Portfolio Manager, English Language Learning

Cengage Group; Seattle (WA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

Cengage Group seeks a Portfolio Manager — ELT to define product vision and strategy for the Adult & Academic portfolio across global markets. You will establish business cases, market positioning, and competitive benchmarking while collaborating with Research, Academic Design, Product Technology and Product Marketing.

The role reports to the Portfolio Director and requires strong leadership, customer insight, and strategic investment decision-making to drive ELT growth.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent qualification required.
• Minimum 5 years in product management, business development or other relevant management role.
• Ability to conduct product research and implement focused research plans.
• Ability to translate customer needs into opportunities and articulate a product vision.
• Strong communication to present proposals to diverse audiences.

Responsibilities

• Provide product leadership representing the portfolio across audiences.
• Lead a profitable product line and develop strategic business plans to access opportunities and expand our footprint in key growth markets.
• Forge relationships with key adoption decision makers and market influencers to gain customer insights.
• Use customer insights to build business proposals and make strategic investment decisions.
• Identify and test product ideas within segments, including focus groups and customer meetings as appropriate.
• Collaborate with Product Marketing to track product performance and address adoption barriers.
• Establish and maintain relationships with authors, editors, consultants and researchers to grow the brand.
• Work with cross-functional teams on pan-Cengage initiatives.

Skills

Product leadership

Business development

Problem solving

Strategic thinking

Financial analysis

Microsoft Office

Education

Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent

Tools

Word

Excel

PowerPoint

Job description

We believe in the power and joy of learning

At Cengage, our employees have a direct impact in helping learners around the world discover the power and joy of learning. We are bonded by our shared purpose — driving innovation that helps millions of learners improve their lives and achieve their dreams through education.

Role Summary:

As Portfolio Manager — ELT, you are responsible for defining product vision and strategy based on market research and needs, establishing the business case, market positioning and competitive benchmarking for the Adult & Academic portfolio addressing global markets. Reporting into the Portfolio Director, you work in partnership with Research, Academic Design, Product Technology and Product Marketing to plan and research hypotheses and build compelling proposals for innovative new programs and revisions of existing programs that align with ELT growth strategy and are clearly positioned in the ELT portfolio.

*The post holder for this role will ideally be based in either the United States, United Kingdom or Singapore, though we would be open to other locations for the right candidate*

What you’ll do here:

• Provide product leadership representing the portfolio across audiences.
• Lead a profitable product line and develop strategic business plans to access opportunities and expand our footprint in key growth markets.
• Forge relationships with key adoption decision makers and market influencers to gain customer insights that inform content strategy.
• Use customer insights to build business proposals and make strategic investment decisions.
• Identify and test product ideas within segments, including the administration of focus groups, advisory boards, reviews, and customer meetings as appropriate.
• Collaborate with Product Marketing to track product performance throughout the product life cycle to identify and action insights on adoption-blockers, portfolio gaps, new opportunities and retention needs.
• Establish and maintain relationships with authors, series editors, consultants and academic researchers that bring knowledge and expertise that elevate the brand and enable us to grow our presence in key areas.
• Work closely with colleagues in other functional areas (Academic/Learning Design, Content Production, Marketing, Sales, Product Technology, etc.) on discipline-specific and pan-Cengage initiatives.

Skills you will need here:

• Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent qualification
• Minimum 5 years in product management, business development or other relevant management role.
• To be driven and proactive in problem-solving and establishing lines of communication and sources of information across multiple interfaces and business functions.
• Have experience in conducting product research, ability to build and implement focused research plans with clear goals and identify the best methods to achieve them.
• A grasp of how customer needs and challenges translate into opportunities and how to articulate a product vision that demonstrates how it addresses these needs.
• Ability to establish collaborative working relationships and build credibility. Clearly articulate vision and strategy so extended team members understand how their efforts contribute to business success.
• Capable of presenting compelling proposals to diverse audiences, including senior leadership.
• Strong financial analysis and modelling skills and an understanding of business metrics.
• Proficiency with Word, Excel, and PowerPoint
• Ability to travel ~ approx 10% of time

Preferred:

• A qualification in educational research and/or data analysis
• Proficiency in one or more additional language, Spanish or Arabic particularly desirable.

About Cengage

Cengage, a global education technology company serving millions of learners, provides affordable, quality digital products and services that equip students with the skills and competencies needed to be job ready. For more than 100 years, we have enabled the power and joy of learning with trusted, engaging content, and now, integrated digital platforms. We serve the higher education, workforce skills, secondary education, English language teaching and research markets worldwide. Through our scalable technology, including MindTap and Cengage Unlimited, we support all learners who seek to improve their lives and achieve their dreams through education.

Cengage is committed to working with broad talent pools to attract and hire strong and most qualified individuals. Our job applicants are considered regardless any classification protected by applicable federal, state, provincial or local laws.

Cengage is also committed to providing reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities including during our job application process. If you are an applicant with a disability and require reasonable accommodation in our job application process, please contact us at [e-mail] .

Cengage, a global edtech company, supports learners, educators and institutions across more than 100 countries. With products serving nearly 16 million digital users across the Higher Education, School, Work and English Language Learning markets, we’ve built a learning ecosystem that connects education to employment. We combine trusted content, AI-powered insights and scalable digital platforms to power learning for every future and drive meaningful outcomes at every stage of the learning journey.