Director of Product, Platforms & Operations

Who we are

Semafor is a global news platform for an increasingly complex world in which consumers are overwhelmed by too many news sources and unsure what to trust. We are building Semafor to enable world-class journalists to deliver reporting and insights with rigor in journalistic forms that ensure a new level of transparency. Our editors and reporters distill the most important stories from all over in formats that uncover the forces shaping the stories, explain the interests behind polarizing narratives, and replenish the stock of shared facts. As a global platform, Semafor recognizes that smart people can disagree and that informed readers need to understand alternative points of view from competing centers of power and culture in a multi-polar world. Want to join us? Read on. 

Your Responsibilities

• Own product strategy and execution for Semafor's internal platforms, tools, and workflow infrastructure - identifying where systems are fragmented or manual and driving the right solutions.
• Lead discovery, architecture, and build of major systems initiatives, starting with a unified event operating system that creates a single source of truth for Semafor's most important relationships.
• Build and configure tools directly. This is not a role that delegates all execution. You'll be in Airtable, writing queries, testing APIs, and shipping workflows alongside the engineering team.
• Apply AI and automation strategically - identifying the specific operational pain points where LLMs, agents, or intelligent workflows can collapse complexity, and knowing where they can't
• Partner with engineering and data leads to translate complex operational pain points into clear, prioritized build requirements
• Collaborate across events, revenue, editorial, audience, and finance teams, earning trust quickly and translating competing needs into coherent system design

What Makes You Qualified

• 5+ years of product management experience with meaningful time on platforms, systems, or operations-focused products
• Demonstrated experience leading complex integrations across multiple tools and data systems
• Technical fluency to work credibly alongside engineers and make informed architecture decisions. You can prototype, debug, and get your hands dirty
• Hands-on experience applying AI tools (LLMs, agents, workflow automation) to real operational problems, not as side projects or experiments, but as shipped solutions that changed how a team works
• Ability to manage multiple workstreams, balancing immediate operational needs against strategic builds
• Experience in media, events, or a similarly fast-moving, relationship-driven industry a plus
• Working knowledge of no-code/low-code tools like Airtable

The base salary for this position ranges from $150,000 - $175,000 per year, plus performance-based bonus eligibility. Individual compensation varies based on job-related factors, including business needs, experience, level of responsibility, and qualifications.

Additional Job Details:

This position is based in our New York City office with a hybrid work arrangement (in-office Monday-Thursday, remote Friday).  Candidates must be authorized to work in the United States.

Additional job details

Semafor offers a Flexible Paid Time Off (PTO) policy to our full-time, salaried employees who may take paid time off as-needed without a prescribed limit or defined balance.

Semafor, Inc. is an equal opportunity employer and enthusiastically encourages people from all backgrounds and experiences to apply. Semafor, Inc. will consider all applicants without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, ancestry, physical and/or mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, transgender status, age, sexual orientation, military or veteran status, or any other protected characteristic under applicable law.