Senior Product Manager, AI Labs

OVERVIEW

A thriving, mission-driven multimedia organization, NPR produces award-winning news, information, and music programming in partnership with hundreds of independent public radio stations across the nation. The NPR audience values information, creativity, curiosity, and social responsibility – and our employees do too. We are innovators and leaders in diverse fields, from journalism and digital media to IT and development. Every day, our employees and member stations touch the lives of millions worldwide.

Across our organization, we’re building a workplace where collaboration is essential, diverse voices are heard, and inclusion is the key to our success. We are committed to doing the right thing in our journalism and in every role at NPR. This means that integrity, adherence to our ethical standards, and compliance with legal obligations are fundamental responsibilities for every employee at NPR.

Intro to Position

Application Deadline: Sunday, December 14th at 12:00AM EST

The Senior Product Manager, AI Labs, is a new role at NPR that will be core to building NPR's first GAI-focused product development team. Reporting to the VP of AI Labs, this person will lead the strategy for utilizing generative AI technologies to enhance the quality and actionability of our content metadata, collaborate with other teams on integrating AI products into systems, and serve as a subject matter expert on AI enablement and scalability. This is an opportunity to fundamentally influence NPR's AI adoption product strategy and help build a new, lean, and innovative function at NPR. This role balances strategic product leadership with AI consultation, ensuring AI-driven features align with business objectives, ethical guidelines, and industry best practices. This individual should possess a healthy balance of passion and skepticism regarding generative AI technologies and be prepared to discuss their work transparently and effectively.

Responsibilities

• Product Strategy & Roadmap: Define and drive the vision for NPR's AI-powered metadata strategy.

• AI Enablement & Consultation: Advise internal teams on AI-driven opportunities and best practices as an SME.

• Cross-functional Collaboration: Work with engineers, data scientists, and content teams to develop and scale AI-driven solutions.

• Data-Driven Optimization: Utilize analytics, user testing, and experimentation to enhance AI product performance and user engagement.

• Stakeholder Communication: Translate AI capabilities into clear product strategies and updates for leadership and teams.

• Ethical AI & Compliance: Ensure AI products align with company policies and responsible AI practices.

• Market & Technology Research: Stay informed on AI advancements and industry trends to drive innovation.

The above duties and responsibilities are not an exhaustive list of required responsibilities, duties and skills. Other duties may be assigned, and this job description is subject to change at any time.

Minimum Qualifications

• 5+ years of product manager experience

• 2+ years of working with generative AI, machine learning or data products

• Demonstrable understanding and experience building products that leverage Large Language Models, RAG architectures, prompting, function calling, retrieval, vector databases, embeddings, fine-tuning, and model evaluation

• Excellent communication skills and the ability to explain complex technological subjects to non-technical stakeholders

• Ability to lead difficult prioritization discussions and to facilitate efficient and effective decision-making

• Strong command of the OKR framework, including the ability to define leading indicators and use data analytics to rigorously track progress against Key Results

• A collaborative and respectful approach to work and an ability to adapt quickly to change

• A deep commitment to the mission of NPR and to the responsible implementation of Generative AI technologies

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience working in media organizations and an understanding of media delivery systems

• Proficiency in Python for data analysis and experience creating functional prototypes to validate technical feasibility and user flows

Work Location & Requirements

• Hybrid Permitted: This is a hybrid permitted role. Some aspects of this role include duties that are better performed at an NPR facility. The employee will be required to be in the office, preferably at the Washington, D.C. location, at least two to three days a week.

Job Type

• This is a full-time, exempt position.

Compensation

Salary Range: The U.S. based anticipated salary range for this opportunity is $133,000 - $146,000 plus benefits. The range displayed reflects the minimum and maximum salaries NPR expects to provide for new hires for the position across all US locations.

NPR offers access to comprehensive benefits for employees and dependents. Regular, full-time employees scheduled to work 30 hours or more per week are eligible to enroll in NPR’s benefits options. Benefits include access to health and wellness, paid time off, and financial well-being. Plan options include medical, dental, vision, life/ accidental death and dismemberment, long-term disability, short-term disability, and voluntary retirement savings to all eligible NPR employees.

Does this sound like you? If so, we want to hear from you.

The range displayed reflects the minimum and maximum salaries NPR expects to provide for new hires for the position across all US locations.
NPR Pay Range
$133,000—$146,000 USD

NPR is an Equal Opportunity Employer. NPR is committed to being an inclusive workplace that welcomes diverse and unique perspectives, all working toward the same goal – to create a more informed public. Qualified applicants receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, ethnicity, national origin, ancestry, age, religion, religious belief, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth and related medical conditions, lactation, and reproductive health decisions), sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or expression, transgender status, gender non-conforming status, intersex status, sexual stereotypes, nationality, citizenship status, personal appearance, marital status, family status, family responsibilities, military status, veteran status, mental and physical disability, medical condition, genetic information, genetic characteristics of yourself or a family member, political views and affiliation, unemployment status, protective order status, status as a victim of domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking, or any other basis prohibited under applicable law.

If you are a person with a disability needing assistance with the application process, please reach out to [email protected].

You may read NPR’s privacy policy to learn about how NPR may handle information you submit with any application.

Want more NPR? Explore the stories behind the stories on our NPR Extra blog. Get social with NPR Extra on Facebook and Instagram. Find more career opportunities at NPR.org/careers.