Technical Product Manager

Kqed Inc; San Francisco, Northern (CA, KY); Hybrid; USD 123,000 - 154,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Paid time off

Paid holidays

Parental leave

Health/vision/dental benefits

Commuter benefits

403(b) plan

Job summary

KQED Inc. is seeking a Technical Product Manager to join our Digital Product Team in the San Francisco area. This hybrid/onsite role focuses on prioritizing features, coordinating with engineering, and translating complex requirements into actionable roadmaps for scalable systems.

The ideal candidate has a STEM degree and 5+ years building technical products, with experience in API design, cloud services, and agile practices. Join a mission-driven public media organization serving the Bay Area.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Systems, or a related STEM field.
• At least 5 years working on technical products.
• Software Engineer, Solutions Architect or Systems Architect experience preferred.

Responsibilities

• Establish prioritization frameworks to balance feature development, infrastructure upgrades, and technical debt reduction.
• Partner with engineering teams to evaluate system constraints, review API designs, and translate complex technical requirements into stories and sprint backlogs.
• Define key product metrics and analyze systems to evaluate system performance.
• Lead grooming, backlog refinement, and sprint planning in an Agile environment, ensuring clear acceptance criteria and seamless alignment across cross-functional teams.

Skills

Agile methodologies

API design

Cloud infrastructure

Microservices

JavaScript/TypeScript

Code reading

Data pipelines

Education

STEM degree

Tools

Node/React

Kubernetes

Docker

Databases (SQL/NoSQL)

REST/GraphQL APIs

Job description

Technical Product Manager

Schedule Format - Location: Hybrid - San Francisco

Pay Information: $122,808 - $153,510

This role is onsite at KQED's newly renovated headquarters located in San Francisco, CA. Applicants must currently reside in San Francisco Bay Area or be willing to relocate.

KQED is redefining public media to be more inclusive, participatory, and community-powered. In a time when misinformation and distrust in media are growing, we are committed to being the trusted journalistic source serving the needs of the Bay Area.
Within this scope, our Digital Product Team develops experiences to serve the needs of our diverse audiences. This includes partnering with editorial teams on essential content, developing new content formats, and building the infrastructure to power personalized experiences.
To support these efforts our team is looking for a Technical Product Manager, to sit at the intersection of business strategy and deep engineering execution. This role will be responsible for prioritization and translating complex requirements into actionable technical roadmaps. Working closely with engineering and business stakeholders, you will ensure our systems are architecturally scalable, technically feasible, and directly aligned with system needs and business goals.
We are looking for talented individuals to help our team build and maintain our digital systems, which power kqed.org and our mobile apps. We are a media organization and we look for talent who can bring a strong knowledge of functional design to our digital properties and our community.

KQED envisions a public media organization with a culture that centers on human dignity, equity, and belonging. This will enable us to better serve and reflect the Bay Area through diverse and inclusive storytelling.

We value the contributions of marginalized people in society — including Black, Indigenous, and all people of color, people with disabilities, and LGBTQIA+ people — and we believe that these communities must be centered in the work we do, and we strongly encourage members of these communities to apply.

KQED Code of Ethics

https://www.kqed.org/about/code-ethics

The mission that drives us:

KQED provide citizens of Northern California with a community-supported alternative to commercial media. We provide citizens with the knowledge they need to make informed decisions; convene community dialogue; bring the arts to everyone and engage audiences to share their stories. We help students and teachers thrive in 21st-century classrooms, and take people of all ages on journeys of exploration- exposing them to new people, places and ideas.

Key Responsibilities

• Establish prioritization frameworks to balance feature development, infrastructure upgrades, and technical debt reduction.
• Partner with engineering teams to evaluate system constraints, review API designs, and translate complex technical requirements into stories and sprint backlogs.
• Define key product metrics and analyze systems to evaluate system performance.
• Lead grooming, backlog refinement, and sprint planning in an Agile environment, ensuring clear acceptance criteria and seamless alignment across cross-functional teams.

Core Technical Background

• Basic understanding of microservices, cloud infrastructure (AWS, GCP, Azure), databases (SQL vs. NoSQL), API design (REST, GraphQL), and Content Management System (CMS) architecture (headless vs. traditional CMS platforms).
• Ability to read code, review API documentation, and participate in technical trade-off discussions without getting lost.
• Targeted technical knowledge—such as machine learning/AI models, data pipelines, infrastructure, or developer tools (SDKs).
• Familiarity with JavaScript/typescript (or other oop language) preferred.
• Agile methodologies and scrum management experience.

Work Experience & Education

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Systems, or a related STEM field.
• Software Engineer, Solutions Architect or Systems Architect experience preferred.
• At least 5 years working on technical products.

About the Product Team

We run, and develop, multiple properties (including kqed.org and our mobile apps) and are always building new products on a modern stack with some legacy systems. Some of the technologies that we use are (but are not limited to):

• Node / React / Webpack / Babel / Yarn
• Kubernetes / Spinnaker / Docker
• Elasticsearch / Redis / MongoDB / MySQL
• JavaScript / Java / Springboot / Rest APIs

Let us tell you more about our benefits

Whether you’re single, married, have children, are in a domestic partnership or anything in between, we have you covered. Employees at KQED enjoy a family-friendly workplace offering paid time off, paid holidays, paid parental leave, family medical leave benefits, comprehensive health/vision/dental and commuter benefits as well as a 403(b) plan. KQED encourages diversity, openness and offers training to support personal and professional development. In addition, we are proud to offer Employee Resource Groups, wellness programs as well as free KQED membership.