Who you are
10+ years of product management experience, including meaningful ownership of advertising, monetization, or marketplace products and a record of delivering work across teams
A track record of launching new products and growing adoption and revenue. You can explain the decisions you made, the tradeoffs involved, and the results
A strong understanding of how brands and agencies buy media, how publishers earn revenue, and how campaign delivery and measurement work
Technical fluency across ad serving, data systems, APIs, and third-party integrations, with the judgment to choose practical solutions for an early-stage business
Strong product judgment and analytical skills. You can investigate customer behavior, build your own analyses, choose useful success metrics, and interpret experiments. You balance ease of use, commercial needs, and long-term product quality
High agency and clear written communication. You can make a persuasive case for a priority, write a useful product spec, and explain decisions to technical and commercial partners. You’re willing to work through the details needed to get something shipped
An understanding of Substack’s product and the needs of its creators and readers.
You care about independent publishing and can explain how sponsorships can help creators build sustainable businesses while preserving their relationship with their audiences
Especially relevant experience: Building an advertising business from its early stages; developing self-service buying or publisher monetization tools; working with creator, newsletter, podcast, or subscription businesses; and integrating measurement or programmatic demand partners
What the job involves
You’ll lead product for Substack Sponsorships, from new sponsorship formats and advertiser and publisher tools to the foundations of a scalable marketplace. You’ll partner with Engineering, Design, Data, Partnerships, and the Sponsorships business team to turn early campaign needs into products that serve the broader network
This is a hands-on role with broad ownership. You’ll spend time with publishers and advertisers, write product requirements, work through design and technical decisions, and ship and iterate with engineers. You should be comfortable moving between business strategy and the details of a sign-up flow, campaign report, or publisher approval experience
Set the product direction. Use conversations with publishers and advertisers, product data, and company priorities to build a roadmap across near-term experiments and longer-term platform work. Turn lessons from early campaigns into products that work across thousands of publications
Build distinctive sponsorship experiences. Develop formats that fit naturally into Substack across email, web, and app, including sponsorships that help readers discover writers, access paid work, and become subscribers
Own the advertiser experience. Make it easy for brands and agencies to discover relevant publications, plan and book campaigns, manage creative approvals, and understand results. Build the path from managed campaigns to self-service buying
Make sponsorships work for publishers. Create simple tools to opt in, set preferences, approve opportunities, manage placements, and track earnings. Preserve publishers’ control over which brands they work with and how sponsorships appear in their work
Build the marketplace and operating foundation. Partner with Engineering and Ad Operations on matching, inventory forecasting, campaign delivery, pacing, billing, and payouts. Decide what to build and where external technology or demand partners can accelerate progress
Prove advertiser value and product impact. Own the measurement roadmap across delivery, reach, engagement, brand lift, and conversion outcomes. Define success metrics, dashboards, and experiments with Data and measurement partners, while respecting reader privacy
Balance growth with trust. Partner with Policy, Legal, and core Product on advertiser eligibility, sponsorship disclosure, data use, and ad quality. Evaluate revenue opportunities alongside their effects on reader experience and subscription retention
Own execution and adoption. Partner with your Engineering counterpart to scope, prototype, and ship improvements. Work with the Sponsorships business team on launch plans, product education, and adoption, then use campaign results and customer feedback to decide what to improve next
What success looks like
More publishers earning meaningful income from sponsorships they choose. Advertisers returning because they can demonstrate results. Campaigns launching with less manual work and reliable delivery and payouts. A growing sponsorship business that supports healthy reader engagement and paid subscriptions
Benefits
Remote work support - All employees receive a generous allowance to customize their home offices
Comprehensive health care - Substack covers 100% of premiums for employees and their dependents, and fully funds HRA plans
Parental leave - We want employees to be fully present for the new members of their family, so we offer generous parental leave
Flexible vacation and paid time off - You’re the best person to decide when you need a day—or a week—off to travel or decompress. Our flexible vacation policy puts you in control
Company holidays and Winter shutdown - In addition to flexible time off, we honor 12 paid holidays annually on average. And we close the office between Christmas Eve and New Year's day to recharge each year
Phone & internet stipends - Many of our employees work from home or on the go. So we offer full time employees a monthly stipend to cover for phone and internet costs