Manager, Product Operations
About the role
The Manager, Product Operations role is part of the Hearst Newspapers Product Development team. This role supports the mission of being the most trusted and accurate source of news and information in the communities we serve. It involves driving alignment, improving execution, and building the operational foundations that enable teams to deliver meaningful outcomes.
Responsibilities
Drive execution of high-priority, cross-functional initiatives aligned to organizational goals and measurable business outcomes.
Coordinate across teams to reduce dependencies, improve alignment, and increase execution clarity.
Support leadership in operationalizing strategic priorities across the product organization.
Facilitate planning sessions, retrospectives, workshops, and operational reviews that drive alignment and accountability.
Own and evolve planning cadences, including quarterly roadmapping, intake processes, prioritization frameworks, and operational governance.
Build scalable workflows, operational systems, and documentation practices that improve consistency and visibility across teams.
Improve visibility into team capacity, delivery health, risks, and outcomes through dashboards, reporting, and operational metrics.
Identify opportunities where AI, automation, integrations, and existing tools can improve team effectiveness, reduce operational overhead, and accelerate execution.
Experiment with tools and operational patterns that improve planning, communication, reporting, documentation, and knowledge sharing.
Develop scalable automations, templates, systems, and playbooks that help teams responsibly integrate AI into day-to-day product development.
Serve as an advocate for evolving ways of working, helping teams adapt thoughtfully as technology and organizational needs change.
Serve as a strategic owner and administrator for collaboration and productivity platforms, including Jira, Confluence, Airtable, Miro, and AI tooling ecosystems.
Build workflows, templates, and automations that improve operational efficiency and collaboration.
Support onboarding, documentation quality, transparency, and knowledge sharing across teams.
Foster a collaborative, inclusive, and high-trust team environment grounded in continuous improvement.
Requirements
AI-Native and Curious: Actively experiment with AI tools and workflows in your own work and excited about helping organizations adapt to AI-enabled ways of operating.
Systems Thinker: Connect people, processes, tools, and information into scalable operational systems; identify patterns, bottlenecks, and opportunities others may miss.
Builder Mentality: Proactive, resourceful, and comfortable creating structure from ambiguity; enjoy building and iterating quickly.
Outcome-Oriented: Focus on measurable impact; understand how operational improvements influence team effectiveness, product outcomes, and business results.
Strong Facilitator & Communicator: Align stakeholders across disciplines, facilitate productive discussions, and communicate clearly with both leadership and execution teams.
Operationally Excellent: Highly organized, detail-oriented, and capable of managing multiple complex initiatives simultaneously.
Trusted Partner: Build strong relationships, follow through on commitments, communicate challenges openly, and consistently improve the systems and teams around you.
Change Management: Skilled at driving adoption of new systems, processes, and ways of working across cross-functional teams.
Skills & Experience
Experience in Product Operations, Program Management, or Product Management within a technology or digital product environment.
Strong understanding of Agile product development practices and organizational operations.
Experience designing scalable workflows, operational systems, and process improvements.
Demonstrated ability to lead cross-functional initiatives and influence without direct authority.
Strong analytical skills and experience using operational metrics and reporting to guide decisions.
Experience leading organizational change management and adoption initiatives.
Experience designing and implementing AI-assisted workflows, automation solutions, and operational systems that improve team effectiveness and reduce manual overhead.
Qualifications
Experience with Airtable — advanced experience required, including relational data structures, automations, interfaces, and workflow design.
Experience with Jira, Confluence, Miro, Figma, Google Workspace & Microsoft 365, Analytics & Reporting, Looker, Power BI, Google Analytics, Spreadsheet modeling, operational reporting, and data analysis.
Experience using AI and automation tools to improve workflows and operational efficiency, including: ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Cursor, Zapier, Make, Power Automate, Lovable.
Benefits
At Hearst Newspapers, we offer a comprehensive benefits package that includes:
Physical Wellbeing: Medical, Dental, and Vision coverage.
Invest for the Future: Competitive retirement plan with matching program in most markets.
Moderate Paid Time Off: Recharge with ample time off, including holidays and vacation.
Paid Parental Leave: Support for growing families, with paid leave for new parents.
Monthly Child & Dependent Care Reimbursement: Financial support for the care of your loved ones.
Mental Wellness Benefits: Be your best self with our mental wellness benefits.
LGBTQ+ & Inclusive Health Services: Inclusive healthcare designed for every individual's unique needs.
Fertility Coverage & Menopause Support: Helping you along every step of your family journey.
Pet Wellness Reimbursement & Rover Credits: We care about your pets, too – helping you keep them happy and healthy.