Senior Product Manager - Gen AI and Conversational Platforms

As new technologies reshape how people access information, our journalism is increasingly discovered, interpreted and consumed through AI-native and conversational platforms. Large language models, agent frameworks and conversational interfaces are rapidly becoming primary gateways to knowledge, acting as intermediaries between audiences and authoritative sources. 

We are seeking a Senior Product Manager to own The Economist’s approach to Gen AI and conversational platforms - ensuring that when AI systems surface, summarise or reason over our journalism, they do so accurately, responsibly and in line with our editorial standards. 

The role

The Senior Product Manager for Gen AI & Conversational Platforms owns how The Economist is represented, queried and interpreted across third-party AI-native and conversational environments. 

This role treats AI ecosystems, such as LLM-based assistants, agent-based systems and AI-driven discovery environments, as platforms in their own right - each with distinct product dynamics, technical requirements and success metrics. 

A core focus of the role is ownership of LLM connector and retrieval experiences. This includes defining and evolving the schemas, interfaces and protocols that allow AI systems to: 

• Query The Economist’s content accurately 
• Retrieve the correct material with appropriate context 
• Ground responses in authoritative sources
• Attribute and cite journalism clearly and consistently 

You will work on capabilities analogous to MCP-style integrations, tool and function calling, retrieval pipelines, grounding and citation mechanisms, and agent-facing content interfaces. 

This role focuses on representation, fidelity and optimisation at the boundary between our content and external AI systems. 

You will report to the Principal Product Manager for Web, Newsletters & Conversational Platforms, and work closely with Search & Discovery, Web, App, Engineering, Data Science and Editorial teams. 

Responsibilities 

• Own the vision and roadmap for Gen AI and conversational platforms as distribution and interpretation environments. 
• Define how The Economist’s journalism should be queried, retrieved, grounded, cited and represented by LLMs and agent-based systems. 
• Lead product strategy for LLM connector and retrieval integrations, including schemas, APIs, tools, metadata and grounding mechanisms. 
• Partner closely with engineering and data science on retrieval pipelines, content representations, evaluation approaches and optimisation strategies. 
• Partner closely with Marketing and SEO specialists for how we want our brand to appear on these platforms, and what is/is not paywalled. 
• Ensure AI systems can reliably distinguish authoritative content, context, timeliness and editorial intent. 
• Define standards for fidelity, attribution, transparency and trust in AI-mediated representations of our journalism. 
• Monitor emerging AI platforms, protocols and standards (e.g. new agent frameworks, connector models, distribution patterns), identifying opportunities and risks. 
• Work with Web and App teams to ensure products are well-optimised for AI-driven discovery, referral and interpretation. 
• Define and track success metrics related to accuracy, grounding quality, authority, reach and consistency of representation.
• Act as an internal expert on AI platform dynamics, advising editorial, legal, commercial and product stakeholders. 

Who you are

• Experience owning AI-powered, platform or ecosystem-facing products, particularly where third-party systems act as intermediaries. 
• Experience launching MCP apps.
• Strong understanding of how LLMs retrieve, reason over and present content, including retrieval-augmented generation concepts. 
• Comfort working on technically complex product areas involving APIs, schemas, metadata, evaluation and system boundaries. 
• Ability to partner effectively with engineers and data scientists on ambiguous, evolving problems. 
• Sound judgement around responsible AI, editorial integrity and risk management. 
• Clear communicator able to explain complex technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders. 

Domain knowledge 

• Large language model ecosystems, conversational agents and agent frameworks.
• Content retrieval, grounding, citation and attribution mechanisms.
• Connector models, tool/function calling and AI-facing interfaces.
• Platform dynamics and third-party integrations. 
• Responsible AI considerations in content-rich environments. 
• Enthusiasm for The Economist’s mission, journalism and editorial values.

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