Senior Technical Product Manager

Sallie Mae; Sterling (VA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

Sallie Mae is seeking a Senior Technical Product Manager to lead the development of innovative data-driven products that enhance student financial solutions. This role requires a blend of strategic thinking and technical expertise to drive product success in a fast-paced, impactful environment. As a key player in shaping scalable systems, you will collaborate closely with cross-functional teams to ensure alignment with business objectives and deliver exceptional user experiences.

Benefits

Competitive base salaries

Bonus incentives

Generous PTO and 12 Federal Holidays

401k with employer match

Comprehensive medical, dental, vision insurance

Flexible hybrid working arrangements

Tuition Reimbursement and Family Scholarship Programs

Qualifications

• 5+ years in product management or related roles required.
• Ability to thrive in a fast-paced environment crucial.
• Proven success working cross-functionally with technical teams.

Responsibilities

• Lead the strategy and execution of data-driven products.
• Own the product lifecycle from ideation through launch.
• Collaborate with teams to define product roadmaps.

Skills

Data Analysis

Product Development

Customer Segmentation

Problem Solving

Communication

Agile Methodologies

Education

BS in Business Analytics

BS in Data Science

BS in Software Engineering

Tools

Tableau

Power BI

SQL

Job description

When you join Sallie, you become a champion for all students.

Sallie’s Education Services team is a diverse group of growth-obsessed entrepreneurs, data analysts, engineers, and developers with a passion for imagining and building scalable businesses for students and families on their unique journey to-through and immediately after higher education. We’re on a mission to revolutionize how students and their families plan, pay and complete this journey with confidence. Join a team of seekers, challengers and creative thinkers to change the way students plan for their future for the better.

A little bit about us:

Would you like to work in an exciting fast-paced start-up place with the backing of a household name company like Sallie Mae to help millions of people meet their educational needs every day? Together, we’re connected by the same drive—to be a champion for all students and help them make smart decisions with confidence. Do more than join something—change something…for students, for future generations, and for the future of education.

Our new venture, SallieSM, is looking for people like you to be the founding members who will define the future of education services for students and their families in the US. As the first education solutions company, we’re creating products and experiences that help students when they need it most. We’re connecting students to free money for school, providing tools and resources to plan for college, sharing inside advice on campus life, and so much more. Visit https://www.sallie.com/about to learn more about us.

What You'll Contribute

We are seeking a Senior Technical Product Manager to lead the strategy, development, and execution of data-driven products that power innovative financial solutions. This is a high-impact role at the intersection of technology, data, and customer experience—ideal for a product leader who thrives in complex environments and is passionate about building scalable, intelligent systems. In this role, you will own the end-to-end product lifecycle—from ideation through launch and iteration—translating business goals and customer needs into well-defined product roadmaps and technical requirements. You will partner closely with internal teams including data engineering, software development, data science, analytics, compliance, and business operations, as well as with external stakeholders, to deliver high-value solutions that drive business outcomes. The ideal candidate combines strategic thinking and execution excellence with a strong technical background and a sharp product intuition. You are equally comfortable diving into data architecture discussions, mapping out customer journeys, or presenting to senior leadership. You will play a critical role in identifying and solving current pain points, prioritizing initiatives based on business impact, and delivering seamless, data-enabled experiences. This is both a creative and analytical role—you’ll shape the long-term vision for automation, data monetization, and scalable infrastructure while producing actionable insights and guiding near-term product development. Your ability to lead cross-functional teams in a fast-paced, agile environment will be key to your success.

What You'll Do

• Audience Segmentation and Personalization Strategy: Lead the design and implementation of advanced audience segmentation frameworks by leveraging customer behavior, demographics, and engagement data. Partner with marketing, product, and sales teams to operationalize segmentation insights, enabling personalized experiences, targeted campaigns, and optimized customer journeys that drive engagement and conversion.
• Enterprise Data Integration and Architecture Strategy: Define and execute a comprehensive data integration strategy that aligns with business and product objectives. Partner with engineering to ensure seamless integration across internal systems, third-party tools, and external data providers, with Snowflake serving as the central platform for unified data access, analytics, and real-time insights.
• Advanced Analytics and Insight Generation: Collaborate closely with Data Science and Data Engineering teams to define analytical use cases, shape data models, and develop dashboards, predictive models, and reporting tools. Translate business problems into data requirements and use insights to drive key decisions around product development, customer retention, and business performance.
• Cross-functional Leadership and Stakeholder Engagement: Act as a bridge between technical teams and business stakeholders to align product capabilities with strategic goals. Lead discovery sessions, prioritize competing needs, and communicate trade-offs effectively. Serve as a thought partner across departments, advocating for scalable, data-driven approaches to problem-solving and product design.
• Process Optimization and Innovation: Continuously evaluate and improve the effectiveness of data integration, reporting, and analytics workflows. Identify opportunities for automation, self-service analytics, and the adoption of emerging technologies to enhance data accessibility and reduce time-to-insight. Lead initiatives that improve system reliability, scalability, and overall operational efficiency.
• Product Roadmap Ownership and Performance Tracking: Own the product roadmap for data and analytics capabilities, ensuring alignment with company strategy and measurable impact. Define KPIs and success metrics, monitor product performance, and iterate based on feedback and data. Champion experimentation and rapid iteration to refine product-market fit and deliver business value.

The above information is intended to describe the general nature and level of work performed by employees assigned to this job; it is not designed to contain or be interpreted as a comprehensive inventory of all duties, responsibilities and qualifications required of employees in this role.

What you have

Minimum education, skills and experience required.

• BS in Business Analytics, Data Science, Finance, Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Technology, or a related field; or equivalent practical experience in a technical or product leadership role.
• 5+ years of experience in product management, program management, or related technical roles, preferably in fintech, SaaS, or customer-facing digital platforms.
• Expertise in customer segmentation, cohort analysis, and behavioral analytics to personalize user experiences and drive targeted marketing strategies.
• Track record of leveraging advanced data analytics and experimentation (e.g., A/B testing, multivariate testing) to guide strategic decisions, improve business outcomes, and optimize product performance.
• Proven success working cross-functionally with engineering, design, data science, and go-to-market teams to define product strategy, roadmap, and deliver impactful solutions.
• Strong analytical, quantitative, and problem-solving skills, with the ability to translate data into insights and actionable plans; experienced in defining KPIs and success metrics.
• Experience with product development lifecycle (Agile/Scrum/Lean) and ability to prioritize, scope, and deliver features based on customer and business value.
• Exceptional communication and storytelling skills, with the ability to articulate complex technical concepts to diverse stakeholders, including non-technical and executive audiences.
• Hands-on experience with data visualization tools (e.g., Tableau, Power BI, Looker) to monitor product performance and communicate insights.
• Experience building and optimizing customer-facing digital products, in collaboration with UX/UI designers and researchers.
• Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, ambiguous environment with a high degree of ownership and accountability.
• Excellent organizational and time-management skills, with attention to detail and a commitment to quality execution.

Preferred education, skills, and experience.

• Proficiency in SQL and hands-on experience with relational databases (e.g., PostgreSQL, MySQL, Snowflake) for querying and analyzing product and user data.
• Experience with statistical computing and modeling tools such as Python, R, SAS, or Stata, and familiarity with machine learning or predictive analytics frameworks.
• Proven ability to communicate effectively across technical and non-technical teams, including experience preparing executive-level presentations and product briefs.Experience with statistical analysis tools (Python/R/Matlab/SAS/Stata etc.) and techniques
• Experience with MarTech platforms such as HubSpot, Segment, Braze, or Salesforce Marketing Cloud, particularly in leveraging them for personalized experiences and campaign orchestration.
• Familiarity with cloud platforms and modern data stacks, such as AWS, GCP, or Azure, and tools like dbt, Fivetran, or Airflow.
• Experience in regulated industries (e.g., finance, insurance) and understanding of compliance, risk, and data privacy considerations in product design.

The Americans with Disabilities Act

The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) prohibits discrimination by employers, in compensation and employment opportunities, against qualified individuals with disabilities who, with or without reasonable accommodation, can perform the “essential functions” of a job. A function may be essential for any of several reasons, including: the job exists to perform that function, the employee holding the job was hired for his/her expertise in performing the function, or only a limited number of employees are available to perform that function.

Feeling your best helps you do your best: Our benefits take care of the whole you—so you can build your work around your life (not the other way around!).

• Competitive base salaries

• Bonus incentives

• Generous PTO, Floating Holidays and 12 Federal Holidays observed

• Support for financial-well-being and retirement401k with employer match

• Comprehensive medical, dental, vision, hospital indemnity, critical illness, pet insurance and more

• Employer paid short-term/long-term disability and basic life insurance

• Flexible hybrid working arrangements.

• Paid parental leave and adoption reimbursement programs

• Free access to on-site staffed fitness centers (in Delaware) and gym subsidy (for locations outside Delaware)

• Confidential counseling support (EAP), Health Advocacy services and Wellness program with financial incentives

• Tuition Reimbursement and Family Scholarship Programs

• Career development and training opportunities

Not the right fit? Let us know you're interested in a future opportunity by clicking Introduce Yourself in the top-right corner of the page or create an account to set up email alerts as new job postings become available that meet your interest!

Sallie Mae is proud to be an equal opportunity (EEO) employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, age, genetic information, gender identity, disability, Veteran status or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local law. Click here to view the U.S. Pay Transparency Policy, here for federal job applicant notices, and here to view the California Employee Privacy Notice.
Reasonable accommodations are available for applicants with disabilities in all phases of the application and employment process. To request an accommodation please call [phone] and choose option 9. All information you provide will be kept confidential and will be used only to the extent required to provide needed reasonable accommodations.