Senior Director of Product, News Recommendations

Yahoo serves as a trusted guide for hundreds of millions of people globally, helping them achieve their goals online through our portfolio of iconic products. For advertisers, Yahoo Advertising offers omnichannel solutions and powerful data to engage with our brands and deliver results.

A little about us

Yahoo is a global media and tech company that connects people to their passions. We reach nearly 900M people around the world, bringing them closer to what they love — from finance and sports, to shopping, gaming and news — with the trusted products, content and tech that fuel their day. For partners, we provide a full-stack platform for businesses to amplify growth and drive more meaningful connections across advertising, search and media.

At Yahoo News, we are laser-focused on making discovery delightful and becoming the world’s best curator for our 35 million daily users and expanding our distribution to meet millions more users where they are. Building the best guide to the Internet (and the world) requires building the best team.

A lot about you

We are seeking a skilled, experienced senior director of product to lead the refinement and improvement of our algorithms, with a specific focus on quality improving our human in the loop ML capabilities. In this pivotal role, you will straddle editorial and product, collaborating closely with engineering teams to shape the signals that drive our recommendations and build the necessary tools to enhance the Yahoo News experience.

In this role, you will work closely with reporters, editors, product managers, engineers and designers to define requirements and set priorities for how we surface relevant content to users to help them understand the world around them and achieve their goals. This role will sit in our product team but work closely with editorial and engineering leadership.

Key Responsibilities:

• Develop and execute a comprehensive product strategy that enhances the Yahoo News recommendations experience through the thoughtful application of machine learning and LLMs.

• Drive product innovation by identifying opportunities to improve content discovery, personalization, and user engagement through ongoing refinement of our algorithms, ensuring they align with our commitment to delivering high-quality, reliable, and diverse news content.

• Collaborate with data scientists, editors and engineers to develop models that incorporate editorial judgment into recommendations.

• Work closely with editorial teams to understand the nuances of news curation and quality standards, integrating these insights into the algorithmic decision-making process.

• Act as a bridge between product and editorial teams, fostering a collaborative environment that promotes the seamless integration of algorithms and human editorial judgment.

• Collaborate with cross-functional teams, including engineering, design, and data science, to ensure alignment with overall product goals and timelines.

• Provide clear communication and documentation to keep stakeholders informed about product developments and algorithmic enhancements.

• Implement quality assurance processes to monitor and evaluate algorithmic outputs, proactively identifying and addressing any issues related to content accuracy, bias, quality or misinformation.

Qualifications:

• Extensive experience working with journalists and in journalism, with a strong understanding of news production workflows, editorial standards, and ethics.

• Strong background in data analysis techniques and tools, with the ability to extract actionable insights from complex datasets.

• Understand industry & company-wide trends to help assess & develop new features and technologies

• Familiarity with product methodologies and experience working collaboratively with development teams to deliver innovative solutions.

• Proven track record of effectively leading, coaching and managing cross-functional teams while fostering a collaborative and inclusive work environment.

• Ability to think strategically and identify opportunities for leveraging data and insights to enhance user experience and drive growth.

• Strong entrepreneurial spirit with a passion for identifying and driving the development of new data-led opportunities that add value to users and contribute to business growth.

• Excellent communication skills with the ability to collaborate effectively with stakeholders at all levels, including executives, editors, and technical teams.

• Experience working with engineering teams and a deep understanding of machine learning and LLMs.

If you are a visionary leader who thrives in a fast-paced