Associate Product Manager, CaliforniaColleges.edu Student and Educator Experience
Associate Product Manager, CaliforniaColleges.edu Student and Educator Experience
Remote
All candidates must live in California.
Posted: 4/1/22
*This is a junior role, entry level in nature equivalent to an associate product manager. Working title is Manager, CaliforniaColleges.edu Student Experience or Educator Experience. This is a great opportunity for someone who works in this space and would like to grow their skills/knowledge as we grow to expand throughout the state of California.
The California College Guidance Initiative (CCGI) is looking for an innovative and detail-oriented associate product manager to help envision and write key enhancements and new features on CaliforniaColleges.edu.
As Manager, CaliforniaColleges.edu Student Experience or Manager, CaliforniaColleges.edu Educator Experience, they will be responsible for writing product requirements that define how tools on CaliforniaColleges.edu function, either for students or for educators. Whether focused on students or educators, both associate product manager roles will conduct quality-assurance testing to ensure tools function as designed and will collaborate directly with members of cross-functional teams to ensure accuracy, effectiveness, alignment, and clarity.
The ideal candidate has a passion for exploring new features and enhancements to support the students and educators who use and interact with our platform. While they may have just 1 or 2 years of experience in product management, they understand how to research, summarize findings, and present to others to help drive understanding. Moving an idea from inception to production, they understand the stages of the product management cycle. Equally important, the ideal candidate is a meticulous writer with a demonstrated track record of writing clear documentation for software engineers. Their experiences have also taught them to adapt to change and meet new challenges and unexpected results with level-headedness and a growth mindset.
The ideal candidate also has some experience in the educational landscape, whether in a traditional or nontraditional setting, and is intrinsically motivated to drive positive student outcomes with intuitive and accessible technologies.
What Will You Do?
- Research and define product requirements, in accordance with the protocols and best practices defined by cross-functional teams.
- Write product specifications to support the coding of features on CaliforniaColleges.edu.
- Conduct and log quality-assurance testing to ensure proper functionality of features.
- Track and document feature development via meeting notes, Salesforce, and/or other tools.
- Collaborate across the CaliforniaColleges.edu teams to advance product enhancements from ideation to production.
- Investigate bugs pertaining to any platform functionality or tool, communicated via JIRA or Salesforce cases.
- Collaborate with other team members to create a cohesive student experience across content and functionality.
- Support the Deputy Director, CaliforniaColleges.edu Student/Educator Experience in communicating the transition and roll-out of new features to internal team members.
- Conduct ongoing research into the pedagogical and technological needs of 6-12th graders in a remote and changing environment and/or the educators who support them.
- Actively participate in CaliforniaColleges.edu Team and All-staff meetings.
- Other special projects as assigned by the Deputy Director of CaliforniaColleges.edu Student/Educator Experience.
What Skills and Experience Do You Need?
- Relevant BA/BS, equivalent work experience, or a combination of both.
- Minimum of two (2) years of relevant experience, including at least one (1) year of experience in product management. Edtech industry a plus.
- Understanding of general product development stages and best practices.
- Ability to assess ideas and design in the development stage using institutional knowledge and expertise in the field.
- Ability to analyze data and research to inform product features or solutions.
- Experience in developing product requirements and specifications.
- Experience conducting quality-assurance testing.
- Ability to write with attention to accuracy, audience, and concision.
- Stellar organizational skills and meticulous attention to detail.
- Experience working with college and career tools and/or data, reporting tools, and/or online tools for 6-12th grade students or the educators who support them.
What Intangibles Do You Need?
- Strong collaboration and communication skills.
- Self-directed and proactive problem-solver.
- Clear, confident, and attentive verbal communicator.
- Excellent professional judgment.
- Ability to communicate complex information simply.
- Ability to collect and analyze information, problem-solve, and make decisions.
- Commitment to developing and maintaining trusting professional relationships.
- Demonstrated ability to organize, prioritize, and manage multiple projects and tasks simultaneously.
- Ability to retain and apply new knowledge.
- Comfort with and ability to easily transition between independent and collaborative tasks.
- Ability to model, provide, and receive feedback using the Nonviolent Communication model.
- A desire to work in a team culture with the following characteristics: collaboration and learning, data-driven practices, direct feedback, documentation, due diligence and preparation, professionalism and kindness, self-reflection, strategic thinking, and vulnerability.
More about CCGI
CCGI is a positive, diverse, and supportive culture. At our core, we prioritize the needs of students above all else.
Everyone at CCGI works remotely. We are all located in various parts of California. We rarely meet in person. Instead, we make use of tools, such as ZOOM, Slack, and Salesforce, to communicate and document our work.
CCGI is housed at the Foundation for California Community Colleges but is an autonomous initiative with its own mission, goals, and leadership team.
The California College Guidance Initiative (CCGI) works to ensure that all 6th-12th grade students in California have access to a systematic baseline of guidance and support as they plan, prepare, and pay for postsecondary education and training.
This baseline is provided by CaliforniaColleges.edu, which provides California students and educators with a wide range of college and career planning information and tools. The site also houses, audits, and transmits student data to help ensure more accurate and efficient decisions regarding admissions, financial aid, and course placement. CCGI provides technical assistance, support, and training to K-12 school districts in order to support students, counselors, and parents with the systematic use of CaliforniaColleges.edu, including its transcript-informed tools.
CCGI forms the core of the college planning and application tools in California’s newly-launched Cradle-to-Career System. Over the next few years, the Cradle-to-Career System will scale CCGI so that all California 6th-12th grade students can have free access to our transcript-informed tools.
The Foundation for California Community Colleges (Foundation) is committed to providing an environment of mutual respect where equal employment opportunities (EEO) are available to all employees and applicants without regard to race, color, ancestry, national origin, genetic characteristics, sex, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, marital/parental status, political affiliation, religion, age, disability, pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding or veteran status. In addition to federal law requirements, the Foundation for California Community Colleges complies with applicable state and local laws governing nondiscrimination in employment.
The Foundation for California Community Colleges is committed to workplace policies and hiring practices that comply with federal, state, and local law. During the hiring process, the Foundation is interested in hiring qualified candidates who are eligible and authorized to work in the United States. However, at this time, the Foundation is not able to sponsor visas. As a result, the Foundation cannot hire applicants that currently, or in the future, require immigration sponsorship for work authorization (i.e., H1B or F1 Student Visa).