Technical Product Lead at IDC – Needham, Massachusetts

About the Role & Team
IDC is building the next generation of AI-powered intelligence platforms that transform how technology decisions get made. Our platform re-imagines the way decision-makers discover and interact with trusted research and data, and is foundational to IDC's future. We are looking for a Technical Product Lead to own the product vision and strategy for the persistent memory and proactive Intelligence. This pod's mission is twofold: make the platform remember users across sessions and over time, and make it proactively alert them when the intelligence they care about changes. Memory and living intelligence are deeply interdependent — memory tells the system what to monitor, and proactive delivery is what makes memory most valuable.

You will define what the platform remembers, how it surfaces that knowledge, and when it reaches out proactively. This means setting memory scope policy (what gets remembered and what doesn't), defining the boundary between useful personalization and PII risk, establishing materiality thresholds for change detection, and designing the opt-in/opt-out model for proactive alerts. You will work alongside a dev lead and a cross-functional team of 4-8 engineers spanning AI/LLM and backend infrastructure disciplines. This is a product leadership role embedded in a delivery pod — you will own the backlog, author requirements, define quality criteria, and make scope and prioritization decisions daily. You are the person the engineering team turns to when they need to know what to build next and why.

What You’ll Do

• Own the product vision, roadmap, and backlog for the persistent memory and proactive intelligence
• Define memory scope policy: what the platform remembers, what it doesn't, and the boundary between personalization and PII
• Define the product model for proactive intelligence: materiality thresholds, briefing content scope, delivery channel preferences, and opt-in/opt-out design
• Author detailed requirements and acceptance criteria for memory tiers (compactification, cross-conversational retrieval, extractive memory) and living intelligence features (change detection, briefing composition, delivery routing)
• Make daily prioritization and scope decisions with the engineering team
• Define quality criteria for memory accuracy, retrieval relevance, and briefing usefulness — and work with the Quality & Evaluation function to make them measurable
• Collaborate with the Channel & Integration Pod to ensure memory and proactive delivery work seamlessly across web, MCP, email, and Slack/Teams
• Work with legal and compliance stakeholders on data governance, retention policy, and user control requirements
• Represent the pod's roadmap and progress to leadership

What You Bring

• 6+ years of product management experience, with significant time spent on AI/ML-powered products, data platforms, or personalization systems
• Experience defining product strategy for systems that manage user data, preferences, or behavioral context — and navigating the privacy and governance questions that come with them
• Track record of working as an embedded product lead within an engineering team, owning a backlog and making daily prioritization decisions
• Ability to translate ambiguous product goals into concrete requirements, acceptance criteria, and quality metrics
• Strong technical literacy — you can engage with engineers on system design, data models, and architecture tradeoffs without needing to write the code yourself
• Experience working across multiple teams or pods, defining interfaces and dependencies between workstreams
• Clear, structured communication with both engineering teams and executive stakeholders
• Turns complex technical concepts into clear, actionable language that drives alignment and informed decision-making with non-technical stakeholders
• Proven ability to make well-reasoned, defensible decisions that balance trade-offs across scope, feasibility, and impact
• Passion for using AI tools to sharpen product thinking — from requirements and PRFAQs to Jira tickets — and forming a clear, independent point of view

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience with AI personalization, recommendation systems, or memory/context systems
• Background in event-driven or proactive product experiences (alerts, notifications, monitoring dashboards)
• Familiarity with LLM-based systems and the unique product challenges they present (non-determinism, evaluation, prompt engineering)
• Experience navigating data privacy and governance frameworks (GDPR, data retention, user consent models)
• Background in enterprise B2B product management

Why This Role Stands Out
At IDC, your work helps shape how the world understands technology and where it goes next. You collaborate with curious, high-caliber colleagues who value rigor, integrity, and shared success. As the premier global provider of trusted technology intelligence, IDC equips business and technology leaders with the evidence they need to make confident decisions. Our insights inform strategy, investment, and innovation across industries and regions.

Recognized by IIAR as Analyst Firm of the Year for five consecutive years, IDC sets the standard for credibility and impact. With more than 1,000 analysts worldwide and a truly global perspective, we combine deep expertise with practical relevance. Here, your ideas matter, your voice is heard, and your contributions provide the insights leaders rely on every day. It is meaningful work, backed by a culture that supports growth, collaboration, and long-term career development with a globally respected brand.

What We Offer

• 15 vacation days (prorated based on start date)
• 12 company-paid holidays
• 6 paid sick days (prorated based on start date; may vary by state)
• Medical, dental, and vision coverage
• 2 floating holidays (prorated based on start date)
• 1 volunteer day
• 401(k) company match (IDC matches 3% on the first 6% of employee contributions)
• Company-paid short-term disability
• Company-paid life insurance
  
• Company-paid parental leave
  

Compensation Transparency

At IDC, we are committed to fair and equitable pay practices. Employees are compensated equitably for their work, aligned with their skills and experience. Salary and incentive structures are determined through a rigorous process that considers experience, education, certifications, role-specific requirements, internal equity, and verified U.S. market data from an independent third-party partner.

The expected total annual compensation, depending on location and experience, is between $215,000 – $300,000, inclusive of base salary and variable compensation.

Equal Opportunity Employer

IDC is committed to providing equal employment opportunities for all qualified persons. Employment eligibility verification required. We participate in E-Verify.