Lead Product Operations Associate

Educational Testing Service, Inc.; Princeton (NJ); On-site; USD 110,000 - 170,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Volunteer PTO

Total rewards package

Job summary

Educational Testing Service, Inc. seeks a Product Owner to drive platform evolution and operations for the CR Scoring suite. You will translate business needs into features, manage sprint backlogs, and ensure timely releases that meet customer expectations.

You will collaborate with Product Managers and users, guide testing plans, and contribute to market-facing improvements while leveraging AI tools to accelerate development and training materials.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree (or equivalent) in Business, IT, or related field.
• 5+ years in product management, project management, Agile development, or operations.
• Experience in product owner positions or product operations within cross-functional teams.
• Strong understanding of Agile processes, roles, and tools.

Responsibilities

• Lead development of new capabilities and extensions from elaboration through launch, stabilization, and performance monitoring for CR Scoring suite of applications.
• Collaborate with Product Managers and users to create and approve user stories and product features based on customer needs.
• Plan, prioritize, and manage sprint activities, and maintain the backlog for products and services.
• Ensure alignment of development work with market/user feedback.
• Oversee performance against key success criteria, including customer satisfaction and final release quality.
• Apply AI tools and automation to improve product development, testing, and training materials.

Skills

Requirements translation

Agile methodology

Timeline & Budget mgmt

Market orientation

Leadership & communication

AI fluency

Automated testing awareness

Education

Bachelor’s degree (or equivalent)

Job description

About ETS:

ETS is a global education and talent solutions organization enabling lifelong learners worldwide to be future-ready. For more than 75 years, we've been advancing the science of measurement to build benchmarks for fair and valid skill assessment across cultures and borders. Our worldwide impact extends through our renowned assessments including TOEFL®, TOEIC®, GRE® and Praxis® tests, serving millions of learners in more than 200 countries and territories. Through strategic acquisitions, we've expanded our global capabilities: PSI strengthens our workforce assessment solutions, while Edusoft, Kira Talent, Pipplet, Vericant, and Wheebox enhance our educational technology and assessment platforms across critical markets worldwide.

Through ETS Research Institute and ETS Solutions, we're partnering with educational institutions, governments, and organizations globally to promote skill proficiency, empower upward mobility, and unlock opportunities for everyone, everywhere. With offices and partners across Asia, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Americas, we deliver nearly 50 million tests annually. Join us in our journey of measuring progress to power human progress worldwide.

POSITION SUMMARY

The position focuses on platform evolution as well as operational use support. The role has responsibility to transform market and user needs into features and user stories, manage work prioritization, and oversee the execution of product development and operations for ONE and associated constructed response scoring suite of applications. This team member contributes to both the day-to-day operations and the strategic development of new capabilities, working in collaboration with cross-functional teams to ensure the timely release of features that meet customer needs. This role also helps manage product testing plans and execution, release communications, and user training materials.

PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES

Product & Capability Development

• Lead the development of new capabilities and extensions from elaboration through launch, stabilization, and performance monitoring for CR Scoring suite of applications.

• Collaborate with Product Managers and users to create and approve user stories and product features based on customer needs.

• Plan, prioritize, and manage sprint activities, as well as maintain the backlog for products and services.

• Ensure alignment of development work with market/user feedback.

• Oversee performance against key success criteria, including customer satisfaction, testing, and final release quality.

• Apply AI tools and automation to improve product development, operational analysis, testing, documentation, and user readiness activities, including generating materials, scripts, communications, test scenarios, and data-driven insights.

Market Engagement & Product Improvement

• Develop and maintain user engagement plans and use market feedback to refine and prioritize product features and development.

• Ensure features meet customer needs and market receptivity, adapting them based on user feedback and business needs.

• Test market assumptions, adapting product features as necessary.

Operational Engagements

• Consult with clients and users on how to best use the applications

• Recommend and set operational configurations for scoring programs

• Troubleshoot when issues arise, assist with Operations and IT teams on analysis and solution planning

• Collect and analyze data to further advise stakeholders, or to influence application improvements

• Use AI-enabled analysis tools to review operational data, identify trends, summarize findings, and support recommendations for application improvements or issue resolution.

Team & Process Leadership

• Lead cross-functional teams in product development and operations, facilitating meetings, planning sessions, and retrospectives.

• Provide ongoing operational support, ensuring smooth day-to-day product operations and timely resolution of issues.

• Work with internal teams and external partners to resolve operational challenges and ensure delivery quality.

KNOWLEDGE/SKILLS

• Strong ability to translate business requirements into features and user stories.

• In-depth understanding of Agile methodology (tools, processes, roles) and experience in managing sprints.

• Ability to manage development timelines, budgets, and costs, balancing multiple priorities.

• Demonstrated market/customer orientation and skills in testing market receptivity and willingness to purchase.

• Excellent communication, leadership, and team-building skills.

• Strong digital acumen and understanding of digital technologies.

• AI fluency, including the ability to responsibly use AI tools for drafting materials, generating scripts, analyzing data, supporting decision-making, and improving testing efficiency through automation.

• Familiarity with automated testing approaches and the ability to partner with technical teams to define, execute, or evaluate automated test coverage.

EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE

Required

• Bachelor’s degree (or equivalent experience) in Business, IT, or a related field.

• 5+ years of experience in a combination of product management, project management, Agile development, or operations.

Preferred

• Experience in product owner positions, product operations or service management within a cross-functional team environment.

Process Outputs & People Management

• Deliver accurate, defect-free products/extensions on time and within SLA.

• Ensure financial performance of assigned products and manage product-related expenditures against the budget.

• Maintain high levels of customer satisfaction and ensure successful product/service execution.

ETS is mission driven and action oriented

• We are passionate about hiring innovative thinkers who believe in the promise of education and lifelong learning.

• We are energized by cultivating growth, innovation, and continuous transformation for the next generation of rising professionals as leaders. In support of this ETS offers multiple Business Resource Groups (BRG) for you to learn and advance your career growth!

• As a not-for-profit organization we will encourage you to lean in to your passion for volunteering. At ETS you may qualify for up to an additional 8 hours of PTO for volunteer work on causes that are important to you!

• The base salary range advertised represents the low and high end of the anticipated salary range for this position. The base pay actually offered will take into account internal equity and also may vary depending on the candidate's geographic region, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience among other factors. The base pay is only one aspect of the Total Rewards Package that will be offered to the successful candidate.

ETS is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We are committed to providing equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, marital status, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, or any other characteristic protected by law. We believe in creating a work environment where all individuals are treated with respect and dignity.