Senior Product Manager, Author Tools
No longer listedJoin the future of news
We’re on a mission to deliver riveting storytelling for all of America. At The Washington Post, you’ll help reinvent news. Our work is driven by a deep investigative spirit and enhanced by innovation to bring audiences closer to the stories that matter most.
About Our Team
The Washington Post is powered by the passion and talent of our people. It takes all of us to reinvent news. Beyond our award-winning Newsroom and Opinions teams, we work across many departments, including Brand & Events, Communications, Customer Care, Engineering & Product, Finance, Human Resources, Legal, Marketing & Advertising, Print Operations, and Sales.
Why This Role Matters
The Washington Post is seeking a Senior Product Manager to own the extensions and tools we build on top of our Arc XP platform, along with the bespoke AI tools our journalists use for newsgathering & data analysis to power differentiated journalism. This role owns that layer end to end, from identifying what to build, to shipping it, to figuring out where it should go next.
The Washington Post is building the future of journalism through world-class reporting, technology, and product innovation. As Senior Product Manager for Creator Tools, you'll own the layer where our platform choices meet our ambitions. It's a role with real leverage: what you build here can end up shaping tools far beyond our own newsroom.
What Motivates You
You believe the tools reporters use shape the journalism they can produce, and you want to be the person closing that gap.
You're drawn to newsrooms specifically because the stakes feel real. A tool that saves a reporter ten minutes during breaking news isn't a nice-to-have, it's the story getting out faster.
You want proof that your work matters beyond a usage dashboard. Watching an AI tool, you built get used in an actual investigation is worth more to you than a clean metric.
How You'll Support the Mission
You'll make sure the tools between a reporter's idea and a published story are never the reason a deadline is missed. Every integration you ship and every AI newsgathering tool you build removes friction from the actual work of journalism, faster sourcing, faster verification, faster publishing, so our reporters can spend their time on the story instead of the software.
Define and drive the roadmap for the integrations, extensions, and custom tooling that sit on top of Arc XP, including LUCY, Spaces and future tooling.
Decide what gets built in-house versus what should be pushed back to Arc as a platform request and make that call with good judgment and proper ROI.
Prioritize a backlog that spans quick integration fixes, larger bespoke builds, and longer-term architectural bets.
Partner with Engineering to keep our Arc-dependent systems resilient to platform changes and upgrades.
Partnering with the newsroom AI leads to identify which use cases, automation and tools should be productized for the entire newsroom and/or for Arc XP.
Lead product strategy for the AI tools our journalists use to research, source, and gather the news.
Identify where AI can genuinely supercharge how analysis and investigations get done.
Work closely with journalists to validate that these tools hold up under real, high-pressure newsgathering conditions.
Iterate quickly, since this space moves fast and yesterday's differentiator is tomorrow's baseline.
Actively identify capabilities we've built or need that could plausibly benefit Arc's broader customer base, not just us.
Build a working relationship with Arc's product and engineering teams so those use cases get a real hearing.
Frame our internal builds and requests in a way that helps Arc understand the commercial case for their other publishers, not just our own.
Run the full product lifecycle: discovery, requirements, engineering handoff, launch, and iteration.
Write specs and acceptance criteria clear enough that engineers can move without excessive back and forth.
Monitor adoption of the tools you ship and let real usage data drive what comes next.
Manage tradeoffs between platform-level fixes and one-off internal requests without losing sight of the bigger roadmap.
The Skills and Experience You Bring
- 5+ years of product management experience, ideally including work that involved building on top of a vendor or SaaS platform rather than a fully custom stack.
Comfort with technical depth: API integrations, platform constraints, and the tradeoffs of building around a third-party system.
Experience in applied AI, particularly where it intersects with research, content, or information workflows.
Strong ability to manage a vendor relationship as a peer, not just a customer, including negotiating priorities and influencing another company's roadmap.
Excellent written and verbal communication, since this role sits between engineering, journalism, and an external platform partner.
Preferred Qualifications
Experience with Arc XP specifically, or a comparable SaaS CMS/publishing platform.
Background in media, publishing, or newsgathering, though this isn't a hard requirement.
Experience shipping AI-powered tools, particularly ones focused on research, discovery, or content generation.
A track record of successfully pushing feature requests or use cases into a vendor's product roadmap.
Collaboration makes us stronger. That’s why our offices are designed with open layouts, modern technology, and easy access to transportation. With certain exceptions for newsgathering and business travel, we work on-site five days a week.
Compensation and Benefits
Wherever you are in your life or career, The Washington Post offers comprehensive and inclusive benefits for every step of your journey:
Competitive medical, dental and vision coverage
Company-paid pension and 401(k) match
Three weeks of vacation and up to three weeks of paid sick leave
Nine paid holidays and two personal days
20 weeks paid parental leave for any new parent
Robust mental health resources
Backup care and caregiver concierge services
Gender affirming services
Pet insurance
Free Post digital subscription
Leadership and career development programs
Benefits may vary based on the job, full-time or part-time schedule, location, and collectively bargained status.
The salary range for this position is:
$119,700 - $199,300 AnnualThe actual salary within this range will depend on individual skills, experience, and qualifications as they relate to specific job requirements. This position may be eligible for a bonus or incentive program, and a member of the Talent Acquisition team will discuss bonus payment terms and conditions during the interview process.
Your story awaits. Apply today!
Learn more about The Post at careers.washingtonpost.com.