Product Manager, Web & Apps

About the California Academy of Sciences

The California Academy of Sciences is a globally renowned scientific and cultural institution located in the heart of San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park. Home to a world-class planetarium, aquarium, research center, and natural history museum—all under one living roof—our mission is to regenerate the natural world through science, learning, and collaboration.

Our extensive collections span plants, animals, fossils, and cultural artifacts from across the globe and throughout history. We are a diverse team of leading biodiversity scientists, educators, storytellers, designers, and communicators who work collaboratively to advance knowledge and inspire action through science and storytelling.

When you join the California Academy of Sciences, you become part of a mission-driven community that values curiosity, collaboration, and innovation. Whether you're working behind the scenes in research or engaging the public on the museum floor, your work will help connect people to the natural world and empower them to protect it.

About the Opportunity

The Product Manager for Web & Apps is the central owner of the Academy’s public-facing website and select digital surfaces. The website is both a global science communication platform and one of the institution’s most important revenue engines — driving ticket sales, membership enrollment and renewal, donations, event attendance, program registrations, retail purchases, and digital product engagement.

This role blends product strategy, content platform leadership, UX rigor, experimentation, insight-driven decision-making, and complex cross-functional orchestration. You will shape how global audiences discover our science, plan their visit, support our mission, and return again and again, while managing a team of 4 to 6 direct reports who support the work.

You will bring structure, clarity, and momentum to a large ecosystem of stakeholders — Science, Creative Studio, Marketing, Membership, Philanthropy, Education, Guest Experience, Sales, Operations, Business Applications, and Retail.

What You Will Lead

1. Ownership of the Website as a Revenue & Growth Engine 

You will drive measurable improvements across all revenue-critical flows, including:

• Ticketing and attendance growth
• Membership join and renewal paths
• Donor and philanthropic giving journeys
• Event attendance and ticket sales
• Educational program bookings
• Retail and e-commerce (digital + physical)
• Digital product engagement and monetization
  

You will own the multi-year vision and roadmap to improve funnel efficiency, reduce friction between user and purchasing experience, and increase conversion across channels.

2. Stewardship of the Digital Science & Storytelling Platform

You will ensure the Academy’s online presence:

• Makes scientific content accessible, engaging, and emotionally resonant
• Translates research, exhibits, and conservation work into intuitive digital formats
• Supports exhibitions, events, and programs through dynamic content
• Maintains scientific accuracy, representational integrity, and public trust
• Strengthens the Academy’s voice in biodiversity, climate, and conservation

3. Product Strategy & Multi-Year Roadmap

You will:

• Define the long-term product vision across web and digital experiences
• Maintain a sequenced roadmap for UX improvements, content evolution, revenue growth, and platform modernization
• Align roadmap priorities with institutional goals and executive direction
• Connect digital experiences to the Academy’s Museum 3.0 transformation
• Build structured processes for prioritization, resourcing, and trade-offs.

4. Platform Modernization & Technical Excellence

You will strengthen the Academy’s digital foundation through:

• CMS improvements, structured content models, modular templates, and workflow upgrades
• Performance, accessibility, and mobile-first optimization
• SEO health, discoverability, and technical search improvements
• Responsible use of AI tools for content creation, translation, optimization, and personalization
• Close collaboration with Business Applications, Ops, and Sales to align digital flows with back-end ticketing, POS, CRM, and membership systems
• Familiarity with Tessitura, Shopify, Stripe, Salesforce Commerce, WooCommerce, or similar tools (experience a plus, not required).

5. Cross-Functional Alignment & Leadership

You will unify and streamline collaboration across: