Temporary Product Manager, Production Planning Tools

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.

Application Deadline: Wednesday, April 22nd at 10am ET

Intro to Position

As the Product Manager for Production Planning Tools, you will take the helm of NPR’s broadcast and digital production tooling roadmap. This is a critical role focused on maintaining momentum for our enterprise tool suite. You will help lead the Nexus suite (planning, scripting, sourcing, and delivery) and the IO asset management system, ensuring that our journalists, hosts, and producers have the seamless, high-performance tools they need to tell the world’s most important stories.

This role will report to the Sr. Manager of Product, Content Production Technology, working at the intersection of design, engineering, and editorial to ensure a coordinated flow of media from the newsroom to our audiences.

This is a union-represented role covered under the terms of a collective bargaining agreement with NABET-CWA DMU.

Responsibilities

• Roadmap Ownership & Continuity: Work alongside the Sr. Manager to maintain the overall Nexus roadmap and its associated tools. You will audit and refine existing priorities to ensure the roadmap remains ambitious yet achievable.
• Subject Matter Expertise: Quickly become the go-to expert for the Nexus tool suite; understanding the intricate dependencies between AP wires, asset collection, and broadcast/digital publication systems.
• Strategic Integration: Work in lock-step with the Product Manager for the publishing CMS (Grove) to optimize the "Nexus-to-Grove" pipeline for a frictionless transition from production to distribution.
• Agile Leadership: Lead Scrum ceremonies and Agile processes for a cross-functional build team, fostering a culture of iterative delivery and high-quality technical requirements.
• Stakeholder Advocacy: Act as a bridge between the technology teams and the newsroom. You will collaborate with Newshub, Editorial, Programming, and Podcast teams to ensure workflows are built for storytellers, not just software users.
• Collaboration & Inclusion: Maintain and contribute to NPR’s culture of inclusion, ensuring diverse perspectives are represented in the product development lifecycle.

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 can be modified at any time.

Minimum Qualifications 

• 3+ years experience in product management, with experience in content production, and the news industry a plus
• Professional experience with content management systems (CMS) and strategies, including storage, sharing and distribution
• Experience leading Agile enabled teams

Required Skills/Competencies 

• Operational Excellence: You have a proven ability to jump into an existing product ecosystem and add value on day one.
• User-Centered Intuition: A deep empathy for content creators and a "story-first" mindset when designing technical workflows.
• Technical Fluency: Comfort discussing architectural tradeoffs, media storage, and API integrations with engineers and architects.
• Diplomatic Communication: Experience building buy-in across a federated network or complex organization with many high-stakes stakeholders.

Work Location & Requirements

• NPR Remote-Permitted: This is a remote-permitted role. This role is based out of our Washington, D.C. office, but the employee may choose to work on a remote basis from a location that NPR approves. You will have the option of working (a) remotely from a location of your choosing within the United States that is supported by NPR; (b) on-site at an NPR facility, based on the availability of desks and approval from NPR; or (c) a combination of both. Regardless of where you choose to work from, you may be expected to travel to other locations from time to time to perform the duties of your position.

Job Type

• This is a temporary (6-month) full-time position.

Compensation

Hourly Rate: The U.S. based anticipated hourly rate for this opportunity is $55.66 - $60.52 per hour. The range displayed reflects the minimum and maximum hourly rate NPR expects to provide for new hires for the position across all US locations.

NPR Benefits: 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.

#LI-REMOTE

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 employeerelations@npr.org.

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

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