What are the responsibilities and job description for the Product Manager position at The Achievement Network?
Product Manager
Location: Remote - Flexible within the United States
ABOUT ANET
Achievement Network (ANet) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping all students achieve strong educational outcomes. We partner with school and system leaders to strengthen teaching and learning through the strategic use of assessments, coaching, and tools that drive meaningful results. Individuals who join ANet become part of a dynamic, mission-driven, and collaborative organization focused on making a lasting impact in schools. We are committed to supporting one another and growing together as a team.
OPPORTUNITYANet is looking for a strategic Product Manager to build tools that drive educational equity. Sitting at the intersection of user needs, technical feasibility, and organizational strategy, the Product Manager will translate complex priorities into a high-impact roadmap for educators and students.
The Product Manager will lead highly cross-functional work with stakeholders in our Product, Engineering, Assessment, Operations, Implementation Success, and Revenue teams. The Product Manager will improve organizational clarity, facilitate difficult trade-offs, and elevate ANet’s product practice. Successful candidates will bring strong strategic judgment, be a systems-thinker who thrives in ambiguity, and will turn organizational vision into high-quality execution that ultimately results in improved outcomes for educators and students.
TRAVEL: Up to 2–3 times per year.
RESPONSIBILITIESProduct Strategy and Development- Product Strategy & Roadmapping: Lead the end-to-end lifecycle, from discovery to launch, translating market trends and user insights into a clear, multi-year roadmap that balances impact with technical and financial stewardship.
- Strategic Decision Support: Define success metrics and synthesize qualitative/quantitative data to frame critical questions, surfacing the trade-offs and dependencies necessary to guide leadership through complex prioritization.
- Cross-Functional Execution: Partner closely with Engineering, Content, Assessment, Operations, and partner-facing teams to drive seamless execution. Lead rollouts and launches, with proactive change management and implementation risk implications.
- Vision & Alignment: Communicate a compelling product vision to both technical and non-technical audiences, ensuring senior leaders and cross-functional teams are aligned on sequencing and strategy.
- Portfolio Optimization: Maximize organizational focus by identifying opportunities to simplify or sunset lower-value workflows and investments while staying current on EdTech best practices and emerging tech.
- Operational Excellence: Establish and scale robust systems for product discovery, roadmap management, and stakeholder communication to improve organizational clarity around ownership and decision-making.
- Cross-Functional Leadership: Identify and resolve process gaps and operational friction points, strengthening collaboration across teams and managing dependencies with transparency and structure.
- Practice & Culture Building: Elevate ANet’s product management practice by establishing operating norms and a learning culture centered on user-centered problem solving and evidence-based decisions.
- Mentorship & Influence: Coach colleagues across functions on product development best practices while fostering an inclusive environment of direct communication and continuous improvement.
Successful candidates will demonstrate strength in the following areas:
Expertise in Product Management and Product Strategy- Experience: 6 years in product management, with a track record of owning complex initiatives and significant organizational decisions.
- Strategic Translation: Ability to turn ambiguous goals and user needs into actionable roadmaps and technical execution plans in an agile environment.
- Systems Thinking: Deep understanding of software development and how product decisions impact interconnected workflows and organizational priorities.
- Continuous Learning: Commitment to mastering complex operations and staying current on market trends and emerging technologies.
- Synthesis: Ability to distill complex qualitative and quantitative data into strategic insights and actionable recommendations.
- Evidence-Based Judgment: Experience using user insights, market context, and operational realities to influence prioritization and direction.
- Decision Frameworks: Ability to identify critical trade-offs, risks, and dependencies to guide effective leadership decisions, even in ambiguous environments.
- Multi-Dimensional Analysis: Skilled at evaluating decisions through the lenses of equity, sustainability, technical feasibility, and user impact.
- Cross-Functional Leadership: Proven ability to manage large-scale initiatives involving diverse stakeholders, competing priorities, and evolving constraints.
- Operational Planning: Strong organizational skills that balance short-term execution needs with long-term strategic goals.
- Risk Mitigation: Proactive approach to identifying dependencies, mitigating execution risks, and maintaining momentum across large bodies of work.
- Accountability: Demonstrated ownership of outcomes and the ability to drive follow-through when challenges arise.
- Adaptive Communication: Exceptional verbal and written skills with the ability to translate complex strategic rationale for diverse audiences.
- Alignment & Facilitation: Ability to facilitate difficult conversations, surface trade-offs transparently, and build consensus among stakeholders with differing perspectives.
- Collaborative Inquiry: Strong listening skills and the ability to foster psychologically safe environments for effective problem-solving.
- Evidence-Based Influence: Proven ability to influence organizational direction through thoughtful, high-integrity communication.
- Experience in K–12 education, educational technology, nonprofit organizations, or mission-driven organizations
- Experience building products or systems that support educators, school systems, or instructional improvement
- Familiarity with assessment, curriculum, reporting, analytics, or instructional technology products
- Experience operating in highly collaborative and matrixed organizational environments