Pearson
Overview
Principal Technology Product Manager – Data Foundation. Location: U.S Remote. Pearson Virtual Schools (PVS) is seeking a Principal Product Manager to lead the Data Foundation program as a senior expert, serving as a key individual contributor. This role is for an experienced, high-impact professional with deep expertise and strategic influence. You will drive the vision and execution of a critical platform modernization initiative (Data Foundation) without direct reports, leading cross-functional teams by influence across engineering, architecture, data science, and design. The ideal candidate blends strong technical acumen in data platforms and cloud architecture with top-tier product management skills to deliver milestones on the program’s roadmap. The role is remote-friendly with a preference for working hours aligned to U.S. Eastern Time and offers an opportunity to shape the future of PVS’s platform at a strategic level.
Responsibilities
Strategic Vision & Roadmaps: Develop and own the product strategy and multi-year roadmap for the Data Foundation program, ensuring alignment with PVS’s platform modernization goals. Define phased milestones and outcomes, and communicate a compelling vision to stakeholders and team members.
Data Platform Leadership: Lead modernization of PVS’s data architecture and infrastructure. Drive the implementation of a unified, cloud-based data platform (leveraging AWS or similar) that replaces legacy systems, establishes single sources of truth for key data domains, and provides scalable, real-time data access via APIs. Ensure data governance, privacy, and quality standards are built in from the ground up.
Cross-Functional Leadership: Serve as the product lead at the top of the SDLC for this initiative—coordinate and inspire cross-functional teams of software engineers, architects, data scientists, UX/UI designers, and business stakeholders. Without direct managerial authority, exercise influence and thought leadership to drive decision-making, resolve conflicts, and keep everyone aligned on product objectives and timelines.
Product Development Lifecycle Innovation: Introduce and champion the use of generative AI and agent-driven tools in the product development process. Explore how AI can automate parts of requirements gathering, coding, testing, or analytics, and investigate opportunities to integrate generative AI into the products themselves (such as AI-driven insights or personalization within the PVS platform).
Execution & Delivery: Oversee end-to-end execution of product initiatives, from concept through launch and iteration. Write clear product requirements (PRDs), define user stories and acceptance criteria in partnership with Agile teams, and maintain a well-groomed backlog for Data Foundation workstreams. Prioritize features by balancing strategic impact, user value, and development effort. Ensure on-time delivery of key roadmap milestones, adjusting plans as needed based on feedback and changing requirements.
Stakeholder Engagement: Collaborate closely with internal stakeholders—including other Product Vertical leaders, Program/Project Managers, and executives—to ensure the Data Foundation program meets the needs of various learning products and operational teams. Communicate program progress, challenges, and next steps through presentations and reports. Act as the voice of the customer and the business, ensuring that delivered capabilities drive tangible improvements in user experience, operational efficiency, and platform capabilities.
Technical Depth & Decision-Making: Use your strong technical background to make informed product decisions. Understand the complexities of cloud data pipelines, database technologies, and modern data architectures well enough to trade off approaches with architects and engineers. Ensure architectural choices serve the product vision (e.g., selecting appropriate AWS services, designing for scalability and resilience, aligning data models with industry standards like Ed-Fi for education data).
Innovation & Continuous Improvement: Stay abreast of industry trends in data platforms, analytics, and AI/ML. Identify opportunities to incorporate new technologies or practices (e.g., event-driven data architectures, graph databases for relationship data, or advanced analytics/ML). Foster a culture of innovation and experimentation, and pilot AI agents to assist with monitoring data quality and scale successful experiments into full features.
Measurement & Accountability: Define KPIs and success metrics for the Data Foundation program (e.g., data availability, performance improvements, adoption rates of new data APIs). Track outcomes and use data to inform product decisions and demonstrate program value.
Mentoring and Leadership (Individual Contributor Role): Although this role does not have direct reports, you will mentor and guide junior product managers and product owners, sharing expertise across the product management organization. Act as an expert consultant for other product teams and foster best practices in product management, especially in technical product management and AI adoption within the SDLC.
Required Qualifications
Experience: 10+ years of product management experience, with a significant portion in platform or technical product management roles. Proven track record driving large-scale initiatives end-to-end, ideally including data platform or infrastructure projects. (Identity and access management experience is a plus but not required.)
Domain Expertise: Strong knowledge of data architecture and management. Familiarity with databases (relational and NoSQL), data warehousing or lakehouse concepts, ETL/ELT pipelines, and data governance best practices. Understanding of data privacy regulations and practices for handling sensitive information is important (education data experience is a plus).
Technical Acumen: Comfortable discussing and understanding complex technical designs with architects and engineers. Hands-on experience with cloud platforms (AWS preferred) and modern software architecture (microservices, APIs, event-driven systems). Ability to grasp AI/ML concepts and their application in products.
Leadership & Collaboration: Exceptional cross-functional leadership skills. Able to lead by influence and inspire teams that do not report to you directly. Excellent communication and stakeholder management abilities; experience in Agile/Scrum environments and collaboration with engineering on user story definition, backlog prioritization, and sprint planning.
Innovation Mindset: Demonstrated interest or experience in cutting-edge technologies, especially generative AI, automation, and intelligent agents. A track record of driving innovation and continuous learning.
Preferred Qualifications
EdTech and Data Standards: Experience in education technology or data-driven industries. Familiarity with education data standards (e.g., Ed-Fi, LTI) or student information systems is a strong plus.
AI/ML Projects: Direct experience with AI/ML product features or incorporating AI into a product management process.
Cloud & Security Certifications: Relevant certifications (AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner/Architect, or data privacy certifications) are appreciated.
Leadership in Matrix Organizations: Experience driving initiatives across multiple teams/departments in a large matrix organization.
Advanced Education: Master’s degree in Business Administration, Information Systems, or a related field. An MBA or technical master’s can be helpful.
Work Environment Location: This role is open to remote candidates with flexibility in work location. Preferred working hours align with U.S. Eastern Time (EDT). Occasional travel may be needed for team on-sites or stakeholder meetings.
Additional Information The following statements are included for compliance and context: compensation is influenced by factors including skill set, experience, and location. The salary range is $155,000 - $195,000. The position may participate in an annual incentive program. Applications will be accepted through November 7, 2025. Pearson is an Equal Opportunity Employer and a member of E-Verify. We provide accommodations for applicants with disabilities upon request.
Company Who We Are: Pearson Virtual Schools (PVS) is the world’s lifelong learning company focused on helping people realize the life they imagine through learning. We are committed to learning, innovation, and customer obsession. We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity.
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Responsibilities
Strategic Vision & Roadmaps: Develop and own the product strategy and multi-year roadmap for the Data Foundation program, ensuring alignment with PVS’s platform modernization goals. Define phased milestones and outcomes, and communicate a compelling vision to stakeholders and team members.
Data Platform Leadership: Lead modernization of PVS’s data architecture and infrastructure. Drive the implementation of a unified, cloud-based data platform (leveraging AWS or similar) that replaces legacy systems, establishes single sources of truth for key data domains, and provides scalable, real-time data access via APIs. Ensure data governance, privacy, and quality standards are built in from the ground up.
Cross-Functional Leadership: Serve as the product lead at the top of the SDLC for this initiative—coordinate and inspire cross-functional teams of software engineers, architects, data scientists, UX/UI designers, and business stakeholders. Without direct managerial authority, exercise influence and thought leadership to drive decision-making, resolve conflicts, and keep everyone aligned on product objectives and timelines.
Product Development Lifecycle Innovation: Introduce and champion the use of generative AI and agent-driven tools in the product development process. Explore how AI can automate parts of requirements gathering, coding, testing, or analytics, and investigate opportunities to integrate generative AI into the products themselves (such as AI-driven insights or personalization within the PVS platform).
Execution & Delivery: Oversee end-to-end execution of product initiatives, from concept through launch and iteration. Write clear product requirements (PRDs), define user stories and acceptance criteria in partnership with Agile teams, and maintain a well-groomed backlog for Data Foundation workstreams. Prioritize features by balancing strategic impact, user value, and development effort. Ensure on-time delivery of key roadmap milestones, adjusting plans as needed based on feedback and changing requirements.
Stakeholder Engagement: Collaborate closely with internal stakeholders—including other Product Vertical leaders, Program/Project Managers, and executives—to ensure the Data Foundation program meets the needs of various learning products and operational teams. Communicate program progress, challenges, and next steps through presentations and reports. Act as the voice of the customer and the business, ensuring that delivered capabilities drive tangible improvements in user experience, operational efficiency, and platform capabilities.
Technical Depth & Decision-Making: Use your strong technical background to make informed product decisions. Understand the complexities of cloud data pipelines, database technologies, and modern data architectures well enough to trade off approaches with architects and engineers. Ensure architectural choices serve the product vision (e.g., selecting appropriate AWS services, designing for scalability and resilience, aligning data models with industry standards like Ed-Fi for education data).
Innovation & Continuous Improvement: Stay abreast of industry trends in data platforms, analytics, and AI/ML. Identify opportunities to incorporate new technologies or practices (e.g., event-driven data architectures, graph databases for relationship data, or advanced analytics/ML). Foster a culture of innovation and experimentation, and pilot AI agents to assist with monitoring data quality and scale successful experiments into full features.
Measurement & Accountability: Define KPIs and success metrics for the Data Foundation program (e.g., data availability, performance improvements, adoption rates of new data APIs). Track outcomes and use data to inform product decisions and demonstrate program value.
Mentoring and Leadership (Individual Contributor Role): Although this role does not have direct reports, you will mentor and guide junior product managers and product owners, sharing expertise across the product management organization. Act as an expert consultant for other product teams and foster best practices in product management, especially in technical product management and AI adoption within the SDLC.
Required Qualifications
Experience: 10+ years of product management experience, with a significant portion in platform or technical product management roles. Proven track record driving large-scale initiatives end-to-end, ideally including data platform or infrastructure projects. (Identity and access management experience is a plus but not required.)
Domain Expertise: Strong knowledge of data architecture and management. Familiarity with databases (relational and NoSQL), data warehousing or lakehouse concepts, ETL/ELT pipelines, and data governance best practices. Understanding of data privacy regulations and practices for handling sensitive information is important (education data experience is a plus).
Technical Acumen: Comfortable discussing and understanding complex technical designs with architects and engineers. Hands-on experience with cloud platforms (AWS preferred) and modern software architecture (microservices, APIs, event-driven systems). Ability to grasp AI/ML concepts and their application in products.
Leadership & Collaboration: Exceptional cross-functional leadership skills. Able to lead by influence and inspire teams that do not report to you directly. Excellent communication and stakeholder management abilities; experience in Agile/Scrum environments and collaboration with engineering on user story definition, backlog prioritization, and sprint planning.
Innovation Mindset: Demonstrated interest or experience in cutting-edge technologies, especially generative AI, automation, and intelligent agents. A track record of driving innovation and continuous learning.
Preferred Qualifications
EdTech and Data Standards: Experience in education technology or data-driven industries. Familiarity with education data standards (e.g., Ed-Fi, LTI) or student information systems is a strong plus.
AI/ML Projects: Direct experience with AI/ML product features or incorporating AI into a product management process.
Cloud & Security Certifications: Relevant certifications (AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner/Architect, or data privacy certifications) are appreciated.
Leadership in Matrix Organizations: Experience driving initiatives across multiple teams/departments in a large matrix organization.
Advanced Education: Master’s degree in Business Administration, Information Systems, or a related field. An MBA or technical master’s can be helpful.
Work Environment Location: This role is open to remote candidates with flexibility in work location. Preferred working hours align with U.S. Eastern Time (EDT). Occasional travel may be needed for team on-sites or stakeholder meetings.
Additional Information The following statements are included for compliance and context: compensation is influenced by factors including skill set, experience, and location. The salary range is $155,000 - $195,000. The position may participate in an annual incentive program. Applications will be accepted through November 7, 2025. Pearson is an Equal Opportunity Employer and a member of E-Verify. We provide accommodations for applicants with disabilities upon request.
Company Who We Are: Pearson Virtual Schools (PVS) is the world’s lifelong learning company focused on helping people realize the life they imagine through learning. We are committed to learning, innovation, and customer obsession. We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity.
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