Senior Product Manager

At ACT, Your Work Makes a Difference

Education has power - a power that changes lives forever. It creates opportunities that lift up individuals, their families, and sparks societal change that echoes through generations to come. From our grassroots we have fought the good fight for equity in education, and we remain devoted to helping anyone who struggles to access that power. This is what matters to us and we must do better -- we've never been more sure of our purpose.

ACT team members are part of an organization dedicated to an important mission:  Helping people achieve education and workplace success.  Advancing the mission internally, by helping team members achieve education and workplace success of their own, is core to our values. ACT values a diverse workplace and is committed to fostering an inclusive, equitable environment in which every team member has an opportunity to grow.

We want our team members to have the well-being and confidence they need to do their best work, in an environment where both they and ACT thrive. To support this, our total rewards include company paid life insurance, medical, dental, vision, flexible spending accounts, 403B with company contributions, paid holidays, paid time off, and so much more. You can find a comprehensive list of our benefits here.

We are seeking a Senior Product Manager with passion and experience for creating high impact solutions that make a real difference for the learners, families, and educators we serve. The Senior Product Manager will contribute to complex aspects of product management through advanced knowledge, skill, and expertise.

This Senior Product Manager role leads the innovation, development, and management of the flagship ACT assessment utilized by millions of learners and thousands of schools across the country. This role is responsible for developing and delivering to the product strategic goals, setting investment and development priorities, leading cross-functional matrixed teams, and creating incredible experiences for all internal and external customers, always keeping the students at the heart of our efforts.

About the Product Team

You will be joining a team that embraces our individual strengths, supports each other in the achievement of our goals, and leads through positive collaboration across the organization. 

Location:  Remote 

The finalist will be hired at the salary and level commensurate with their qualifications.  For this position, we anticipate offering an annual salary in the range of $90,000 to $125,000, depending on the level.  ACT manages salaries within the range based on relevant factors including, skills, experience, and internal equity.  The position is not incentive eligible.

A sample of what you will be working on:

• Serve as the leader for your product - driving its vision, strategy, roadmap, development, activation, and success.
• Engage with internal and external stakeholders, customers, and influencers to explore, identify, and assess their needs, opportunities, and problems to solve that will provide them with maximum value and positive impact.
• Collaborate across the enterprise to develop and evaluate business plans for your product that align to strategic goals and investment priorities, to market demands and opportunities, and to technical and financial resources.
• Identify, evaluate, prioritize, and execute feature and functionality ideas, growth experiments, and long-term strategic plans.
• Collaboratively lead dedicated cross-functional matrixed teams to prepare and implement initiatives, features, and requirements from the product's strategic roadmap to enter the active development and release cycle.
• Build relationships and trust through clear communication and alignment across internal and external teams and stakeholders to inform and deliver on product roadmaps.
• Collaborate with marketing, sales, and relationship management teams on the creation and execution of successful market development and go-to-market plans for new features, iterations, and products.
• Develop and deliver internal and external product presentations and demos.
• Partner closely with other Product Managers to coordinate on building and rolling out functionality across multiple platforms and markets.

This could be the job for you if you have (minimum requirements):

• At least 5 years of progressively responsible product management or development experience with proven track record of leading and launching products at scale
• Experience executing within software and/or technology product development life cycles
• Experience in education or the education technology industry
• Previous experience and demonstrated success leading, managing, and building cross-functional teams
• Skills and knowledge required for success in this position attained through experience and education (Bachelor's degree in Technology, Business, Education, or related area of study), or a combination of both

Along with the following capabilities:

• Works effectively and communicates with individuals inside and outside the organization
• Manages change and navigates positively in an environment experiencing change at a fast pace
• Applies continuous improvement to existing processes and programs and develops ideas that are new, better, or unique
• Acts decisively with sound judgement; uses data to analyze options and form opinions
• Uses subject matter knowledge and skills to effectively acquire and apply information
• Actively seeks and engages with diverse perspectives and invites a sense of belonging
• Uses self-starter approach, ability to multi-task, proactively anticipates and acts on information and details needed, completes tasks with little to no direction
• Remains current in area of expertise, seeks opportunities to expand and grow skills
• Takes responsibility and follows through on commitments; acknowledges and learns from mistakes without blaming others; recognizes the impact of one's behavior

It's a plus if you have:

• Prior assessment product management experience
• Product experience in the D2L market
• Experience specifically in the High School to College/Career transition space

When ACT was founded in 1959, it disrupted the assessment industry with a new approach to helping students better understand their readiness so they could take steps to improve it.  By leveraging our expertise and authority in assessment and research, we will again disrupt the industry-helping more people learn, better measure their progress, and improve their navigation through life's transitions. 

More than ever before, ACT is fulfilling its mission of helping people achieve education and workplace success. We're doing it by pushing the boundaries of learning innovation through the work of our people, who we call team members because we're all in this together.

We know transformation does not come without challenge. That's why ACT invests in a variety of experiences for team members to strengthen their connections, explore ideas, learn from customers, and celebrate success.

Learn more about working at ACT at act.org!