Ascend Learning, Inc.
Director, Product Mgmt (Healthcare)
Ascend Learning; LLC (http://www.ascendlearning.com/) is a leading provider of technology-based educational, curriculum and assessment solutions for high-growth careers in a range of industries, including healthcare, fitness and wellness, and insurance and financial services. We provide outcomes-based solutions aimed at helping people enter, sustain and succeed in their chosen fields. Ascend employs more than 1,000 employees, with headquarters in Burlington, Mass., and offices in Kansas City metro, Phoenix metro, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Walnut Creek, California, Ann Arbor, Michigan, New York and the U.K.
As one of the nation's largest health career certification providers, NHA https://www.nhanow.com/, a division of Ascend Learning, delivers accredited professional credentialing and educational resources across eight healthcare professions that elevate professional training and ultimately lead to better patient care. NHA partners with colleges, career programs, pharmacies, and healthcare providers across the nation to help improve student achievement, educational outcomes, and practitioner competency.
The Director of Product Management drives product strategy, development, and implementation of products and enhancements that result in highly satisfied customers, market leadership, and NHA business growth. This position leads a team of product managers and a content strategist with responsibilities for the development of products in allied health education, professional certification, and professional development. The scope of this role spans creation and execution of solutions from ideation and validation through market launch and post-launch support to satisfy ongoing product adoption and usage. The Director is accountable for the achievement of product growth objectives including revenue, profitability, market share, customer satisfaction and ROI.
Job Responsibilities:
• Develop an effective product strategy and roadmap, driving allied health profession and channel solutions that support revenue growth and market leadership.
• Lead the identification of urgent and pervasive customer needs, utilizing effective research strategies to obtain market information and validate conceptual solutions.
• Research, document and advise on competitive products and industry shifts that may affect product, pricing, and market.
• Own business cases for new products and services by modeling pricing, forecasting product potential, and providing direction on financial outcomes of proposed solutions.
• Direct product team in the creation of business requirements for new product and enhancements to existing products by working closely with business and project teams on content and functional specifications as well as feature and function prioritization.
• Oversee the development and launch of products. Lead team in ownership of capital budget, timeline, and functionality prioritization to ensure on-time, on-budget delivery.
• Own the go-to-market strategy as the leader of a cross-functional business team, providing product direction on positioning and messaging, customer benefits, sales/marketing product materials, promotion, and training. Guide cross-functional teams to ensure delivery and implementation of products meets revenue and customer satisfaction goals.
• Manage and develop a high-performance product team that drives the overall execution of product lifecycle management including strategy, development, launch, and adoption of products/solutions.
Education and Experience:
• Bachelor's degree. Master's preferred.
• Seven plus years of demonstrated success in a product management, content development, or product development role.
• Five to seven years of experience managing a product team, preferably inclusive of product managers and content developers.
• Experience building, marketing or selling product into education and healthcare markets preferred.
• Experience with building complex, technical platform solutions is preferred.
Skills and Abilities:
• Advanced leadership skills with a proven ability to think strategically. Demonstrated ability to create and implement strategy.
• Critically and objectively analyze market needs and pain points in a concise and compelling fashion to determine viable product solutions.
• Ability to understand the dynamics of the health and academic markets.
• Strong leadership, communication and people management skills.
• Forecast product needs and results including financial planning, resourcing, sales projections, and marketing needs.
• Executive presence and the ability to influence at all levels within the company and within the client base.
• Critical thinking and demonstrable creativity for problem solving.
• Excellent prioritization skills based on customer needs and business unit requirements.
• Effectively manage department and individual performance through a KPI driven approach.
• Market and competitive research expertise.
Ascend Learning, LLC is proud to be an equal opportunity employer (M/F/Vets/Disabled). No agency or search firm submissions will be accepted. Applications for U.S. based positions with Ascend Learning, LLC must be legally authorized to work in the United States and verification of employment eligibility will be required at the time of hire.