Principal Product Manager, Search

About the Position

We are seeking a Principal Product Manager, Search to join our innovative team at Quince, located in Palo Alto, California. In this role, you will be instrumental in transforming our onsite search from a keyword-based utility into an intelligent, personalized discovery engine. This position plays a critical part in advancing both our team's goals and Quince's broader mission.

About Quince

Quince is a destination for builders, creators, innovators, and operators who want to come together and challenge the status quo. Our mission is simple: make really high-quality essentials for really low prices, fairly and sustainably. We deliver on that mission through a unique manufacturer-to-consumer (M2C) model eliminating the layers of traditional retail that add cost and result in consumers paying more than they need to.

Responsibilities

• Define and execute the search strategy balancing immediate platform improvements with long-term innovation
• Lead data platform and experimentation efforts (data pipelines, dashboards, A/B testing) to enable rapid iteration and insight-driven decision making
• Manage and improve current Algolia-based search, focusing on relevance tuning, query handling, and performance optimization
• Build roadmap for AI/semantic search evolution (vector-based retrieval, personalized ranking, LLM-assisted discovery)
• Partner cross-functionally with data science, data engineering, and ML engineering to deliver next-gen search models and pipelines
• Oversee QA, UAT, and signoff for new algorithms, features, and experimentation frameworks before production launch
• Champion voice of the customer by translating insights into actionable improvements across search relevance, usability, and speed
• Act as an internal thought leader on how AI and semantic technologies can reshape product discovery

Requirements

Required:

• 10+ years of product management experience, with at least 7 years working closely with data science, ML, or search/information retrieval teams
• Proven track record of shipping and scaling customer-facing data science or search products with measurable business impact
• Strong foundation in experimentation (A/B testing, statistical methods, KPI definition) and ability to translate insights into product decisions
• Knowledge of machine learning productization: feature stores, inference platforms, model monitoring, and A/B testing of ML-driven systems
• Familiarity with search platforms and technologies (e.g., Algolia, Elasticsearch, Solr, OpenSearch) and understanding of their strengths/limitations
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills; able to influence cross-functional teams and executive stakeholders without formal authority
• Strong analytical mindset; comfortable digging into data and collaborating with engineers/data scientists to answer product questions with evidence
• Demonstrated success in defining roadmaps, prioritizing tradeoffs, and delivering high-quality product experiences

Preferred:

• Hands-on experience implementing or product managing semantic search, LLM agent-powered features
• Track record of personalization initiatives (customer-specific ranking, context-aware search, lifecycle-based recommendations)
• Excited by a super-IC role with broad scope and impact, acting as the connective tissue between engineering, data, and business

We Offer

• Competitive salary range: $250,000 - $334,000 USD
• Comprehensive benefits package
• Opportunity to work in a mission-driven, innovative environment
• Hybrid work schedule (3 days in office)

About the Company

Quince is a culture built for builders by builders. Our way of working starts with a blank sheet of paper. We question conventional thinking, use technology and data to uncover new opportunities, and move quickly to turn ideas into reality. We aren’t interested in replicating how others do retail. We’re building a better way – at a speed and scale unlike anything that’s been done before.

Equal Opportunity & Hiring Integrity

Quince provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applications for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran or military status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local laws.

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