Tech­no­log­i­cal inno­va­tion is the next great fron­tier for the Edu­ca­tion mar­ket and Cen­gage wants to be num­ber one.

Cen­gage Learn­ing believes that engage­ment is the foun­da­tion of learn­ing… Engage­ment is at their core and the focus is on engag­ing with learn­ers, both in the class­room and beyond, to ensure the most effec­tive prod­uct design, learn­ing solu­tions and per­son­al­ized ser­vices – all to help peo­ple learn.

They under­stand that an engaged learn­er is a suc­cess­ful one and are lead­ing the tran­si­tion to dig­i­tal with a unique fac­ul­ty AND stu­dent per­spec­tive to trans­form learn­ing through engage­ment. Their name itself rein­forces this core com­mit­ment – “engage” is at the “cen­ter” of all they do.

The Prod­uct Man­ag­er is account­able for the per­for­mance of the entire Soci­ol­o­gy port­fo­lio with a strong focus on dig­i­tal prod­ucts. Sr. Prod­uct Man­agers devel­op the strate­gic vision and plans for their own dis­ci­plines and over­see the exe­cu­tion of those plans, from the con­cep­tu­al­iza­tion to the deliv­ery of prod­ucts for that port­fo­lio. They may also man­age Prod­uct Assis­tants, guid­ing the team to ulti­mate­ly offer a holis­tic set of course offer­ings and mar­ket-lead­ing products.

Prod­uct Man­agers are respon­si­ble for max­i­miz­ing the val­ue of their prod­uct lines and are account­able for the over­all per­for­mance of their port­fo­lio. They are respon­si­ble for a discipline/product clus­ter P&L and for lead­ing an aligned prod­uct team to meet or exceed busi­ness tar­gets, devel­op­ing new prod­ucts based on mar­ket require­ments, and increas­ing the prof­itabli­ty of exist­ing prod­ucts. They man­age authors, con­tent devel­op­ment, pro­duc­tion, man­u­fac­tur­ing, mar­ket­ing, and sales staff to ensure suc­cess­ful launch and posi­tion­ing of the prod­uct line to the marketplace.

Through cus­tomer research and mar­ket analy­sis, they devel­op the prod­uct strat­e­gy for a defined port­fo­lio, iden­ti­fy­ing growth oppor­tu­ni­ties, per­form­ing seg­men­ta­tion, and deter­min­ing busi­ness objec­tives. Sr. Prod­uct Man­agers are expect­ed to be the mar­ket expert in their assigned prod­uct line, the com­pet­i­tive land­scape, and how the prod­uct line can evolve to ful­ly meet the needs of end users. This posi­tion reports to the Prod­uct Director.

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Who is the ide­al Prod­uct Man­ag­er for Cen­gage Learning?

Serve as vision­ary, project leader, and advo­cate for the port­fo­lio with­in the com­pa­ny and for cus­tomers. Excel­lence at devel­op­ing and artic­u­lat­ing vision and strat­e­gy that meet busi­ness goals; strong pre­sen­ta­tion and com­mu­ni­ca­tion skills. Demon­strat­ed strate­gic agili­ty. Proven record with strat­e­gy cre­ation and exe­cu­tion. Leads and directs a cus­tomer-focused team through the prod­uct life­cy­cle devel­op­ment at all lev­els, from research to exe­cu­tion. Respon­si­ble for over­all strate­gic vision and plan for prod­ucts and the entire port­fo­lio in order to achieve or exceed strate­gic goals for mar­ket share, top-line, and prof­it growth.

Under­stands and exe­cutes on essen­tial aspects of learn­ing design with empha­sis on dig­i­tal learn­ing solu­tions that address cus­tomer work­flow and learn­ing chal­lenges. Pos­sess­es abil­i­ty to bring win­ning cus­tomer dri­ven solu­tions to mar­ket in an effec­tive and effi­cient man­ner that inte­grate all asso­ci­at­ed dimen­sions. Makes sound, mar­ket-informed and data-dri­ven busi­ness pro­pos­als for invest­ment and oth­er strate­gic deci­sions. Man­age a prof­itable P&L and devel­op a strate­gic busi­ness plan for assigned port­fo­lio. Must be objec­tive and will­ing to make hard choic­es regard­ing invest­ment pri­or­i­ti­za­tion for the good of the over­all organization.

Bring cus­tomer-focused solu­tions that have strong val­ue propo­si­tions, meet demon­strat­ed mar­ket needs, and pro­vide unique com­pet­i­tive advan­tage. Antic­i­pate dis­ci­pline and indus­try trends, with a focus on dig­i­tal learn­ing solu­tions ground­ed in a mar­ket knowl­edge gained through data-dri­ven mar­ket research. Man­age prod­uct life­cy­cle of mul­ti­ple prod­ucts simul­ta­ne­ous­ly with­in scope and bud­get. Sug­gest and mon­i­tor pro­duc­tion bud­gets and schedules.

Pas­sion for dig­i­tal learn­ing prod­ucts. Peo­ple man­age­ment and expe­ri­ence bring­ing con­tent-based learn­ing solu­tions to mar­ket in high­er edu­ca­tion. Cre­ativ­i­ty. Abil­i­ty to cham­pi­on and exe­cute mar­ket-ori­ent­ed new and inno­v­a­tive approach­es, ideas, meth­ods, process­es, prod­ucts and services.

Works close­ly and effec­tive­ly with col­leagues in oth­er func­tion­al areas (Devel­op­ment, Pro­duc­tion, Mar­ket­ing, Sales, Tech­nol­o­gy, etc.) to con­vey the strate­gic vision for the discipline/product clus­ter, pro­vides can­did feed­back that sup­ports the vision and exe­cu­tion and which leads to goal achieve­ment. Pos­sess­es an under­stand­ing of dig­i­tal func­tion­al­i­ty and how con­tent is best uti­lized to com­mu­ni­cate infor­ma­tion, etc.; can “speak dig­i­tal” as well as print. A deep under­stand­ing of finan­cial and busi­ness met­rics, includ­ing P&L state­ments, con­ver­sion rates, sell-through, mar­ket share, attri­tion, gross mar­gin, cus­tomer sat­is­fac­tion, and reten­tion rates.

Under­stand­ing of dig­i­tal met­rics includ­ing attach rates, dig­i­tal pen­e­tra­tion, and enroll­ment sta­tis­tics. Cus­tomer-focused; has a track record of cre­at­ing suc­cess­ful prod­ucts by deter­min­ing cus­tomer needs and chal­lenges and trans­lat­ing those to prod­uct and val­ue sto­ry for the mar­ket. Pro­fi­cient with Word, Excel, Pow­er­Point, and an MBA, Master’s Degree prefer­able. Min­i­mum 5+ years rel­e­vant and suc­cess­ful prod­uct man­age­ment, mar­ket­ing, sales, or devel­op­ment expe­ri­ence. Strong nego­ti­a­tion and influ­ence skills and must have abil­i­ty to trav­el as much as 25%.

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What does the com­pa­ny have to say about their services?

Cen­gage Learn­ing is a lead­ing edu­ca­tion­al con­tent, tech­nol­o­gy, and ser­vices com­pa­ny for the high­er edu­ca­tion and K‑12, pro­fes­sion­al and library mar­kets world­wide. The com­pa­ny pro­vides supe­ri­or con­tent, per­son­al­ized ser­vices and course-dri­ven dig­i­tal solu­tions that accel­er­ate stu­dent engage­ment and trans­form the learn­ing expe­ri­ence. Cen­gage Learn­ing is head­quar­tered in Boston, MA with oper­a­tions in more than 20 coun­tries around the world.