Pearson
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Location: U.S Remote. Preferred working hours: U.S. Eastern Time.
Position Summary Pearson Virtual Schools (PVS) is seeking a Principal Product Manager to lead our Data Foundation program as a senior expert and key individual contributor. The 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. You will blend strong technical acumen in data platforms and cloud architecture with top-tier product management skills to deliver forward-looking milestones on the program’s roadmap. The ideal candidate is also passionate about innovation in the software development lifecycle, leveraging generative AI and intelligent agents to enhance product development and user experiences. This is a remote‑friendly role with a preference for working hours that align with U.S. Eastern Time and offers the 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 it aligns with PVS’s overall platform modernization goals. Clearly define phased milestones and outcomes, communicating a compelling vision to stakeholders and team members.
Data Platform Leadership: Lead the Data Foundation program to modernize PVS’s data architecture and infrastructure. This includes driving 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 into the platform 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 our product development process. Explore how AI can automate parts of requirements gathering, coding, testing, or analytics – improving development efficiency and product quality. Investigate opportunities to integrate generative AI into the products themselves (e.g., 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 with Agile teams, maintain a well‑groomed backlog for Data Foundation workstreams, prioritize features by balancing strategic impact, user value, and development effort, and ensure on‑time delivery of key roadmap milestones.
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.
Technical Depth & Decision‑Making: Leverage your strong technical background to make informed product decisions. Understand complex 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).
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, advanced analytics/ML). Foster a culture of innovation and experimentation, pilot “AI agent” for monitoring data quality and scale successful experiments into full features.
Measurement & Accountability: Define KPIs and success metrics for the Data Foundation program. Track outcomes and use data to inform product decisions and demonstrate program value.
Mentoring and Leadership (Individual Contributor Role): Although this role has no direct reports, mentor and guide junior product managers and product owners within the team, share expertise, act as an expert consultant for other product teams, and foster best practices – 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. Show increasing responsibility and leadership influence (principal or lead PM level).
Domain Expertise: Strong knowledge of data architecture and management; familiarity with relational and NoSQL databases, data warehousing or lakehouse concepts, ETL/ELT pipelines, and data governance best practices. Understanding of data privacy regulations and handling of sensitive information, with education data experience as a plus.
Technical Acumen: Comfortable discussing 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 influence skills, inspiring teams no direct reports, effective stakeholder management, clear communication, Agile/Scrum experience and backlog‑prioritization.
Innovation Mindset: Demonstrated interest or experience in cutting‑edge technologies – especially generative AI, automation, and intelligent agents. Record of driving innovation and continuous learning.
Preferred Qualifications
EdTech and Data Standards: Experience in education technology or data‑driven industries. Familiarity with Ed‑Fi, LTI, or student information system standards. Understanding K‑12 operations, online learning platforms, or similar.
AI/ML Projects: Direct experience managing AI/ML product features or incorporating AI into product management. Example: AI‑powered recommendation engine or predictive analytics dashboard.
Cloud & Security Certifications: Relevant certifications such as AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner/Architect or Certified Product Manager. Security or data privacy certifications (CIPP, CISSP) indicating deeper understanding of protecting data and users.
Leadership in Matrix Organizations: Experience in large‑scale matrix organizations, influencing senior leadership and aligning competing priorities.
Advanced Education: Master’s degree in Business Administration, Information Systems, or a related field. An MBA can support strategic aspects; a technical master’s deepens architectural and data science engagement.
EEO Statement Pearson is an Equal Opportunity Employer and a member of E‑Verify. Employment decisions are based on qualifications, merit, and business need. Qualified applicants receive consideration without regard to race, ethnicity, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, national origin, protected veteran status, disability status, or any other group protected by law. We actively seek qualified candidates who are protected veterans and individuals with disabilities as defined under VEVRAA and Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act. If you have a disability and are unable or limited in accessing our career site, you may request reasonable accommodations by emailing TalentExperienceGlobalTeam@grp.pearson.com.
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Location: U.S Remote. Preferred working hours: U.S. Eastern Time.
Position Summary Pearson Virtual Schools (PVS) is seeking a Principal Product Manager to lead our Data Foundation program as a senior expert and key individual contributor. The 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. You will blend strong technical acumen in data platforms and cloud architecture with top-tier product management skills to deliver forward-looking milestones on the program’s roadmap. The ideal candidate is also passionate about innovation in the software development lifecycle, leveraging generative AI and intelligent agents to enhance product development and user experiences. This is a remote‑friendly role with a preference for working hours that align with U.S. Eastern Time and offers the 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 it aligns with PVS’s overall platform modernization goals. Clearly define phased milestones and outcomes, communicating a compelling vision to stakeholders and team members.
Data Platform Leadership: Lead the Data Foundation program to modernize PVS’s data architecture and infrastructure. This includes driving 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 into the platform 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 our product development process. Explore how AI can automate parts of requirements gathering, coding, testing, or analytics – improving development efficiency and product quality. Investigate opportunities to integrate generative AI into the products themselves (e.g., 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 with Agile teams, maintain a well‑groomed backlog for Data Foundation workstreams, prioritize features by balancing strategic impact, user value, and development effort, and ensure on‑time delivery of key roadmap milestones.
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.
Technical Depth & Decision‑Making: Leverage your strong technical background to make informed product decisions. Understand complex 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).
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, advanced analytics/ML). Foster a culture of innovation and experimentation, pilot “AI agent” for monitoring data quality and scale successful experiments into full features.
Measurement & Accountability: Define KPIs and success metrics for the Data Foundation program. Track outcomes and use data to inform product decisions and demonstrate program value.
Mentoring and Leadership (Individual Contributor Role): Although this role has no direct reports, mentor and guide junior product managers and product owners within the team, share expertise, act as an expert consultant for other product teams, and foster best practices – 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. Show increasing responsibility and leadership influence (principal or lead PM level).
Domain Expertise: Strong knowledge of data architecture and management; familiarity with relational and NoSQL databases, data warehousing or lakehouse concepts, ETL/ELT pipelines, and data governance best practices. Understanding of data privacy regulations and handling of sensitive information, with education data experience as a plus.
Technical Acumen: Comfortable discussing 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 influence skills, inspiring teams no direct reports, effective stakeholder management, clear communication, Agile/Scrum experience and backlog‑prioritization.
Innovation Mindset: Demonstrated interest or experience in cutting‑edge technologies – especially generative AI, automation, and intelligent agents. Record of driving innovation and continuous learning.
Preferred Qualifications
EdTech and Data Standards: Experience in education technology or data‑driven industries. Familiarity with Ed‑Fi, LTI, or student information system standards. Understanding K‑12 operations, online learning platforms, or similar.
AI/ML Projects: Direct experience managing AI/ML product features or incorporating AI into product management. Example: AI‑powered recommendation engine or predictive analytics dashboard.
Cloud & Security Certifications: Relevant certifications such as AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner/Architect or Certified Product Manager. Security or data privacy certifications (CIPP, CISSP) indicating deeper understanding of protecting data and users.
Leadership in Matrix Organizations: Experience in large‑scale matrix organizations, influencing senior leadership and aligning competing priorities.
Advanced Education: Master’s degree in Business Administration, Information Systems, or a related field. An MBA can support strategic aspects; a technical master’s deepens architectural and data science engagement.
EEO Statement Pearson is an Equal Opportunity Employer and a member of E‑Verify. Employment decisions are based on qualifications, merit, and business need. Qualified applicants receive consideration without regard to race, ethnicity, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, national origin, protected veteran status, disability status, or any other group protected by law. We actively seek qualified candidates who are protected veterans and individuals with disabilities as defined under VEVRAA and Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act. If you have a disability and are unable or limited in accessing our career site, you may request reasonable accommodations by emailing TalentExperienceGlobalTeam@grp.pearson.com.
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