Newsela is an Instructional Content Platform that brings together engaging, accessible content with integrated assessments and insights to supercharge reading engagement and learning in every subject. We are dedicated to our mission to unlock the written word for everyone. Five years since our launch, Newsela is already in 75% of schools, across all 50 U.S. states, in addition to being in over 180 countries. The result has been more engaged readers—and engaged readers are better learners.

If you’ve demonstrated exceptional success delivering results in a fast-changing environment that necessitates adaptivity, creativity, and strong execution, this is your opportunity. As VP of Product for Newsela, you will be responsible for cultivating and maintaining a well-informed product point of view on strategic objectives emanating from company priorities. This point of view will enable you to prioritize the product roadmap for the web and native mobile applications on a quarterly basis to help the team deliver on quarterly targets. Working alongside your peers in design, data, and engineering, you will act as a servant leader to remove roadblocks impeding team progress against milestones.

You will raise and resolve ambiguous issues in a timely and responsive manner. You will foster a culture of product management excellence. You will effectively structure our process so that product managers and their teams are making strong use of data for timely, tactical decision-making. You’ll be responsible for hiring, retaining a talented, high-performing team of product managers and take pride in cultivating their growth and helping them manage their career path at Newsela. And throughout all this, you will ensure that the voices of our users remain central to our thinking.

Responsibilities

• Partner with CPO to create a product vision, set product strategy and the high-level roadmap and team structures based on company goals.
• Oversee the entire product management process, including strategic planning, research, tactical prioritization, design, development, delivery, and ongoing maintenance. Own the delivery and clear messaging of strategy and goals to Product teams. Break complex problems into manageable, realistic work streams. Receive PM input to continuously refine and improve the process.
• Own the team’s tactical execution on the strategy. Support and promote the work of the team through consistent, transparent, strategic decision-making that is timely and well-communicated. Take input and make decisions at an impasse, explaining the rationale clearly. Own our KPIs, metrics and growth numbers inside and out and be prepared to discuss engagement and growth objectives at the drop of a hat.
• Set the PMs up for success. Ensure that they are motivated, clear on their individual and team objectives, and working collaboratively on common goals. Help the PMs set useful goals and see problems and inefficiencies before they happen. Set best practices for the PMs, expectations for the role, and hold each PM accountable for delivery against the goals.
• Work with partners on the design and engineering teams to make sure that each PM and team is appropriately staffed with engineers and designers and is set up for success each quarter. Continuously improve our product development sprint processes (scoping, prioritization, requirements definition, retrospectives) consistent with our philosophy that it’s more important for the team to understand the rationale of the process than to adhere to the letter of the law.
• Listen closely and synthesize feedback from many sources - PMs, internal stakeholders, customers, executive team - and stay one step ahead at all times in order to effectively connect people and ideas.
• Own the planning and execution of the quarterly product meeting (“a board meeting for product”), bringing together executives from across the company to debate and discuss strategy with product leadership. Manage effective resource allocation thereafter.
• Hire, develop and retain great product managers.
• Cultivate and maintain a high-performing culture. Set a high bar for excellence.

Required Skills

• At least 10 years experience in a senior role in a high-performing, high-growth product organization
• Track record of hiring, retaining and developing strong product managers
• Demonstrated expertise in achieving significant results with a SAAS product
• Demonstrated history of a commitment to building a diverse workforce
• Demonstrated ability to think both strategically and tactically

Nice to have

• Bachelor’s degree in a related discipline
• MBA or equivalent experience
• Strong analytical reasoning skills
• Excellent written and oral communication skills
• Experience in working in an education-related industry
• Optimism, preferably infectious

Newsela is strongly committed to the principle of equal opportunity for all individuals. Newsela will make all employment decisions without unlawful discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or any other status protected by law.