Fast Facts
Join OCLC as the Director of Product Management, where you'll lead the strategy and development of innovative library discovery solutions that enhance user experiences with cutting-edge AI and machine learning technologies.
Responsibilities: Oversee and develop product strategy and vision for discovery experiences, collaborate with various stakeholders, and lead AI-informed product transformations.
Skills: 10+ years in product management, strong understanding of user discovery practices, financial planning, and experience with AI/ML capabilities.
Qualifications: Bachelor’s degree or equivalent; progressive leadership in product management; strong communication skills, and a history of managing successful product portfolios.
Location: Corporate Office - Dublin, United States of America
Compensation: Not provided by employer. Typical compensation ranges for this position are between $120,000 - $180,000.
Together we make breakthroughs possible.
At OCLC, we build technology with a purpose: to connect libraries and make knowledge accessible worldwide, because we believe that what is known must be shared. Our teams work with complex global datasets, AI and machine learning, hybrid cloud solutions, and other technologies that connect people and organizations to the information they need. We value the power of unique perspectives and experiences to unlock innovation. At OCLC, your ideas matter, whether you have two years of experience or 20. You’ll learn, create, and problem-solve with technologists, product developers, librarians, researchers, marketing pros, and support teams around the world.
Why join OCLC?
OCLC is consistently recognized as a best place to work by several independent programs. We recognize and reward people and results with a comprehensive Total Rewards package. This means competitive compensation that reflects your unique contributions—performance, experience, and skills—along with exceptional benefits, including best-in-class health coverage, retirement plans with generous company contributions, and a commitment to your overall well-being.
- We know the best ideas don’t always happen at a desk. Take a walking meeting around our 100-acre campus or enjoy lunch on the patio. We’re committed to your success—both personally and professionally. Hybrid work environment: For many roles, three days a week on-site, with occasional additional days based on business needs.
- Free use of our on-site fitness center, gym sports, group exercise classes, and game room
- Onsite catering and cafeteria subsidized by OCLC
- Health and wellness events
- Work environments with individual and team spaces and the latest technology tools
- Paid parental leave and adoption assistance
- Tuition reimbursement and Public Service Loan Forgiveness eligibility
- Company-subsidized pricing on local tickets and memberships
Join us in transforming how people everywhere access information and be part of a mission-driven team that makes a global impact.
The job details are as follows:
Together we make breakthroughs possible.
At OCLC, we build technology with a purpose: to connect libraries and make knowledge accessible worldwide, because we believe that what is known must be shared. Our teams work with complex global datasets, AI and machine learning, hybrid cloud solutions, and other technologies that connect people and organizations to the information they need. We value the power of unique perspectives and experiences to unlock innovation. At OCLC, your ideas matter, whether you have two years of experience or 20. You’ll learn, create, and problem-solve with technologists, product developers, librarians, researchers, marketing pros, and support teams around the world.
Why join OCLC?
OCLC is consistently recognized as a best place to work by several independent programs We recognize and reward people and results with a comprehensive Total Rewards package. This means competitive compensation that reflects your unique contributions—performance, experience, and skills—along with exceptional benefits, including best-in-class health coverage, retirement plans with generous company contributions, and a commitment to your overall well-being.
- We know the best ideas don’t always happen at a desk. Take a walking meeting around our 100-acre campus or enjoy lunch on the patio. We’re committed to your success—both personally and professionally. Hybrid work environment: For many roles, three days a week on-site, with occasional additional days based on business needs.
- Free use of our on-site fitness center, gym sports, group exercise classes, and game room
- Onsite catering and cafeteria subsidized by OCLC
- Health and wellness events
- Work environments with individual and team spaces and the latest technology tools
- Paid parental leave and adoption assistance
- Tuition reimbursement and Public Service Loan Forgiveness eligibility
- Company-subsidized pricing on local tickets and memberships
Join us in transforming how people everywhere access information and be part of a mission-driven team that makes a global impact.
The Job Details are as follows:
The Director of Discovery Services will lead all aspects of the strategy, planning, and development of services that help library users explore, navigate, and acquire items from their library—anytime, anywhere. Like Amazon, Netflix, Venmo, and Google, library users expect intuitive, personalized, and seamless experiences across web, mobile, and emerging channels. With the rapid adoption of generative chat and AI-powered answers, we must ensure libraries have modern, responsible solutions that help users make the most of their collections and services.
In this role, you will lead the transformation of OCLC’s Discovery products and experiences—such as WorldCat Discovery, FirstSearch, WorldCat.org, and CapiraMobile—into an AI-informed, user-centered ecosystem. You will shape a unified discovery strategy that supports conversational and traditional search, personalized recommendations, and frictionless delivery so that libraries can provide intuitive, accessible experiences for all their users.
You are comfortable collaborating with end users and libraries and initiating conversations with critical stakeholders such as community leaders, product marketing, sales, development, UX/UI, data/ML teams, and support. You describe new ideas through the lens of your users, grounded in data. You have a keen product sense, a discerning eye, and high expectations for what quality solutions look like.
Key Deliverables
The Director of Discovery Services is accountable for:
- Product strategy and vision for discovery experiences across channels and products
- Product roadmaps, annual product plans, and business cases
- Monthly product reviews and portfolio updates
- Launch plans and go-to-market coordination
- White papers, product presentations, user personas, and competitive analysis
- Market messaging and event support
- Customer collaboration, advisory groups, and workshops
- Discovery experience and relevance metrics (e.g., search success, engagement, time-to-item)
Additionally, this role contributes to:
- Portfolio business plans, strategies, roadmaps, metrics, and operational plans
- Portfolio progress reports and reviews across Discovery, Delivery, and adjacent services
Responsibilities
Financial
- Responsible for increasing the revenue and profitability of the Discovery Services line of business while maintaining a long-term, mission-aligned view of value for libraries.
Product Strategy and Planning
- Oversees the product team accountable for OCLC’s discovery products and services, including WorldCat Discovery, FirstSearch, WorldCat.org, and CapiraMobile.
- Defines a unified, multi-channel discovery strategy that connects search, recommendations, chat/LLM experiences, and delivery into coherent end-to-end patron journeys.
- Oversees market analysis and develops product strategy and business cases to grow revenue, drive adoption, and rationalize the product portfolio.
- Defines strategic product goals, success metrics, and KPIs for discovery performance and user outcomes.
- Accountable for creating and driving execution of the product roadmap, including AI- and data-driven capabilities (e.g., relevance, personalization, recommendations, conversational interfaces).
- Collaborates with Development on release planning, capacity planning, and technical tradeoffs, with an emphasis on scalable platforms and shared services.
- Collaborates with Finance in the production of product budgets and forecasts.
- Develops pricing strategies in partnership with Finance and product positioning plans that contribute to maximizing product profitability and market impact.
- Partners with library communities and advisory groups to ensure priorities align with customer needs and expectations, including diverse institution types and user populations.
- Maintains a strong understanding of competitive products, adjacent markets, and technology trends (e.g., AI, search, user experience) and quickly adapts strategies and plans to ensure success.
AI, Data, and Next-Generation Discovery
- Leads the vision for AI-powered and data-informed discovery experiences, including generative chat, answer surfaces, entity-centric discovery, and recommendations.
- Partners with data science/ML teams to prioritize and deliver capabilities that improve relevance, personalization, and discovery outcomes while upholding principles of responsible and ethical AI.
- Establishes an experimentation culture (A/B testing, pilots, betas) to validate ideas, improve relevance, and optimize user journeys.
- Defines and monitors key discovery metrics (e.g., search success rate, item acquisition rate, engagement, satisfaction), using insights to refine product strategy and roadmap.
User Experience, Accessibility, and Inclusive Design
- Partners closely with UX/UI and accessibility experts to ensure discovery experiences are intuitive, inclusive, and compliant with accessibility standards.
- Champions user research and design thinking practices, ensuring that diverse user needs (students, researchers, public library patrons, staff) meaningfully shape product decisions.
- Ensures consistency of UX patterns, visual language, and interactions across discovery touchpoints (web, mobile, app, chat).
Leadership and Management
- Leads and mentors a product management team of ~5 team members, developing skills in AI-augmented discovery, experimentation, and strategic product management.
- Hires and develops talent aligned with the future of discovery (search/relevance, UX, AI/ML collaboration, data-informed decision making).
- Provides leadership to cross-functional product workgroups. Leads product management meetings, resolves conflicts, and drives alignment.
- Facilitates collaboration and communication and secures commitment between Development, Product Management, UX, Marketing, Sales, Support, and other divisions toward achievement of common goals.
- Develops and monitors progress on the product roadmap, ensuring transparency and accountability.
Product Marketing Partnership and Consultation
- Partners with Product Marketing to develop strategies for customer acquisition and retention, and to articulate a clear narrative for OCLC’s discovery vision.
- Manages relationships with user groups and assists Sales and Marketing in delivering compelling demos, presentations, and content.
- Determines when and how to commission market research to develop and maintain expertise in markets served, alternative services, new technology, and related standards.
- Generates and interprets information for market size by sector/territory; produces market penetration statistics and growth opportunities.
- Provides training and support to Sales, Support, and implementation teams; may assist in significant sales calls.
- Analyzes reasons for OCLC product wins and losses against competition and provides meaningful insights to aid product planning.
- Defines and refines user personas and key user journeys for discovery.
- Produces market/sector white papers and thought leadership content related to discovery trends and AI in libraries.
Consultation on Portfolio Planning
- Provides input into portfolio business plans, roadmaps, strategies, metrics, and progress reports and reviews across OCLC’s broader product ecosystem, ensuring Discovery is well-integrated with Delivery, Analytics/Insights, and other services.
Requirements
- Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience.
- 10+ years of experience in product, program, or portfolio management, including ownership of significant B2B, B2C, or platform products.
- Progressive experience leading product management teams, including coaching and performance management.
- Strong understanding of end user discovery practices and workflows (e.g., search, browse, recommendations, delivery/fulfillment).
- Strong understanding of the product management lifecycle and modern product practices (roadmapping, experimentation, continuous discovery).
- Demonstrated ability with financial planning and forecasting, including building business cases and managing product P&L or equivalents.
- Demonstrated experience using AI or machine learning capabilities (including generative AI/LLMs) to shape product strategy and/or deliver user-facing features, with a clear perspective on responsible AI.
- Well-developed communication and presentation skills; able to translate complex concepts for executive, technical, and community audiences.
Desired but Not Required
- 5+ years of experience in library services, library management systems, scholarly communication, or related experience working in consumer search, digital media, or digital retail.
- Experience with search/relevance, recommendations, or information retrieval products.
- Experience running design thinking or co-design workshops with customers or communities.
- Experience collaborating with data science/ML teams and leveraging machine learning techniques to solve product problems.
Working Conditions: Normal office environment.
ADA/EAA: The above statements cover what are generally believed to be principal and essential functions of this job. Specific circumstances may allow or require some people assigned to the job to perform a somewhat different combination of duties.
