Lead, Product Management

Pearson; Lansing (MI); On-site; USD 190,000 - 220,000; Full time

Job summary

Pearson seeks a Lead, Product Manager to drive the Certiport portfolio, coach PMs, and deliver outcomes for learners, educators, and industry partners. You will blend product discipline with leadership to accelerate value across certification, assessment, and workforce readiness solutions.

The role requires 8+ years in product management, 5+ years leading PMs, and a track record of strategy and execution in SaaS or education tech. Salary ranges up to $220k with incentives.

Qualifications

• 8+ years product management experience with leadership of multiple product teams.
• 5+ years leading Product Managers and developing product talent.
• Proven experience defining product strategy and delivering measurable results.

Responsibilities

• Partner with business leaders to define product vision, strategy, and priorities.
• Translate objectives into coherent product initiatives and roadmaps.
• Drive portfolio prioritization based on value, impact, and alignment.
• Ensure investments align with goals and market opportunities.
• Champion customer-centric decision making across the organization.

Skills

Product leadership

Strategy

Discovery & experimentation

Executive communication

Job description

Descriptor: This role aligns to industry level titles such as Director of Product Management.

About Pearson

At Pearson, we are committed to helping people make progress in their lives through learning. We create innovative and accessible educational products and services that foster personal and professional growth. We are looking for a passionate and skilled Product Director to join our team and drive the development of cutting-edge educational products.

About the Job

We embrace an SVPG-inspired Product Operating Model, empowering our product teams to solve hard problems – customer problems and business problems – in ways that our customers love, yet work for our business. Product companies depend on strong products, and strong products come from strong product teams. And we recognise that product teams are only as strong as their product managers.

Success in this role requires marrying strong product management practices with deep understanding of the certification and workforce readiness ecosystem, including how skills validation, credentials, and assessment solutions create value for learners, educators, employers, and industry partners.

Position Overview

We're seeking an innovative and experienced Lead, Product Manager, to lead a high-performing empowered product team responsible for delivering customer and business outcomes. This role is responsible for driving the customer product discovery and strategy of Pearson's Certiport portfolio, coach and develop product managers and continuously deliver to our learners, educators, academic institutions, workforce organizations, and technology industry partners through certification, assessment, and workforce readiness solutions. This role combines deep technical expertise with product management acumen, product delivery excellence, and a coaching mindset to accelerate business value.

The successful candidate is responsible for the value and viability risks and is overall accountable for the Certiport Product outcomes. Ideal candidate combines strong product sense and management leadership with a deep understanding of certification, credentialing, assessment, workforce development, and education markets to identify opportunities that drive learner outcomes, customer value, and business growth.

Key Responsibilities

• Partner with business leaders and stakeholders to define and evolve product vision, strategy, and priorities.
• Translate company objectives into coherent product initiatives and outcome-based roadmaps.
• Drive portfolio-level prioritization based on customer value, business impact, and strategic alignment.
• Ensure product investments align with organizational goals and market opportunities.
• Champion customer-centric decision making throughout the organization.

Product Discovery & Innovation

• Establish strong product discovery practices across teams.
• Ensure teams continuously validate assumptions through customer research, experimentation, and data insights.
• Foster a culture of innovation, learning, and rapid iteration.
• Guide teams in identifying and solving high-value customer problems.
• Lead, mentor, and develop Product Managers.
• Create clear expectations, career paths, and growth opportunities for product talent.
• Build a culture of accountability, ownership, collaboration, and continuous improvement.
• Conduct performance management, succession planning, and talent reviews.
• Recruit and retain exceptional product management talent.
• Coaches Product Managers to become skilled problem solvers.Creates empowered teams capable of making informed product decisions.

Cross-Functional Leadership

• Partner closely with Engineering, Design, Data, Program to ensure product teams maintain strong product-engineering-design collaboration.
• Facilitate alignment across stakeholders (Marketing, Sales, Operations, and Customer Success leaders) while protecting team focus and autonomy.
• Influence executive and cross-functional decisions through strong communication and product judgment.
• Navigate ambiguity and competing priorities to drive strategic outcomes.
• Communicate product vision, strategy, priorities, and outcomes effectively across executive, business, and technical audiences, building alignment and advocacy for strong product management practices.

Product Delivery & Outcomes

• Ensure teams are focused on delivering measurable outcomes rather than feature output.
• Monitor portfolio health through customer, business, and product performance metrics.
• Remove organizational obstacles that limit team effectiveness.
• Establish operating mechanisms that improve speed, quality, and learning.
• Balance short-term business needs with long-term product strategy.

Required Qualifications

• 8+ years product management experience, including leadership of multiple product teams.
• 5+ years leading Product Managers and developing product talent.
• Proven experience defining product strategy and delivering measurable business results.
• Strong understanding of modern product management practices, including discovery, experimentation, and outcome-based planning.
• Experience partnering with engineering and design leaders in an empowered product model.
• Demonstrated success influencing senior executives, communicating across business and technical stakeholders, and driving organizational alignment.

Preferred Qualifications

• Background scaling product organizations through periods of growth or transformation
• Experience in SaaS, platform, digital, AI, data, or technology-enabled products.
• Domain expertise in learning technologies and educational product development
• Strong analytical capabilities and systems thinking approach to complex technical challenges
• Preferred experience in one or more of the following:
• Professional certification, credentialing, or assessment programs
• Education technology, learning solutions, or workforce development products
• Developing products that serve educators, learners, employers, or industry certification sponsors
• Knowledge of emerging workforce skills, career pathways, digital credentials, and skills-based hiring trends

What You'll Love About This Role

You’ll lead and empower a team of Product Managers responsible for creating learning and certification experiences that help millions of learners realize the life they imagine through learning. Your team will build products that enable educators to prepare students with in-demand, industry-recognized credentials, equipping them with the skills, confidence, and opportunities needed to succeed in higher education, launch meaningful careers, and thrive in an evolving workforce. You’ll create an environment where empowered product teams solve important customer problems, deliver measurable business outcomes, and shape the future of workforce readiness around the globe.

Compensation at Pearson is influenced by a wide array of factors including but not limited to skill set, level of experience, and specific location. As required by the California, Colorado, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York State, New York City, Vermont, Washington State, and Washington DC laws, the pay range for this position is as follows:

The minimum full-time salary range is between $190,000 - $220,000.

This position is eligible to participate in an annual incentive program, and information on benefits offered is here.

Who we are:

At Pearson, our purpose is simple: to help people realize the life they imagine through learning. We believe that every learning opportunity is a chance for a personal breakthrough. We are the world's lifelong learning company. For us, learning isn't just what we do. It's who we are. To learn more: We are Pearson.

Pearson is an Equal Opportunity Employer and a member of E-Verify. Employment decisions are based on qualifications, merit and business need. Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, ethnicity, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender 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 are an individual with a disability and are unable or limited in your ability to use or access our career site as a result of your disability, you may request reasonable accommodations by emailing [e-mail].

Job:

Product Management

Job Family:

PRODUCT

Organization:

Assessment & Qualifications