• Develops and monitors progress on product roadmap.

Product Marketing Oversight and Consultation

• Assists in developing strategies for customer acquisition and retention; manages relationships with user groups.
• Collaborates with the marketing and sales team in the generation of compelling marketing and awareness plans/presentations.
• Understands how and when to commission market research to develop and maintain expertise in markets served, alternative services, new technology, and related standards.
• Can generate appropriate information for market sizes by sector / territory and can generate market penetration statistics.
• Analyzes reasons for OCLC product wins and losses against competition in the metadata/entity data space and provides meaningful input to product planning.
• Defines and rationalizes user personas.
• Produces market/sector white papers.

Consultation on Portfolio Planning

• Provides input into portfolio business plans, roadmaps, strategies, metrics, and progress reports and reviews.

Qualifications

Minimum Required

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience
• 2 to 4 years of experience in product, project, or program management
• 2 to 4 years of experience supporting online/database services, preferably for libraries or adjacent organizations (publishers, aggregators, cultural heritage institutions)
• Experience with linked data schemas, architecture and technologies (RDF, BIBFRAME, schema.org, ontologies, SPARQL), ideally within libraries, archives, or bibliographic/cultural heritage metadata contexts.
• Demonstrated knowledge and use of AI in day-to-day workflows and product development
• Well-developed verbal and written communication skills, and the ability to synthesize complex information into simple and persuasive messages for both technical and non-technical audiences
• Strong understanding of the Product Lifecycle model
• Demonstrated collaboration and able to work effectively with engineers, data scientists, other product teams and colleagues, and external users.
• Experience defining and launching new idea or product concepts

Desired But Not Required

• Master’s in library & information science, or equivalent combination of education and experience
• 2 to 4 years of experience in library services or library management systems
• Working knowledge of linked data / semantic web concepts and entity-based data models (e.g., BIBFRAME, IFLA LRM)
• Experience leading cross-functional workgroups
• Knowledge of OCLC products and services

Working Conditions:

Normal office environment.

ADA/EAA:

The above statements cover what are generally believed to be principal and essential functions of this job. Specific circumstances may allow or require some people assigned to the job to perform a somewhat different combination of duties.