Product Lead, Explore

Stellic; San Mateo (CA); On-site; USD 200,000 - 220,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity

Annual international retreats

Health insurance 99% coverage

Professional growth resources

Parental leave

Flexible PTO

401(k) and IRA

Job summary

Stellic is a fast-growing startup transforming the transfer experience for students and universities. We're seeking a Product Lead for Explore to own the end-to-end product, from discovery to roadmap, partnering with university clients and engineering teams in the US and beyond.

You'll define the product strategy, identify high-leverage problems, and build a vision that scales across institutions, balancing speed with thoughtful design in a greenfield, high-impact context.

Qualifications

• 6+ years of PM experience with demonstrable growth in scope and ownership over time.
• True 0→1 experience — defined a product problem from nothing and shipped something real.
• Comfort with ambiguity — you can structure discovery and make directional calls with incomplete information.
• Strong partner instincts — you’re at home in customer conversations and translate insights into decisions.
• Technical depth without needing to write code — comfortable in architecture discussions.
• An ownership mindset — everything is your problem on an early-stage product.
• Clear, engaging communication — with university partners, engineers, and leadership.

Responsibilities

• Own the Explore product end to end: transfer experience, rules, articulation, profiles, admissions workflows.
• Define the roadmap from the ground up with discovery and high-leverage opportunities.
• Lead partner-driven discovery by joining calls and on-site visits to learn processes.
• Collaborate daily with engineering teams in the US and Pakistan on architecture and sequencing.
• Identify common threads across institutions to design scalable solutions.

Skills

PM experience

0→1 experience

Ambiguity tolerance

Partner instincts

Technical depth

Ownership mindset

Communication skills

Job description

Set students’ lives on a trajectory they’ll be proud of

Every decision a student makes during their education can leave a lasting impact on their future. Together, we can help them bring the right decisions into focus.

There are over 235 million students in higher-ed, each with a path that will let them move forward in the world with purpose. We have the opportunity to make the path easier to see and follow. It’s a big endeavor, but we’re fully committed to it.

Innovation for students, by (former) students

We started Stellic when we were college students wanting to get the most value out of our education. The tools available to help us were outdated and confusing, even then. But with effort and insight from other students and professionals on campus, we’re now redefining the role of tech in schools across the world.

We approach our work with curiosity, a drive to grow, and a desire to learn.

You own the mission

We take full ownership of our work and its impact. We focus on outcomes, not just tasks, and always drive the mission forward.

You drive for 10x

We focus on what makes the biggest difference and deliver experiences that raise the bar and bring true delight.

You lead with heart

We think about the people on the other side and act with empathy, integrity, and care for how our work makes others feel.

Our commitment to you

Market-aligned compensation packages, with equity

International team retreat each year

99% covered health, dental, and vision

Resources for professional growth

Parental leave for all parents

Flexible PTO

401(k) and IRA plans

TEAM SPOTLIGHT

“Startups are hard, but what keeps me going is the impact. Stellic is that rare place where cutting-edge tech meets real-world educational impact. That kind of purpose makes all the difference.”

Head of Product

TEAM SPOTLIGHT

“Owning a major feature early on helped me grow faster than I ever thought was possible. You’re trusted here, and that pushes you to step up.”

Maham Shoaib Patel Frontend Engineer

TEAM SPOTLIGHT

“I gave up on a minor I really wanted because I couldn’t figure out how to do it. That frustration is why Stellic exists—to help students make better, informed decisions.”

Cofounder

TEAM SPOTLIGHT

“The company retreat was the best crash course in Stellic’s culture. I felt inspired being around people who genuinely care and want to make a real difference.”

Eric Wengenroth Regional Director, University Partnerships

Location

San Mateo, CA

Employment Type

Full time

Location Type

Hybrid

Department

Product

Compensation

• Estimated base salary, there is flexibility: $200K – $220K Offers Equity

At Stellic, total compensation packages are tailored to each candidate and take into account job-related skills, experience, qualifications, work location, training and current market conditions.

Stellic's Explore product is our newest frontier. It's focused on the transfer experience—giving prospective and transfer students the guidance and pathways they need, and giving universities the tools to manage transfer rules, articulation, and admissions workflows. The roadmap is wide open. We're looking for a Product Lead who thrives in that kind of blank canvas, and who has the instincts to figure out what to build before anyone tells them.

ABOUT US

We're building a future where every student can move through their education with clarity, confidence, and purpose. Our platform transforms the student experience, giving them the tools they need to make the right decisions about their degree plans, track their journey, and build an education and career path that’s truly their own.

Stellic is a fast-growing startup backed by leading social impact investors, partnering with top institutions like Cornell, Columbia, UVA, and Ohio State to support over 1 million students across 7 countries. As we scale to serve more universities worldwide, we remain deeply committed to this mission, driven by our values, and committed to building a high-performance team that’s here to make a lasting difference on both students’ lives and higher education.

ABOUT YOU

You've built products from scratch before — not contributed to someone else's vision, but started with a problem and figured out what to build. You're energized by ambiguity rather than paralyzed by it, and you know how to balance deep partner discovery with the conviction to make calls before all the data is in. You move fast, you learn constantly, and you hold yourself accountable for the outcome, not just the output.

AS OUR PRODUCT LEAD FOR EXPLORE, YOU WILL OWN

The Explore product, end to end: Explore is Stellic's transfer experience product — covering transfer pathways, rules management, articulation, prospective student profiles, and admissions workflows. You're the ultimate owner of it, which right now means defining what it becomes.

The roadmap from the ground up: There's no inherited backlog to manage here. You'll do the discovery, identify the highest-leverage problems, and build a roadmap that earns trust with both university partners and internal leadership.

Partner-driven discovery: You'll be in the room — on calls, on-site when needed — learning how transfer processes actually work at different institutions and turning that into product decisions that scale.

Engineering partnership: You'll work daily with our engineering teams in the US and Pakistan, thinking through architecture, trade-offs, and sequencing together from the earliest stages of the product.

Pattern recognition across institutions: Transfer rules and requirements vary enormously across universities. You'll find the common threads and design solutions that work across many schools without building custom one-offs.

The long game: Even in a greenfield product, every decision you make shapes what's possible later. You'll need to hold the immediate build and the long-term platform vision at the same time.

TO BE SUCCESSFUL, YOU SHOULD HAVE

6+ years of PM experience with demonstrable growth in scope and ownership over time

True 0→1 experience — you've defined a product problem from nothing, built conviction around a solution, and shipped something real

Comfort with ambiguity — you don't need a clear spec to get started; you know how to structure discovery, form hypotheses, and make directional calls with incomplete information

Strong partner instincts — you're at home in customer conversations, you ask better questions than most, and you translate what you hear into product decisions rather than feature lists

Technical depth without needing to write code — comfortable in architecture discussions and able to think through how decisions made today constrain or enable what's possible tomorrow

An ownership mindset — on an early-stage product, everything is your problem; you don't wait to be asked

Clear, engaging communication — with university partners, engineers, and leadership; you can make a fuzzy problem feel structured and a hard trade-off feel obvious

WHY YOU'LL LOVE WORKING AT STELLIC

Shape the future of higher education at a company leading the transformation of student success.

Work alongside an ambitious, mission-driven leadership team building something meaningful.

Own a piece of the journey with competitive salary, meaningful equity and a culture of excellence, speed and ownership.

Thrive in a flexible, outcome-driven culture built on trust and autonomy.

Exceptional benefits, including health insurance with Stellic covering 99% of your premium and 75% for dependents.

401(k), commuter benefits, and annual international retreats in incredible locations.

Work Location

Candidates must be willing to work in-office in San Mateo 2-3 days per week as part of our hybrid work culture.

Stellic is an Equal Opportunity Employer

Our company values diversity and believes diverse teams make innovation possible. We encourage all qualified applicants from any race, color, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or other characteristics to apply.