Product Director – Educator Experience
Product Director – Educator Experience
Remote
All candidates must live in California.
Posted: 10/11/2022
The California College Guidance Initiative (CCGI) is looking for a product director to oversee features for educators on CaliforniaColleges.edu (e.g. reports, account management, etc.).
The California College Guidance Initiative streamlines the college and career planning and application process for California students and educators by helping them access the information they need to inform key decisions about admission, first-year academic placement, financial aid, advising, and supportive services. The Product Director will provide strategic leadership to a small team that defines the educator feature requirements, creates a vision, and aligns the educator experience with CCGI’s organizational priorities. They will also oversee specs writing and quality assurance for educator functionalities on CaliforniaColleges.edu.
The ideal candidate is a collaborative leader who has a knack for understanding problems, presenting data in a way that’s easy to understand, and familiarity with the needs of K-12 educators. To be successful in this role, you must be able to collaborate with other subject matter experts on a project-management basis.
We work to solve large scale, system-level problems. You must be comfortable working with unknowns and ambiguous solutions, as well as passionate about promoting public education and advancing educational equity.
Official title of the position is Director, CaliforniaColleges.edu Educator Experience.
What Will You Be Doing?
- Leading a team charged with creating the educator functionality on CaliforniaColleges.edu.
- Ensuring that the design of CaliforniaColleges.edu for educators is continually improved upon to meet the needs of K-12 educators and align with both the state of California’s education policy landscape as well as counseling and instructional best practices.
- Develop and iterate the team’s strategy to ensure functionality fulfills the needs of educators and align with current college, career, and financial aid planning processes, state requirements, and CCGI’s mission and vision.
- Determine development priorities for educator users and in partnership with other Directors, ensure the CaliforniaColleges.edu Team aligns priorities, works towards common goals, and utilizes development resources strategically and efficiently. This includes contributing to a product roadmap.
- Managing up to two product managers including coaching them to ensure the team is supported and challenged to deliver on organizational objectives. The current team includes one product manager and an assistant product manager but can grow as the needs of the work require. There will also be a product designer assigned to the team but not managed by this role.
- Model giving and receiving feedback via a non-violent communication model to improve team culture, performance, and work product.
- Leading a team charged with creating the educator functionality on CaliforniaColleges.edu.
What Technical Skills Do You Need?
- Proven track record in product development, at least 7 years preferred.
- Experience with reporting or other data visualization work preferred.
- A strong appreciation of design and user experience.
- At least 5 years of experience coaching and managing the work of a small team.
- Bachelor’s degree preferred.
What Intangibles Do You Need?
- Strong decision-making skills and collaborative spirit, with the ability to take abstract brainstorming and generate concrete proposals for action.
- Advance projects without detailed supervision, balancing multiple responsibilities and providing colleagues with actionable proposals for advancing collective efforts.
- Commitment to coaching and mentoring a team by providing and receiving direct feedback, modeling vulnerability, and leading with professionalism and kindness.
- Juggle multiple projects of various scopes with ease and grace.
- Ability to see the big picture as well as zoom into the details.
- Meticulous attention to detail.
- Excellent verbal communication skills and the ability to communicate with various levels of professionals.
- A commitment to contribute to 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
- Vulnerability
More about the Technical Assistance and User Support & Training Team
The team is composed of individuals, working remotely across California, that support K-12 school districts’ data quality improvement efforts through virtual training and providing responsive assistance to educators, students, and families who utilize the CaliforniaColleges.edu platform. Not all of us have a background in teaching or education, but we believe in continuous learning, are deeply self-motivated, and have a personal connection to the organizational mission around student equity.
Those who thrive here exhibit a growth mindset, are interested in improving and/or building their skill sets and are willing to take initiative to learn more. This role reports to the Director, User Support.
More about CCGI
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.
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 Foundation for California Community Colleges 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 non-discrimination in employment.
As the official nonprofit auxiliary to the Chancellor’s Office, we aim to ensure our team reflects the diversity of the California Community Colleges and the 1.8 million students, campuses, and communities it serves. Individuals are hired for their deep understanding of each population’s unique needs and will join a collaborative environment where each team member plays an important role in helping Californians across all communities improve their social and economic mobility and build a better future for themselves and their families.
Application Instructions
- Click the apply button below to be taken to the Foundation for California Community Colleges website, where the application is housed.
- Include both a cover letter and resume with your application.