Product Manager (Non-Technical)

Position: Product Manager (Non-Technical)

Reports To: Director of Educator Product Development

Status: Full-time, Exempt (IC2/B5)

Location: US Based Home Office

Start date: Immediate

Salary Range*: $75,000 – $85,000

Facing History & Ourselves is a global education non-profit organization that challenges teachers and students to use lessons of history to stand up to bigotry and hate. We are seeking an experienced, curious, and collaborative Product Manager to join our Educator Product team.

Who You Are

You are an exceptional product manager and collaborator with at least 3+ years of relevant and proven experience on teams developing digital-first products for the middle/high school Social Studies and/or English Language Arts market. You are passionate about our mission and excited to use the humanities to help adolescents practice ethical reflection and become civically engaged. You are a creative and strategic thinker who enjoys working across the whole product development lifecycle. You thrive in collaborative environments, can lead by influence, and are ready to move into a role providing operational leadership and support to a cross-functional team as we expand our platforms and grow the infrastructure necessary to deliver the next generation of Facing History’s products and services.

Your knowledge of and curiosity about the educational landscape, on-the-ground needs of educators and students, and trends in ed tech will allow you to guide a multi-year digital-first product roadmap that supports our growth in the Social Studies and ELA professional learning and curriculum markets.

About Our Team

Facing History & Ourselves plays a critical role in advancing civic engagement and promoting ethical decision-making by developing resources for middle and high school educators while supporting their growth through online and face-to-face professional development and coaching. The Educator Product team, working alongside the Content Development team, is a small but mighty staff with a large reach. Innovative and entrepreneurial, we constantly look for better ways to serve our teachers, our schools, and their students. We work closely with our Program Associates in the field and partner with teachers from across our network to develop materials for the classroom that inspire students to make essential connections between the choices people and governments made in history or literature and the choices we face today.

What You Will Do

As a member of the Global Program team, the Product Manager (PM) plays a key role in helping the organization scale its impact and grow its network. In partnership with the Director of Educator Product Development and other cross-functional team leaders, the PM manages the execution of the product roadmap, driving all phases of product planning. This includes, but is not limited to: designing and executing user research to drive product development, internal reporting, work plan alignment and scheduling, building the message/case with our marketing and digital teams, and creating an execution plan — ensuring that we achieve strategic goals for impact while staying on schedule and within budget.

You will thrive in a culture of innovation and experimentation while ensuring that the real-world needs of educators and students are incorporated into our products.

Key Responsibilities:

• Manage execution of product roadmap, ensuring we achieve strategic goals for impact while staying on schedule and within budget
• Manage and ensure expenses adhere to the project budget
• Manage project documentation, including meeting decks, department use of ClickUp, Slack channel, and other communication
• Ensure the real-world needs of educators and students are incorporated into our products by regularly collecting feedback from educators via surveys, 1:1 interviews, focus groups, class testing, and other research methods
• Synthesize feedback from internal and external audiences and develop recommendations to improve user experience of products
• Conduct exploratory research (e.g. landscape analyses) to support new product development
• Communicate decisions and issues to senior managers, staff, and cross-functional teams
• Manage cross-functional initiatives that sit within our innovation work
• Perform other duties as required by the position

Essential Skills and Qualities:

Facing History understands that restrictive job requirements may exclude historically marginalized groups from applying to jobs for which they are qualified. We take an equitable and holistic screening approach. If you feel you have demonstrated experience and expertise relevant to perform this role, please don’t hesitate to apply!

• At least 2–4 years of relevant work experience, ideally involving user research and product or project management in a nonprofit context. Experience on teams developing educational products from ideation to publication while managing resources and achieving metrics, a plus.
• Has a working knowledge of instructional design and UX principles, as they apply to creating effective and appealing educator products; has comfort and experience with facilitating ideation or design exercises
• Experience coordinating the work of cross-departmental teams and enjoys working in a highly collaborative, cross-functional setting; ability to synthesize a wide variety of perspectives to move projects through ambiguity
• Confident self-starter; ability to manage multiple assignments simultaneously with an attention to detail
• Excellent judgment and ability to anticipate and quickly prioritize; demonstrated experience taking initiative and being proactive; unflappable
• Maintains excellent interpersonal skills that allow learning from and leveraging the experiences of colleagues and the educators we aim to serve
• Actively seeks feedback, accepts feedback openly, and implements feedback to help the team reach their goals; commitment to continuous learning and improvement
• Excellent computer skills, including experience with Google Suite; experience with Salesforce or CRM databases a plus

Benefits Summary: In addition to meaningful and rewarding work, Facing History provides an excellent and competitive compensation and benefits package including medical with a health reimbursement account, dental, vision, life & AD&D, long-term & short-term disability insurance, 403(B) retirement plan with a discretionary organizational contribution, generous paid time off, an employee assistance program, travel assistance plan, pre-tax commuter spending accounts, flexible spending accounts, voluntary Colonial Life group plans, robust wellness programs through, aHealthyMe & weekly virtual yoga and meditation, WellCents 403(B) advisement, and a friendly work environment.

Facing History values a diverse workforce and an inclusive culture. We encourage applications from all qualified individuals without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, national origin, marital status, citizenship, disability, veteran status and record of arrest or conviction, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law. We are an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer.

Facing History’s Commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. At Facing History, we honor and value the uniqueness of each and every human being. Our strength as an organization that provides and distributes educational content and pedagogy to teachers across the globe is directly tied to our diversity of staff, leadership, educators, students, scholars, and volunteers. Our commitment is to treat individuals with dignity and to build and maintain a community of full participation, inclusive of the voices, needs, and contributions of all. As an organization, we are deeply aware of the legacies of injustices that persist in society and in the workplace, and we value and promote diversity, equity, and inclusion in their association with excellence.

Remote First Work Model: Facing History & Ourselves operates in a remote-first work model, allowing staff flexibility in both schedules and work locations. This particular position is attached to our (remote first) Headquarters office. Travel will be required for all Staff and department-related retreats and gatherings.

* In the interest of transparency, fairness, and equity Facing History is now listing public-facing salary bands. These bands are benchmarked to external market factors and our own internal pay structure. New hires, in most cases, can expect an offer between the minimum and midpoint of the band, commensurate with the position and relevant experience.