Principal Product Manager, Search

Scribd, Inc. is on a mission to advance human understanding. Our four products — Scribd®, Slideshare®, Everand™, and Fable — help billions of people across the globe move beyond access and into insight, application, and expertise. Culture at Scribd, Inc. We support a culture where our employees can be real and be bold; where we debate and commit as we embrace plot twists; and where every employee is empowered to take action as we prioritize the customer. We believe the best work happens when individual flexibility is balanced with meaningful community connection. Scribd Flex empowers employees to choose the workstyle and location that support their best performance, while committing to intentional in-person moments that strengthen collaboration and culture. Occasional in-person attendance is required for all Scribd, Inc. employees, regardless of location. So what are we looking for in new team members? At Scribd, Inc., we hire for “GRIT.” Traditionally defined as the intersection of passion and perseverance toward long-term goals, GRIT reflects the mindset we expect from every employee. For us, it also serves as a practical framework for how we work: setting and achieving Goals, delivering Results within your role, contributing Innovative ideas and solutions, and strengthening the broader Team through collaboration and attitude. This posting reflects an approved, open position within the organization. Qualifications Here's what that means for you: we're looking for someone who showcases the ability to set and achieve Goals, achieve Results within their job responsibilities, contribute Innovative ideas and solutions, and positively influence the broader Team through collaboration and attitudeThe ideal candidate combines deep technical fluency in ML/AI with seasoned product management chops and a track record of translating data-driven insights into meaningful product wins8+ years of product management experience, including 5+ years leading search or recommendations products in a high-traffic consumer environmentDemonstrated success shipping ML-driven features that moved core business metrics (engagement, conversion, or revenue) for large scale productsDeep familiarity with retrieval and ranking algorithms, embeddings, and feature stores — paired with the ability to reason about end-to-end customer journeys for distinct user segmentsTrack record of thriving amid ambiguity: shaping a multi-year vision, aligning cross-functional teams, and delivering incremental wins along the wayExceptional written and verbal communication skills — adept at crafting product briefs, bringing in inputs from multiple teams, and presenting data-backed decisions to senior leadershipBachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematics, or a related technical field (or equivalent practical experience) Bonus Points Hands-on proficiency with SQL and a scripting language (Python or R) for rapid data exploration, prototyping, and model evaluationExperience designing LLM- and GenAI-enhanced user experiences that go beyond raw chat to deliver task-specific valueFamiliarity with modern ML operations tooling — from vector databases to end-to-end model-ops workflows (MLOps / LLMOps) — and the ability to collaborate with engineering teams that rely on these systemsPassion for the written word and open knowledge — a genuine drive to build products that democratize expertise and help people learn, teach, and create Responsibilities We're looking for a Principal Product Manager to set the strategy and drive execution for Scribd's Search team. In this pivotal role, you'll transform our search experience into a best-in-class discovery engine serving 200 million monthly visitors across a corpus of 300 million documents. Leveraging advanced retrieval and ranking algorithms, LLM-powered semantic understanding, and fine-grained behavioral signals, you'll deliver highly relevant search results that help students, educators, and professionals find exactly what they need — fast. Success here means defining a compelling vision, crafting metrics