Vice President, Product Management and Development

National Student Clearinghouse is a nonprofit provider of higher education data, transcript and data exchange services, enrollment and degree verifications, learner insights, research, and compliance solutions. The Vice President of Product Management and Development leads product strategy, development, commercialization, delivery, and continuous evolution across assigned product portfolios while managing senior product teams and cross-functional initiatives.

Responsibilities:

• The Vice President of Product Management and Development is a senior product leader responsible for driving the execution, alignment, and continuous evolution of the product roadmap (product strategy, agile product development, market research, financial analysis, product & feature launch, and execution) across assigned product portfolios (Business Services, Transcript Services, and/or Insights products)
• This role partners closely with executive leadership to translate enterprise strategy into actionable product plans while ensuring teams apply best practices in product management and agile delivery. Key responsibilities include leading and developing Product Directors, Product Managers, and Product Owners; overseeing delivery of multiple, complex interrelated initiatives; and ensuring consistent, high-quality product outcomes that meet customer, market, and financial objectives
• This position requires a strong command of data, technology, and data use platforms, SaaS product management, and Lean Portfolio Management (LPM) practices, with a balance of strategic thinking and hands-on leadership in execution
• This role aligns product vision with business goals and market trends. Balances competing demands to focus on high-impact features and products
• Develop and articulate high quality product strategy, implementation plans, and decisions effectively
• Creates product strategies to sustain competitive advantage. Uses data and qualitative information to identify trends, anticipate future needs, create and launch reputation building products and services that delight customers and meet financial requirements
• Develops, maintains, and demonstrates a strong working knowledge of the Clearinghouse, its environment, including its mission, services, and key stakeholders and how each organizational unit contributes to that mission
• Actively seeks opportunities for efficiencies and cost-effective technologies and processes that reduce costs, streamline workflows, and optimize investments
• Leads Team in the discovery, validation, and definition of new product features, capabilities, enhancements, and platform opportunities within assigned portfolio
• Oversees market research activities including customer interviews, focus groups, voice-of-customer analysis, usage analytics, competitive research, and surveys
• Directs pilot programs and proof-of-concept efforts; evaluates operational and financial viability in partnership with finance and strategy teams
• Ensures product teams apply user-centered design, low-res prototyping, and well-defined functional and non-functional requirements and user stories
• Leads, plans and executes product lifecycle activities including launch, iteration, and sunsetting/deprecation
• Leads & partners with Finance, Strategy, Marketing & Communications, Sales, and Business Development to plan and execute feature releases and product launches
• Supports early revenue generation and adoption through enablement, positioning, and customer engagement
• Contributes to partnership evaluations including leading business case development, due diligence, and vendor/partner collaboration
• Identifies, establishes, and implements metrics, and KPIs to guide decisions and measure outcomes, using hard data
• Leads, plans and executes Go-to-Market Strategy: In cross-functional collaboration with Strategy and MarComm, plans product launches and drives adoption
• Utilizes methodical and rigorous approach in the problem-solving process standards to include effectively identify the problem by gathering information, finding and evaluating alternatives, selecting and implementing best alternatives, monitoring and evaluating results
• Develops team skills and abilities with demonstrated best practices in market analysis, usage analysis, competitive analysis, pricing analysis, customer mapping and using data to inform product decisions
• Provides steady, servant leadership in the face of uncertainty, change and aggressive deadlines common to a rapidly growing company with an evolving business model
• Develops and leads a team in a positive and professional manner with a proven track record of identifying issues across the organization and resolving them
• Leads by example with a high level of emotional intelligence and demonstrates a positive, energetic “we can do it” attitude
• Communicates the product and company vision and strategy to staff in a clear, relatable, and compelling manner that creates excitement
• Utilizes Agile methodologies and supports the Clearinghouse’s Lean Portfolio Management best practices - including cross-functional collaboration - to coordinate and prioritize resources on high-profile competing product initiatives
• Displays strong grasp of Agile fundamentals as well as familiarity with Scrum, Kanban, and iterative development
• Clearly creates and articulates the business context, metrics, milestones, dependences, schedules and success measures in delivery of product initiatives and adjusts for internal and external dependencies in planning
• Monitors and manages projects, timelines, resources, risks and team capacity to ensure timely and high-quality outcomes
• Effectively presents product strategies, insights, and recommendations to senior leaders and cross-functional stakeholders
• Builds strong partnerships across Technology, Sales, Marketing, Customer Operations, Finance, and external partners at all levels across the organization
• Leads resolution of conflicts and competing priorities through influence and collaboration, not position
• Continuously stays abreast of and adapts to evolving tools, technologies, customer expectations, and market conditions
• Establishes new standards, tools, processes, and metrics for customer-centric, service-oriented standards across product teams
• Expertly represents the Clearinghouse professionally with internal and external stakeholders using an “at your service no-job-is-too-small"
• Demonstrates strong knowledge of the company’s products and services, including customer use cases and how Clearinghouse offerings integrate and complement one another
• Demonstrate the management and/or senior leadership competencies:
• Build a team-based environment that aligns with company values, ways of working, and competencies
• Ensure employees comply with company policies, procedures and regulations, while meeting established goals
• Recruit and select the best talent to help optimize skills and experiences across teams and department
• Motivate and manage staff to maximize productivity and efficiency
• Provide direction to team members, including feedback to support personal and career development and ongoing improvement
• Provide ongoing feedback, coaching, performance management, training plans, and career development support and advice to advance team performance and support job and career satisfaction
• Monitor and provide feedback on performance including annual reviews, rewards, and compensation structure
• Reward employees using formal and informal methods

Requirements:

• This position requires a strong command of data-as-a-service platforms, SaaS product management, and Lean Product Management (LPM) practices, with a balance of strategic thinking and hands-on leadership in execution
• Master's degree in business, technology, or related field
• A combination of education and experience including military service will also be considered
• 15 years of experience in:
• Managing large scale programs and/or products in excess of $50M (at one point)
• Prioritizing and aligning schedules and resources, adjusting scope, resolving conflicts and issues with minimal oversight, while delivering on time and within budget
• Managing multiple product initiatives – and teams - simultaneously, prioritizing and monitoring tasks across all projects
• Developing clear product and business requirements, working with both internal and external stakeholders
• 10 years of experience:
• Leading a large diverse team (or group of teams) or functions in Agile environments
• In product management as a senior product leader or individual contributor and team leader in hi-tech SaaS or DaaS environment
• Training team members on clever approaches and best practices for gathering, analyzing, and making decisions with data and hard evidence coaching and developing teams of product manages/owners
• Strong working knowledge in profit & loss management and strong business acumen
• Understanding and communication of high-level market trends and changes in collaboration with executives and other senior leaders
• Excellent written and oral communication skills with experience presenting to all levels of stakeholders
• Strong technical knowledge of SaaS product design and development
• Proven ability to coordinate and execute on all aspects of go-to-market activities
• Ability to effectively and efficiently influence executive leaders and other team members to come to consensus on decisions to drive program forward, managing diverse personalities
• Deep expertise with market analysis including competitive analysis, usage analysis, sentiment analysis, usage analysis, persona development, requirements development, and other core product skills
• Proficient use of Microsoft Project, Microsoft Office Suite, and other collaboration tools
• Demonstrates the Clearinghouse's core competencies: customer focus, optimizes work processes, communicates effectively, collaborates, and is open and authentic
• Must be currently authorized to work in the United States on a full-time basis
• We do not intend to sponsor external applicants for work visas, and may consider sponsorship only if no qualified candidates can be found who are authorized to work without sponsorship
• Must be at least 18 years old
• Ph.D. in Business, Computer Science, technology, or other related fields
• In the Higher Education vertical related to Institutional Research or data
• Leveraging best practices in project management for both Agile and Waterfall SDLCs and PMBOK project management methodology
• PMP certification or demonstrable experience delivering complex projects
• Agile certifications (SAFe, ICAgile, etc.), SAFe Lean Portfolio Management (LPM) and/or SAFe Agile Product Management (APM) a plus
• Familiarity with integrations, webhooks, API's, SQL, data management, and Visualization tools
• Previous experience in sales or client relationship management with higher education institutions; have a passion for customer-focused product development