Staff Product Manager, Search Experience

About Ancestry:
When you join Ancestry, you join a human-centered company where every person’s story is important. Ancestry®, the global leader in family history, empowers journeys of personal discovery to enrich lives. With our unparalleled collection of more than 40 billion records, over 3 million subscribers and over 23 million people in our growing DNA network, customers can discover their family story and gain a new level of understanding about their lives. Over the past 40 years, we’ve built trusted relationships with millions of people who have chosen us as the platform for discovering, preserving and sharing the most important information about themselves and their families.
We are committed to our location flexible work approach, allowing you to choose to work in the nearest office, from your home, or a hybrid of both (subject to location restrictions and roles that are required to be in the office- see the full list of eligible US locations HERE). We will continue to hire and promote beyond the boundaries of our office locations, to enable broadened possibilities for employee diversity.
Together, we work every day to foster a work environment that's inclusive as well as diverse, and where our people can be themselves. Every idea and perspective is valued so that our products and services reflect the global and diverse clients we serve. 
Ancestry encourages applications from minorities, women, the disabled, protected veterans and all other qualified applicants. Passionate about dedicating your work to enriching people’s lives? Join the curious.

Ancestry is seeking a Staff Product Manager for Search Experience to shape the product strategy, roadmap, and implementation of Ancestry’s Search offerings. Search is a core experience of Ancestry’s Family History products, empowering users to explore our extensive data and uncover their ancestors' stories. In this role, you will collaborate with diverse teams including data science, search engineering, marketing, customer support, content, and legal to enhance and refine the search experience for all users. You will establish metrics, spearhead the creation of innovative algorithms, and design interfaces that showcase the most valuable content Ancestry provides. Your vision will be validated through rapid prototyping, effectiveness measurement, and cross-organizational collaboration to bring it to fruition.

What you will do:

• Develop and articulate the strategy and vision for our search experience, grounded in a comprehensive understanding of customer needs, Ancestry’s rich content assets, the product landscape, and industry trends. Translate this strategy into a detailed roadmap and oversee its successful execution.

• Oversee the entire search experience, collaborating with specialists in machine learning and search ranking within Engineering, Data Science, and Design to devise innovative solutions that address real business challenges by harnessing the capabilities of Data, AI, and ML.

• Address complex and challenging problems that are crucial to how users search and discover Ancestry’s content, aiming to create a leading industry experience.

• Collaborate with colleagues to transform your strategic vision into a globally scalable product. This includes taking into account local customer needs, cultural nuances, and competitive landscapes to foster business growth and maintain our loyal customer base, while also meeting the needs of new users.

• Work closely with UX research and design, marketing, customer support, and legal teams to deliver value to customers swiftly and consistently. Learn rapidly from both quantitative and qualitative feedback, and adapt strategies with urgency based on these insights.

• Gain a thorough understanding of our extensive content offerings by engaging with our content professionals and in-house genealogists, appreciating the depth and power of Ancestry’s content, which includes over 60 billion records.

Who you are:

• At least 6 years of experience delivering successful and innovative consumer products.  Experience developing search or recommendation products is highly desirable.

• Demonstrated success in building data-driven products at scale, serving millions of users, through effective collaboration with engineering teams.

• A passionate and creative problem-solver who leverages data and customer insights to achieve business outcomes. Renowned for delivering elegant solutions to genuine user challenges.

• Exceptional skills in written communication, presentation, meeting management, and team-building.

• Maintains high standards in all aspects—personal contributions, team collaborations, and product development. Driven by data, with the ability to independently gather the necessary information to make informed decisions. Experience with experimentation to evaluate the impact of feature and algorithmic updates, combined with strong user experience instincts.

• Thrives in a collaborative setting, measuring personal success by the effectiveness of the team, the respect of colleagues, and the satisfaction of customers, alongside quantifiable metrics.

• Bachelor’s degree is required; a background in STEM or computer science is a plus.

Helping people discover their story is at the heart of ours. Ancestry is the largest provider of family history and personal DNA testing, harnessing a powerful combination of information, science and technology to help people discover their family history and stories that were never possible before. Ancestry’s suite of products includes: AncestryDNA, AncestryProGenealogists, Fold3, Newspapers.com, Find a Grave, Archives.com, and Rootsweb. We offer excellent benefits and a competitive compensation package. For additional information, regarding our benefits and career information, please visit our website at http://ancestry.com/careers

As a signatory of the ParityPledge in Support of Women and the ParityPledge in Support of People of Color, Ancestry values pay transparency and pay equity. We are pleased to share the base salary range for this position: $137,880 - $172,350 with eligibility for bonus, equity and comprehensive benefits including health, dental and vision. The actual salary will vary by geographic region and job experience. We will share detailed compensation data for a specific location during the recruiting process. Read more about our benefits HERE.

*Note: Disclosure as required by sb19-085(8-5-20) and sb1162(1-1-23)

Additional Information:

Ancestry is an Equal Opportunity Employer that makes employment decisions without regard to race, color, religious creed, national origin, ancestry, sex, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, age, mental or physical disability, medical condition, military or veteran status, citizenship, marital status, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law. In addition, Ancestry will provide reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities.

All job offers are contingent on a background check screen that complies with applicable law.  For San Francisco office candidates, pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, Ancestry will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.  

Ancestry is not accepting unsolicited assistance from search firms for this employment opportunity. All resumes submitted by search firms to any employee at Ancestry via-email, the Internet or in any form and/or method without a valid written search agreement in place for this position will be deemed the sole property of Ancestry. No fee will be paid in the event the candidate is hired by Ancestry as a result of the referral or through other means.