Senior Product Manager

About

We're seeking a Senior Product Manager to own - our flagship publishing platform serving millions of researchers worldwide. You'll shape the strategy and evolution of one of the world's largest open-access journal portfolios, balancing content discovery, user experience, and platform scalability while navigating a complex landscape of editorial, engineering, marketing, and data teams.

As part of our commitment to fostering a collaborative team environment, this role requires working fully on-site.

Product Strategy and Roadmap

• Define and own the product strategy and roadmap for , aligned with MDPI's publishing mission, business objectives, and technology strategy
• Translate editorial, marketing, and organizational priorities into a prioritized and transparent product roadmap
• Own roadmap communication and stakeholder alignment across all relevant departments
• Define success metrics and OKRs for your product, tracking impact and proposing roadmap changes based on data
• Balance short-term feature delivery with long-term platform health, scalability, and content discoverability

Stakeholder Management and Alignment

• Build and maintain strong relationships with editorial leadership, journal managers, marketing, legal, data teams, UX, and engineering
• Navigate competing priorities across MDPI's portfolio and organizational units, building shared understanding of trade-offs
• Drive alignment on feature scope and launch plans, managing change requests and preventing scope creep
• Communicate product decisions, rationale, and outcomes clearly to both technical and non-technical audiences
• Act as the primary point of contact for product matters across the organization

Discovery and Validation

• Lead product discovery processes: user research, analytics review, A/B testing, and competitive benchmarking
• Synthesize insights from researchers, authors, editors, and readers into validated product hypotheses
• Collaborate with UX designers to develop prototypes and evaluate user experience improvements
• Define and track platform KPIs including content discoverability, reader engagement, content freshness, and conversion

Delivery and Execution

• Partner closely with the Product Owner and engineering team to drive rapid iterations, regular delivery cycles, and coordinated releases based on aligned roadmap understanding
• Monitor adoption and user satisfaction post-launch, iterating rapidly based on feedback and data
• Coordinate cross-team dependencies and ensure integrated delivery planning for major platform initiatives

Mentorship and Standards

• Mentor junior and intermediate product managers, contributing to their growth and progression
• Define standards and best practices for product management within the platform domain
• Contribute to MDPI's product management culture through documentation, reviews, and knowledge sharing

Education

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Computer Science, Information Systems, or related field (required)
• Master's degree or MBA (desired)
• Product management certification such as CSPO, PMC, or equivalent (desired)

Experience

• 5-10 years of product management experience
• 2-5 years of experience with content-heavy or publishing platforms
• 2-5 years of stakeholder management across editorial, marketing, and engineering teams
• 2-5 years of experience with product analytics, A/B testing, and data-driven roadmap prioritization
• 5-10 years of agile/scrum delivery in cross-functional product teams

Languages

• English at C1 level (mandatory)
• German at B2 level (desired)

Hard Skills

• Product discovery techniques and application of user research methods
• Stakeholder management, executive and cross-functional communication
• Product health metrics, KPI frameworks, success measurement, and A/B testing
• SEO, web performance, and accessibility for high-traffic content platforms (intermediate level)

Soft Skills

• Effective communication; translates complex matters to non-technical audiences
• Human-centered collaborator who facilitates team collaboration
• Autonomous and self-motivated; owns domain-level outcomes
• Analytical thinking; makes data-driven decisions with consistent product quality standards
• Adaptability and continuous learning in a fast-evolving publishing and AI landscape

What we offer

• The opportunity to contribute to the academic/scientific community
• Flexible working hours
• Team bond strengthening through team-building events
• Professional growth opportunities with our global training system
• Working in a collaborative and socially responsible team
• Company retreat facility
• Full-coverage insurance for accidents/daily sickness
• Prime location near Basel train station and city center
• And more