Head of Technical Product

Description Noisy Creek is building the technology backbone that powers independent local media and community-building services across a growing portfolio of dynamic markets — including The Stranger in Seattle, Portland Mercury, Chicago Reader, Memphis Flyer, EverOut Events & Ticketing, Noisy Creek Podcasts, Noisy Creek Productions, and more. As we expand our strategy into new revenue streams and cities, we need a leader who can turn a patchwork of publishing, membership, and ticketing tools into a coherent, scalable technical product strategy. The Head of Technical Product will own the vision, roadmap, and execution for Noisy Creek's core technology stack — spanning our CMS and publishing platform, subscriber and member identity, CRM, advertising technology, and ticketing systems. This is a hands-on, high-ownership role: you'll set technical product strategy at the executive level while staying close enough to the details to write a clear spec, evaluate a vendor contract, or unblock an integration. You’ll partner daily with content, advertising, membership, and events leaders across all Noisy Creek brands, and with external vendors and platform partners, to make sure our technology serves both readers and the business as we scale from a single-market operation into a multi-locale multimedia company. You will make build-vs-buy calls, own vendor relationships, and be accountable for whether our technical bets pay off. This role has direct involvement at the company's C-suite level, working closely with executive leadership to set and defend technical product strategy as a company-wide priority. Key Responsibilities Define and own the multi-year technical product vision and roadmap across Noisy Creek's publishing, membership, ticketing, and advertising technology stack — and translate that vision into a prioritized, resourced execution plan. Lead the strategy, selection, and optimization of the core platform stack, including the CMS/publishing platform (Newspack), subscription and membership management (Piano), CRM and marketing automation (HubSpot), ad tech (Broadstreet), and app publishing (Pugpig), across current and future markets. Own reader and member identity architecture across all Noisy Creek brands — enabling a unified view of subscribers, members, and donors, and powering personalization, retention, and B2B CRM use cases. Partner with arts, retail, and hospitality partners to scale Noisy Creek's membership program, prioritizing fraud mitigation, real-time redemption tracking, and instant issuance of dozens of partner perks a month across our footprint of cities. Evaluate, negotiate, and manage ticketing platform relationships (e.g., Bandwango, Ticketmaster, or comparable providers), with a strong bias toward Noisy Creek retaining ownership of customer and transaction data. Write clear, well-reasoned product specs, business cases, and roadmap documents that align technical and non-technical stakeholders — from engineering partners to the executive team — around priorities and trade-offs. Own vendor and technical partner relationships end-to-end: contract negotiation, performance management, and build-vs-buy decisions balanced against budget, timeline, and long-term platform strategy. Partner cross-functionally with editorial, advertising, membership, and events leaders across The Stranger, Portland Mercury, Chicago Reader, EverOut, and Bold Type Tickets to surface and prioritize product opportunities. Establish metrics frameworks and reporting that connect technical product decisions to business outcomes — reader growth, retention, membership redemption, ad yield — and use that data to drive prioritization. Build the mechanisms (documentation, roadmap reviews, intake processes) that let a small, fast-moving team make good technical product decisions without constant re-litigation. Provide immediate technical product support and direction to Noisy Creek's existing engineering team, including prioritization, specs, and roadmap planning, from day one. Build the business case for growing a technical product function over time — identifying where additional product, program, or analyst roles are needed to support Noisy Creek's scope — and hire, mentor, and manage that team as it's approved. Other duties may be assigned based on company needs Requirements 8+ years of technical product management experience, including full ownership of a product roadmap from strategy through delivery. Demonstrated experience with content management systems, subscription/membership platforms, CRM, or advertising technology (e.g., WordPress/Newspack, Piano, HubSpot, Broadstreet, or comparable platforms). Experience managing technical vendor and platform relationships, including contract negotiation and build-vs-buy decision-making. Strong written communication skills, with the ability to produce clear specs, business cases, and roadmap documents for both technical and non-technical audiences. Experience partnering directly with engineering teams — in-house, agency, or vendor — to scope, prioritize, and ship technical products. A track record of using data and metrics to drive product decisions and demonstrate outcomes. Comfort operating with significant autonomy in a lean, fast-moving organization, including a willingness to be hands-on with details as well as strategy. Preferred qualifications: Experience in media, publishing, membership/loyalty programs, or ticketing and events technology. Hands-on development experience building or scaling products across multiple markets, brands, or a multi-tenant architecture. Familiarity with fraud prevention, payments, or redemption systems. People management experience, or experience building the case for a team before it exists. Experience operating as the sole/first technical product hire in an organization, standing up process and discipline from scratch. Seattle residents preferred, but not required. Benefits Comprehensive Health Coverage: Noisy Creek provides employer-subsidized premiums for medical, dental, and vision insurance. Retirement Savings: Participation in a SIMPLE IRA program with employer matching. Paid Vacation: Accrued at two weeks per year, scaling to four weeks annually after five years of tenure. Paid Sick Leave: Accrual of one week per year, including rollover for future use. Holiday Time: Nine standard paid holidays, a full paid week off between December 24 and January 1, and two floating holidays for use anytime. Extended Leave Options: Paid bereavement and jury duty leave, with opportunities to augment state family and medical leave benefits. Transit Support: Access to discounted commuter transit passes. Career Growth: An annual professional development stipend to fund training and specialized learning. Wellness Support: Employee Assistance Program offering resources for financial and mental health. Flexible Spending Account: Access to pre-tax FSA options for healthcare and dependent care expenses. Why Join Noisy Creek? We're a vibrant, creative team that believes the more diverse voices at the table, the better the conversation—and the work! We realize that not everyone receives the same professional or educational opportunities, so if you don't meet all the above qualifications but still think you'd be Noisy Creek is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will be considered without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran, or disability status. About Noisy Creek Noisy Creek launched in mid-2024 with an innovative model to invigorate local media across the United States for our democracy, civic engagement, and thriving local communities. It currently operates The Stranger, the Portland Mercury, the Chicago Reader, EverOut.com, Noisy Creek Podcasts, Noisy Creek Productions, and Bold Type Tickets. #J-18808-Ljbffr Noisy-Creek