Lead Product Manager - Generative AI

About us

The Financial Times is one of the world’s leading news and information organisations. We are recognised globally for our authority, integrity and accuracy, and united by our mission to deliver world-class information, news and services to our growing, global audience.

Our commitment to diversity and inclusion

We’re an equal opportunity employer and prize diversity and inclusion as a strength. We believe that a supportive workplace is one where employees have a voice and feel they can be themselves at work. We continually remove barriers for all groups, especially underrepresented groups. We offer flexible working, and are open to job sharing.

The role overview

As a Principal Product Manager in GenAI you will play a key role in meeting the biggest opportunities and threats generative AI represents for a news organisation. Your mission will be twofold. First to develop innovative tools for our newsroom, so journalists can tell stories that otherwise wouldn’t be told, in keeping with our editorial AI principles. Second, to consider new channels, consumption patterns and what is just now technically possible. You’ll create experiences for the FT audience that bring clear, attributable value. We’re not into AI for the sake of AI. 

We are looking for a zero to one strategic thinker, who builds strong relationships to get things done and converts scepticism to support. You’re deeply conversant with the latest developments in generative AI and able to sift the signal from the noise. You’re excited and optimistic about what AI can achieve while acutely aware of its potential harm to end users. You are capable of keeping ethics at the centre of your product development approach and leading the market in defining what good looks like. 

The FT has been working with generative and other AI technologies for some time, so you’ll have access to in house and third party infrastructure and tools, as well as other multi-disciplinary teams to collaborate with, reuse and share.  

What you’ll bring to the role

Essential

• Experience in AI / ML product management

• Significant technical knowledge of the latest developments in GenAI and LLM technologies

• Experience taking multiple products from vision to successful adoption and evolution 

• Excellent communication and storytelling skills, able to make complex technical concepts easily understood 

• Relationship builder who brings disparate groups together to get the best out of them

• Learning mentality and curiosity 

• Track record of creative problem solving to get things done at pace

Desirable

• Experience working in or with newsrooms

• Expertise in developing tools for content creation and distribution

• Understanding of ethical, safety and legal considerations related to AI

• Experience with complex data analysis and interpretation

Key responsibilities

• Develop a product strategy to maximise the applied potential of GenAI and mitigate its biggest risks for a world-leading, trusted media organisation.

• Lead a cross-functional team to develop products for our readers and newsroom through all stages – from idea to scale.

• Partner with editorial, commercial, marketing and other teams to align on shared objectives and create impactful solutions.

• Manage the roadmap to balance innovation with practicality, ethics and safety of GenAI systems. 

• Integrate new products and features with existing systems and processes to create end-to-end user experience. 

• Stay up-to-date with the latest trends in technology and the news industry to incorporate them effectively and ethically into the evolving product plans. 

• Create visibility of the team’s work and promote the merits of responsible GenAI adoption across the organisation. 

What’s in it for you? Our benefits

• 25 days of leave, increasing to 30 after two years. We also offer additional flexi-days at 30% pay.

• Pension plan, the company will double your contribution up to 18% total.

• Free gym membership via GymPass, or subsidised access to Nuffield Health.

• Enhanced maternity & paternity packages.

• Other schemes include: childcare vouchers, give as you earn, cycle to work, travel loans, healthcare, dental, life assurance.

Full details of our benefits can be found here.

Further information

The FT is committed to providing an inclusive working environment for all. We are an equal opportunities employer who seeks to recruit and appoint the best talent regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, socio-economic background, religion and/or belief. We have implemented a hybrid working model and we also promote flexible working and will consider specific requests around flexibility for all roles where it can be accommodated. Please let us know if you require any adjustments as part of the application process or to enable you to attend an interview. If you would like to discuss your requirements, or have any questions, please send an email to [email protected] and a member of our team will be happy to help.

FT Product Principles

1. Be distinct. On newsstands, the FT jumps out. Build bold products that stand out from the competition. Make the most of our reputation for innovation, insight and integrity.
2. Become indispensable. Our products are a platform for users’ success. Find out what they need and make that the focus of what you build. Make things that are essential and a joy to use.
3. Provably brilliant. Go beyond good ideas. Find which changes will have the biggest impact, whether they’re ambitious experiments or tiny tweaks. Measure them. Use what you learn to make them even better.
4. Products are partnerships. Embrace expertise from around the company and add it to your own; diverse perspectives lead to better products. Collaborate to solve.
5. Build on every success (and failure). Needs and expectations change, so great products should evolve. Investigate, iterate, and repeat. Strive for simpler; prune or retire things when they’ve served their purpose.