Associate Vice President of Product and Research & Development

In order to achieve our strategic plans and drive the significant student impact that is needed for our organization, our Assistant Vice President of Product and Research & Development will lead the development and execution of differentiated products and services by designing and executing profitable and impactful product solutions based on market need.

ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS:

Strategic Development and Implementation

• Working to support the development of the organizational strategy through the use of market and industry research, and product data analysis;
• Ensuring the entire company understands the product vision and direction;
• Articulating actionable opportunities and insights gathered through research, user testing, and observations;
• Collaborating with internal and external stakeholders to define and prioritize opportunities;
• Gather and provide data to inform and propose strategies that support the organization's mission;
• Design key performance indicators to measure progress regarding the implementation of the strategic roadmap and execution;
• Define the product roadmaps in service to the organization's mission and vision to enable more underrepresented students to attain postsecondary opportunities; and
• Collaborate with the Executive team, Board, sponsors, partners, and staff to implement strategy.

Product Strategy & Management

• Evaluate market and higher education trends;
• Collect and report competitive intelligence;
• Clearly define and socialize the product roadmap and lead the prioritization process, ensuring all products are equitable and align with organizational mission, vision, North Star goal, and strategic plan;
• Implementation of best practices around change leadership and communication to ensure the proper resources are consulted and perspectives included in the planning. Also, sufficient information is communicated to explain decisions around prioritization and implementation, bringing people along and ensuring ongoing engagement;
• Focus on iteratively and measurably improving product efficiency, balancing the value of new features against sponsor requests, student outcomes, product margin, staff efficiency, compliance risk, revenue generations and available development resources;
• Responsible for product life cycle including introduction, growth, maturity, and decline, all while maintaining appropriate P&L performance;
• Build and implement stakeholder feedback loops to gain insights into what sponsors, staff and students want and need from a product, how well a product is performing, the results it is delivering and how it can be improved.
• Build and execute solid go-to market strategies that may include pilot initiatives that explore promising new products that are aligned with strategy and create models for future implementation at-scale;
• Effectively gather and document clear product requirements to define, build and launch well-designed, stable product features.
• Evaluate pilot results and translate findings into presentations that can be shared with internal and external audiences;
• Create a research agenda to test ideas and understand impact of product lines on partners and students;
• Oversees product backlog and business value of future product features;
• Partner with the Marketing team to develop an external and internal communication plan to share innovations, new product development, industry trends, and student outcome results as well as inform lead development, and share learnings;
• Build Product Operations capabilities that allows for a repeatable internal process and change management approach across the organization; and
• Staying abreast of emerging trends, technologies, and methodologies through continuous education and professional development.

Team Performance

• Provides input to the creation of department strategies and is accountable for execution.
• Perform and ensure managerial functions, including developing and managing budgets, setting department and individual team goals, providing ongoing performance feedback, and developing/executing employee engagement strategies in a timely and competent fashion;
• Lead and coach team members' growth and ability to innovate within their respective areas of responsibility;
• Prioritize and execute an effective change leadership strategy throughout all Product and Strategy initiatives to ensure all stakeholders are informed, brought along and engaged in ensuring effective implementation.
• Model and uphold the organization's core values.

REQUIRED SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE:

• A minimum of 10 years' experience in designing and executing profitable and impactful products.
• Proven track record of defining and delivering successful products to market in an Agile environment through effective market research, data collection for product delivery in market, human-centered design approach;
• Ability to translate organizational strategic goals into actionable goals related to products and R&D
• Proficient in leading and engaging high performance teams;
• Ability to partner effectively across the organization to ensure all organizational needs are met;
• Effective change leadership expertise and experience;
• Ability to communicate effectively across a broad spectrum of staff, both orally and in writing;
• A passion for improving student outcomes and a commitment to serving marginalized students of need; and
• Bachelor's degree or equivalent combination of experience and education;
• Ability to travel for business meetings and customer facing engagements (limited, potentially quarterly)

PREFERRED SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE:

• Ability to coach and counsel sponsors on designing products that drive equity and support students of greatest need;
• Cultural awareness to appreciate varied lived experiences and the potential impact on educational achievement;
• Proven ability to collaborate with diverse communities;
• Demonstrated knowledge of rigorous statistical research, including both qualitative and quantitative methods; and

Ability to build business intelligence dashboards and executive dashboards that show statuses as well as build a culture of data-driven decisions.

Full Pay range: Exempt ($122,600 - $153,200 - $183,800)

This is the pay range for our staff in this position, from entry to fully independent and proficient in the role utilizing our propriety systems and processes. The candidate selected for this position will be offered a wage applicable to their background and skill set as aligned to our business.

Reports to: Chief Product and Technology Officer

Department: Product/IT Management

Application deadline: Tuesday, October 8^th (by 11:00 pm CT)

At Scholarship America, our team members are motivated by our core values: Student Impact, Teamwork, Inclusion and Curiosity. Our vision is to empower an America where those with the most need have the opportunity to thrive through equitable pathways to education and training, and we are seeking fantastic team members to make that happen.

We know the best person for the job could be anywhere, and that's why this position can work remotely within the continental United States or in a hybrid manner from either our office in Bloomington or Saint Peter, MN. Our employees enjoy a team-based, flexible work schedule, allowing them to flex around our core hours of Monday-Friday from 8:00 am - 4:30 pm Central Time. Scholarship America is committed to our team's work/life balance, and our strong learning and development culture supports knowledge growth and professional development for all employees across foundational and job-specific skills.

Scholarship America offers employees a robust total rewards package, focused on supporting their health and well-being now and in the future. We offer comprehensive choices for the following:

• Insurance (medical, dental, vision, basic life)
• Disability (short-term & long-term)
• Flexible spending accounts (medical & dependent care)
• 403(b) retirement fund with a 3% company match

In addition to schedule flexibility, we also provide paid time away from work (vacation, sick, personal, up to fifteen paid holidays annually), plus employee & dependent educational reimbursement programs which support our overall mission.

Details on our company mission, vision, values and goals can be found at www.scholarshipamerica.org.

We are an equal opportunity employer and believe in the power of a diverse workplace to better serve a broad range of student needs. Research shows that women and other candidates from marginalized backgrounds only apply when they meet 100% of qualifications. All qualified candidates who meet the minimum requirements are encouraged to apply and will receive consideration for employment regardless of their race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, veteran status, parental or marital status.