Senior Product Manager, Newsroom

The Chicago Sun-Times is the hardest-working paper in America, covering the stories and issues that matter most to Chicagoans with depth, integrity, and grit. The newsroom has earned eight Pulitzer Prizes for its hard-hitting investigative reporting, in-depth political coverage, insightful sports analysis, entertainment reviews, and cultural commentary. An industry-leading innovator in local news, it has been recognized nationally for expanding digital and multimedia reporting platforms alongside its indomitable newspaper, the oldest continuously published daily in the city.

In January 2022, the Sun-Times merged with public radio station WBEZ with a shared mission to strengthen local journalism in Chicago. Under the banner of Chicago Public Media, Chicago Sun-Times Media, Inc. (CSTM) is now part of one of the largest nonprofit news organizations in the nation. This merger reinforces our commitment to serving Chicagoans with the news that matters most -– fact-based, unbiased journalism deeply connected to Chicago communities.

The opportunity

The Sr. Product Manager will manage multiple high-impact digital products from ideation, design and specification through development, launch and maintenance. They are responsible for the delivery of complex consumer-facing projects that support the service journalism mission of Chicago Public Media. They are strong in their ability to collaborate with software engineers and designers, provide specifications, conduct thorough quality assurance testing, manage multi-disciplinary projects and make critical decisions throughout. They have experience in agile product management, prioritizing the most impactful features and applying test-and-learn and MVP techniques to their decision-making.

In addition, they are a strong communicator who is equally comfortable presenting information to stakeholders, executive teams and scrum teams. They have a talent for gathering feedback from users and using it to create better products and experiences. They are an expert at analyzing metrics from Google Analytics, Firebase, A/B testing suites and other marketing tools and distilling the information into actionable insights. Finally they are results-driven and know how to achieve impact and outcomes for their product portfolio. They should be comfortable being accountable for meeting KPIs in support of our broader strategic goals.

Responsibilities:

• Collaborate cross-functionally to create a project roadmap and drive projects from start to finish
• Define and communicate detailed product requirements
• Define and track goals and KPIs relevant to all product releases including in areas of audience growth, engagement, conversion, speed and stability
• Develop innovative ideas for new pathways to audience growth, membership and loyalty-building with realistic business cases and timelines
• Lead QA efforts including regression and feature testing with internal testers and automated external testing software
• Use data driven methodology to optimize using A/B testing results and analytics data

Requirements:

• 3-5 years of product management experience in an agile software development environment
• Multiple examples of launching successful features and digital products in areas of consumer product, e-commerce, digital media, or related fields
• Experience using analytics data to make product decisions that led to better outcomes, using sources like Google Analytics, Firebase, Mixpanel, Parsely, or related tools
• Experience working directly with software engineers and designers, authoring detailed requirements with examples of successful collaborations
• Top-notch communication skills in writing and presentation

Nice to Have:

• Domain expertise in one or more of the following areas: website development, mobile app development, e-commerce, subscription or fundraising products, or digital media applications.
• Previous experience in news media organizations
• Understanding of web technologies including HTML / CSS / JS as well SQL or database languages

What We Offer:

• Competitive salary and benefits package
• Opportunity to work within a collaborative team culture
• A hybrid work schedule: 2 days in the office, three days remote
• Opportunity to be part of an iconic brand!

The information contained in this job description is not intended to create any contractual or other legal commitment. CSTM may change the content or format of this job at any time at its sole and exclusive discretion without notice.

CSTM does not discriminate in its employment decisions based on race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religion, age, disability, citizenship or national origin, veteran status, or on any other basis which would violate any applicable federal, state, or local law.

Chicago Sun-Times