Lead Specialist, Product Program Management

Pearson; Washington (District of Columbia); On-site; USD 140,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

Pearson is seeking a senior Program Manager to own and drive complex, multi-team product programs in Higher Education. You will manage roadmaps, dependencies, risks, and outcomes across Product, Engineering, UX, Content, and Go-to-Market, aligning with quarterly OKRs.

You’ll lead cross-functional delivery, influence senior stakeholders, and ensure on-time outcomes while collaborating with global teams and leveraging AI-assisted tooling for efficiency.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of program or technical program management experience in a technology, product, or software organization, including 5+ years leading complex, multi-team programs from planning through launch.
• Experience owning program roadmaps, delivery schedules, and cross-team dependencies across multiple product and engineering teams, including distributed teams in different time zones.
• Ability to influence senior leaders without direct authority, manage escalations, and hold a recommendation under pressure.

Responsibilities

• Own the end-to-end program plan across product, engineering, UX, content, and go-to-market, and the OKRs it delivers each quarter.
• Own prioritization tradeoffs with Product and Engineering leads.
• Drive delivery schedules and launch readiness across multiple teams, including globally-distributed teams, and anticipate bottlenecks before they reach the critical path.
• Build strong working relationships with Engineering, Product, UX, Content, Finance, and go-to-market partners across US and international teams.

Skills

Program management

Technical collaboration

Cross-team coordination

Influence leadership

Delivery data

Written communication

Education

Bachelor's degree

Tools

Jira

Confluence

Jira Product Discovery

Job description

Pearson is the world's lifelong learning company. We serve learners at every stage of life, from early childhood through higher education and into the workplace. Our Higher Education business partners with colleges, universities, instructors, and students in the US and around the world.

Why Pearson Higher Education

Pearson's purpose is to help people realize the life they imagine through learning. In Higher Education we support students from the first day of a course through graduation and into their careers, with courseware, AI-powered study tools, and content that meet them where they are. We also support instructors with the content, assessments, and insight they need to see how each student is doing and spend more of their time teaching.

Higher Education Courseware brings these platforms, content, and learning tools together for students and instructors in the US and around the world.

About the Role

Higher Education Product Program Management is the engine for organizational velocity. We turn collaboration into fast decisions, keep every program on one plan and one set of OKRs, and own the delivery story our leaders hear.

As Lead Specialist, you own a product program and the outcomes it commits to. You drive the program end to end: the roadmap, the dependencies, the risks, what is realistic by when, and what it will take to get there. You own the program plan across Product, Engineering, UX, Content, and Go-to-Market, and the prioritization tradeoffs with your Product and Engineering partners that shape it.

This is a senior individual contributor role. You understand how your programs fit into the broader Higher Education portfolio and strategy. You see dependencies before they collide, you stay hands on in delivery, and you are measured on the outcomes you own and how long it takes to reach them. You find the problems, frame them, and lead the resolution.

What You'll Do

Cross-functional Program Leadership

• Own the end-to-end program plan across product, engineering, UX, content, and go-to-market, and the OKRs it delivers each quarter.
• Own prioritization tradeoffs with Product and Engineering leads.
• Drive delivery schedules and launch readiness across multiple teams, including globally-distributed teams, and anticipate bottlenecks before they reach the critical path.
• Surface dependency risk early, before it blocks another team, and elevate with a recommendation attached.
• Build strong working relationships with Engineering, Product, UX, Content, Finance, and go-to-market partners across US and international teams.

Strong Program Standards & Enablement

• Write and maintain the program charter: scope, milestones, success criteria, and the metrics that show whether it worked.
• Keep the program's documentation current so pages, plans, and links reflect the actual state of the program.
• Track open action items, decisions, and commitments across your program and drive follow-through.
• Run your program's planning cadence, quarterly reviews and annual planning, with pre-reads before any meeting that carries a decision.
• Drive clear decisions and communication
• Adopt and advance program standards for roadmap governance, communication templates, and status reporting, and collaborate closely with peers on dependencies.

Leverage Tooling Effectively

• Keep status current in Jira and Jira Product Discovery (JPD) and drive data quality
• Maintain the plan, program transparency, and ensure JPD and Jira reflect the real plan: priorities, dependencies, and cut lines.
• Use delivery data such as cycle time, throughput, and OKR health to frame status and decisions.
• Find ways to use AI-assisted tools to reduce program overhead and improve the delivery insight available to the team.

What You'll Bring

Required Qualifications

• 10+ years of program or technical program management experience in a technology, product, or software organization, including 5+ years leading complex, multi-team programs from planning through launch.
• Technical understanding and strong engineering collaboration. You know how software is planned, built, and released well enough to work with engineering leads on scope, sequencing, and risk, and engineers see you as part of the team.
• Experience owning program roadmaps, delivery schedules, and cross-team dependencies across multiple product and engineering teams, including distributed teams in different time zones.
• A record of working in ambiguous, fast-moving environments and building a plan where none existed.
• Ability to influence senior leaders without direct authority, manage escalations, and hold a recommendation under pressure.
• Comfort using delivery data to define success criteria, run status, and drive decisions.
• Strong written communication and facilitation. Your pre-reads and updates get read, and your meetings end in decisions.

Preferred Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience. A technical background is helpful but not required.
• Experience with Jira, Confluence, and Jira Product Discovery or a similar roadmapping tool.
• Experience in higher education, courseware, or another product-led organization where program management works closely with Product and Engineering.
• Experience with AI-assisted program management tools.
• Program Management or Agile certifications.

What Success Looks Like

In the first 90 days

• You can describe your program end to end, including its dependencies and what is at risk
• You own at least one active workstream and are driving it with minimal direction.
• You have identified at least one place where current practice falls short and have started working on a better standard.

At 6 months

• Your program is shipping on time with no surprises for leadership. When something goes wrong, you raise it early with a mitigation already in hand.
• Your OKRs and cycle time are visible, current, and improving.
• Other program managers come to you when they are stuck, and at least one practice you introduced is in use beyond your own program.

How We Work

• The engine for org velocity. Collaboration meets rapid decision making. Processes are efficient and make sense.
• A catalyst for how we work. A team that drives ownership and accountability.
• Optimized for visibility. See the big picture across Pearson and tell one Higher Ed story
• Anchored in outcomes and delivery. Broad portfolio understanding, with hands-on involvement in delivery.

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 $140,000 - $150,000.

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

Applications will be accepted through 9th November. This window may be extended depending on business needs.

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].