Principal Product Manager, Search

Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.$210K — $390K *
Consumer Technology
8 - 10 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • 10+ years of product management experience in large-scale consumer search or ML-driven systems
  • Strong understanding of search relevance and ranking systems
  • Proven experience building production-grade ML systems with engineering and data science teams
  • Ability to define product strategy and navigate complex problems
  • Strong technical fluency in system design and data-related discussions
  • Demonstrated track record of using experimentation to improve user engagement
  • Excellent communication skills to influence stakeholders without direct authority

Responsibilities

  • Define and drive the long-term vision for search as a core discovery platform
  • Own the direction of core search systems and partner with engineering on capabilities
  • Shape intuitive end-to-end discovery experiences based on catalog data
  • Lead experimentation strategy, using data to drive improvements
  • Drive alignment across diverse cross-functional teams
  • Act as a thought leader and mentor for product management best practices

Benefits

  • Collaborative work environment with cross-functional teams
  • Opportunity to influence product direction at an organizational level
  • Possibility of shaping user engagement strategies on a large scale
  • Access to cutting-edge technologies in machine learning and search
  • Professional development opportunities through mentoring
Full Job Description

About the role

We are seeking a Principal Product Manager – Search to lead the long-term strategy and evolution of search and discovery across our streaming platforms. In this role, you will define the vision for scalable, ML-powered search experiences that serve millions of users globally, shaping how audiences find and engage with content across Max and our broader ecosystem.

You willoperateat both strategic and execution levels—owning the roadmap for search relevance, semantic understanding, and discovery, while guiding the transition from traditional keyword-based systems toward intent-aware and conversational experiences.

As a senior leader within the Personalization and Discovery organization, you will drive cross-functional alignment across Engineering, Data Science, Design, and Content teams, and influence product direction at an organizational level.

The ideal candidate 

The ideal candidate has experience building and scaling ML-driven search or discovery systems for large consumer platforms. You combine strong product judgment with technical depth, and are comfortable operating across ambiguous, multi-system problem spaces. 

You are highly data-driven, fluent in experimentation, and able to translate complex system behavior into clear product strategy. You influence cross-functional teams and senior stakeholders without direct authority, and consistently drive alignment and execution at scale.  

 

Expectations 

As a key contributor for Personalization at WBD, you will: 

Product Strategy & Vision: Define and drive the long-term vision for Search as a core discovery platform. Lead the evolution from keyword-based retrieval to intent-aware, semantic, and conversational experiences. Identify high-impact opportunities and translate them into a clear, scalable strategy. 

Search & Ranking Systems: Own the direction of core search systems, including retrieval, ranking, and query understanding. Partner with Engineering and Data Science to evolve capabilities such as learning-to-rank, semantic retrieval, and real-time relevance signals. 

Discovery Experience: Shape end-to-end discovery experiences that are intuitive, actionable, and grounded in catalog data. Ensure results help users make decisions quickly while enabling exploration through AI-assisted and conversational interfaces. 

Experimentation & Impact: Define success metrics and lead experimentation strategy across Search, including A/B and MAB testing. Use data to drive measurable improvements in relevance, engagement, and user satisfaction. 

Cross-Functional Leadership: Drive alignment across Engineering, Data Science, Design, and Content teams. Influence senior stakeholders and executives by clearly articulating product vision, trade-offs, and impact. 

Technical & Product Leadership: Act as a thought leader for Search within the organization. Mentor other product managers and set best practices across Search, Personalization, and Discovery. 

 

Skills / Experience 

  • 10+ years of product management experience, including leading large-scale consumer products in search, discovery, personalization, or other ML-driven systems 

  • Strong understanding of search relevance, ranking systems, retrieval techniques, and semantic understanding 

  • Proven experience partnering with engineering and data science teams to build and ship production-grade ML systems at scale 

  • Demonstrated ability to define product strategy and drive execution across complex, multi-system problem spaces 

  • Experience operating in ambiguity and driving clarity, prioritization, and alignment across cross-functional teams 

  • Strong technical fluency, with the ability to engage deeply in discussions on system design, data, and machine learning approaches 

  • Track record of using experimentation (A/B, MAB) and data to drive measurable improvements in user engagement and product performance 

  • Experience influencing stakeholders at all levels, including senior leadership, without direct authority 

  • Excellent communication and storytelling skills, with the ability to translate complex concepts into clear product direction 

  • Experience building high-quality search or recommendation experiences for data-rich platforms 

Nice to have: 

  • Experience with conversational search, natural language interfaces, or generative AI 

  • Familiarity with large-scale data platforms, real-time systems, or distributed architectures 

About Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment is an American video game publisher based in Burbank, California, and part of the newly-formed Global Streaming and Interactive Entertainment unit of Warner Bros. Discovery. WBIE was founded on January 14, 2004 under Warner Bros. and transferred to the Home Entertainment division when that company was formed in October 2005. WBIE manages the wholly owned game development studios TT Games, Rocksteady Studios, NetherRealm Studios, Monolith Productions, WB Games Boston, Avalanche Software, and WB Games Montréal, among others.
Learn more about Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.
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