Curriculum Derivative Product Manager

OpenSciEd; San Diego (CA); Remote; USD 125,000 - 135,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Full medical/dental/vision premiums

401(k) match

Life and disability insurance

Pre-tax savings accounts

Wellness support (One Medical, Talkspa

Teladoc

Job summary

OpenSciEd seeks a Derivative Product Manager to own derivatives strategy, quality criteria, and lifecycle—from concepts to classroom-ready materials. You will establish criteria, coordinate reviews, and define how OpenSciEd supports each product while driving ROI.

This role also leads AI-enabled product development, knowledge-graph initiatives, and partnerships with external developers. The position is remote within the United States, emphasizing equity, collaboration, and scalable processes.

Qualifications

• Experience in K-12 education curriculum projects or product management.
• Ability to translate market data into product plans and ROI.
• Familiarity with NGSS and three-dimensional science practice.
• Strong collaboration with diverse stakeholders and teams.
• Comfort working in a remote, distributed organization.

Responsibilities

• Define and own derivatives quality criteria and brand alignment.
• Lead reviews and analyses to guide partner actions.
• Build and maintain ingested derivatives in OpenSciEd systems.
• Drive AI-enabled review, intake, and maintenance processes.
• Shape portfolio strategy, roadmap, and ROI with internal teams.

Skills

Curriculum development

Product management

NGSS knowledge

AI tools familiarity

Strategic thinking

Cross-functional leadership

Communication

Project management

Equity design

Tools

APIs

Knowledge graphs

EdTech development

AI agent skills

Job description

What You’ll Do

The Derivative Product Manager leads the work to ensure that OpenSciEd’s derivative and companion products uphold the quality that is expected of the OpenSciEd brand and that these materials extend OpenSciEd’s reach to more classrooms. Initially, the Derivatives Product Manager will focus on bringing existing derivatives into OpenSciEd’s authoring and distribution systems as processes are established or refined. This will include setting the criteria for quality that derivatives must meet, coordinating reviews of derivatives against the criteria, and determining how much support OpenSciEd gives each product. It also includes building the processes and tools that bring derivatives in as well as distribute and maintain them over their life cycle. As this work moves forward, this role will also own the strategy for pursuing curriculum derivatives, from opportunity identification through development, release, ongoing market support, and owning the ROI for each derivative investment.

Finally, this role leads connected technology efforts that draw on the power of machine learning to support the creation and rollout of OpenSciEd Companions and make product development and distribution processes more effective and efficient. This work will include collaborating with Learning Commons to refine an OpenSciEd-specific knowledge graph, supporting build partners to use the knowledge graph to create great products, and writing and maintaining AI agent skills for internal and external use.

Derivative Quality and Support

• Clarify and own the criteria derivatives and companion products must meet to carry the OpenSciEd brand and the processes for evaluating against these criteria.
• Coordinate in-depth quality reviews of derivatives and companion products, and prepare analysis that partners can act on to meet the criteria.
• Collaborate with technology partners to build and run the system for ingesting, distributing, and maintaining high-quality derivatives to make sure they reach classrooms.
• Apply AI to derivative review, intake, and maintenance to increase efficiency.

OpenSciEd Companion and AI work

• Support the build and maintenance of the Learning Commons OpenSciEd knowledge graph to make it a useful tool for developers, including OpenSciEd.
• Together with the Commercial Partnerships Director, determine which build partners are admitted to use the OpenSciEd knowledge graph for development.
• Use market data and analysis to determine which partners and derivative products will increase market share.
• Manage build partners through their development period, including the quality review process and the guidance they need to build high-quality products.
• Lead collaborative work along with the Chief Product Officer and curriculum product managers to write and revise AI agent skills designed to support internal work and external partnerships (such as the one with Claude for Teachers).

Derivative Portfolio Strategy and Development

• Develop and maintain a strategic roadmap that prioritizes curriculum derivatives by assessing market demand, educational need, strategic alignment, organizational capacity, partnership potential, and the return on investment.
• Collaborate with the Chief Product Officer and Chief Executive Officer to identify, cultivate, and advance strategic opportunities that expand the development, adoption, and impact of OpenSciEd curriculum derivatives.
• For strategically selected and funded derivative curriculum products, lead the design and development in collaboration with internal teams and external partners, ensuring alignment with organizational priorities, instructional goals, and market desire.
• Represent OpenSciEd in national, state, and partner communities to cultivate strategic relationships and promote the adoption and impact of OpenSciEd instructional materials in collaboration with the Marketing Manager.

Required Skills and Experience

• 5+ years of experience in K–12 education in the areas of curriculum development, product management, instructional materials review, or education system leadership.
• Strong knowledge of NGSS and three-dimensional science teaching and learning.
• Demonstrated ability to review science education products against quality criteria and give clear, constructive, actionable feedback.
• Ability to acquire and decipher market data to determine product development that will lead to potential market share growth.
• Strong knowledge of the barriers that currently exist in the science education market and empathy for the educators navigating these barriers.
• Strong facility with AI tools and the concepts behind them, such as data transfer through APIs, MCP, and building AI agent skills. Coding experience is not required.
• Demonstrated success building processes and managing complex, multi-partner initiatives from concept through implementation.
• Excellent communication and facilitation skills, with the ability to build alignment across diverse stakeholders.
• Strong strategic thinking paired with attention to execution details.
• Demonstrated commitment to educational equity and inclusive design.
• Comfort working in a remote, distributed organization.

Preferred Skills and Experience

• 5+ years of experience teaching in the classroom, preferably science.
• Deep working knowledge of OpenSciEd's curriculum and instructional model.
• Experience with state standards development, state instructional materials adoption processes, or instructional materials review processes.
• Experience with knowledge graphs, structured data, or ed tech development.
• Experience acquiring and interpreting market data to inform product development that could drive market share growth.

Compensation

Compensation is in the range of $125,000-$135,000.

• We cover 100% of employee-only medical, dental, and vision premiums
• offer a strong 401(k) match
• provide life and disability insurance
• provide pre-tax savings accounts
• provide wellness support like One Medical, Talkspace, and Teladoc.

See the full benefits overview

OpenSciEd is a virtual organization, and this position can be based anywhere in the United States. Work is conducted in your home office or an offsite location.

OpenSciEd celebrates, supports, and thrives on difference and diversity for the benefit of our team members, our partnerships, and our community. We are an equal opportunity employer and hire without consideration of race, religion, creed, color, national origin, age, gender, sexual orientation, marital status, veteran status, or disability.

AI-Use Statement

You are welcome to use AI tools to prepare your application and any work sample. In live interviews, we want to hear your own thinking. Please do not use AI assistants, note-taking bots, or other people during the interview unless we ask you to. We may ask you to explain or extend anything you submitted.