Senior Director Of Program Strategy & Product Development

About the Center

American Student Assistance (ASA) is creating a career navigation center. Our vision is that by 2030, we will engage more than 20 million Gen Z learners, giving them the tools, access, and experience they need to find, evaluate, finance, obtain, and flourish in degree and nondegree options that they can trust will lead to quality jobs.

We believe learners and workers, training providers, and employers are critical in helping young people, aged 16 - 24, navigate non-degree pathways and work-based learning opportunities. The Center aims to mobilize the field in youth career navigation and launch a tech experience that helps young people across the US bridge the education-to-career cliff.

About the Position

Reporting to the SVP of PR, Communications and Planning, the Senior Director of Program Strategy & Product Development will play a pivotal role in shaping ASA's program/product vision, design, and execution of a multi-pronged approach to support Gen Z learners in making navigation decisions for postsecondary education. You will be responsible for building a world-class team of product development, research, and marketing resources, lead the R&D necessary to reach a MVP, steer the development of a high-profile tech solution to engage Gen Z at scale and spearhead the go-to-market and audience acquisition strategies. You will also play a role in the Career Navigations other workstreams, such as advocacy, thought leadership, and research: networking & convenings.

This role is ideal for an innovative and strategic leader who is energized by the Gen Z career navigation landscape and has experience in the secondary/postsecondary education arena. Part strategic thinker and part project manager with the ability to execute with fidelity, the successful candidate with be an expert in end-to-end product management including product development, go to market and audience acquisition strategies, and digital marketing.

What's ASA all about?

American Student Assistance (ASA) is a pioneer of student-led career learning helping millions of middle and high schoolers plan their futures - on their terms. Our mission is to radically transform the way careers are planned and pursued, and we're doing this by creating digital tools that empower students to explore education and careers that align with their goals.

Since our founding in 1956, ASA has been at the forefront of educational innovation for middle and high school students nationwide. Our work has consistently adapted to meet their needs in a changing education landscape, and today, we're focused on developing resources and opportunities that support students during the transition from high school into their careers.

ASA is a hybrid workplace with 2 required in office workdays per week on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

Essential Functions:

Co-lead Strategy and Vision for the Center:

• Evolve and position ASA's point of view and its work around career navigation

• Set and communicate strategic goals and priorities for ASA and ensure that key initiatives, resources and budgets are aligned

• Communicate effectively with stakeholders including senior leadership, key internal and external partners, to provide updates on project progress, solicit feedback, and gain buy-in for product decisions. Manage project and product development reporting.

Co-lead Career Navigation Platform Vision and Prototype Development:

• Inform comprehensive market research efforts to identify user needs, preferences, and market trends with the Gen Z demographic.

• Co-lead product development process from ideation to prototype creation for a two-sided marketplace designed for Gen Z learners.

• Use design thinking methodologies to support development of innovative solutions that address challenges and opportunities present in the Gen Z market.

• Work closely with internal and external partners to define and prioritize product features based on user feedback and business objectives

• Build and monitor key performance indicators and analytics to measure the success of the prototype and identify areas for further optimization.

Lead Career Navigation Platform Product Development:

• Research: Help consolidate inputs to understand learner and employer motivations, competitive landscape, incentives, and demand.

• Design, Prototyping, Testing: Co-lead an effort to develop a live wireframe prototype ensuring features and benefits align with learner and employer preferences.
  
  Create detailed specifications, define features, and outline the product's purpose. Test functionality, aesthetics, and usability. Iteratively refine the design based on feedback and requirements.
  
  Test your product prototype. Evaluate its performance, durability, safety, and user experience. Address any issues or improvements identified during testing.

• Development: Lead the development of a build/buy/partner strategy determining optimal mix.
  
  Analysis the competitive landscape and make recommendations; lead conversations with partners. Manage an RFP process for a product development house and subsequent contracting process to engage vendor. Supervise the product development stages including user experience (UX) design, user interface (UI) design, and technical architecture planning. Collaborate closely with the development team, addressing any roadblocks and ensuring timely progress.

Lead the Go-to-Market, Audience Acquisition and Marketing Communications Strategy:

• Create marketing strategies and develop promotional materials to build awareness. Create a visual identity and a messaging platform for the Center. Build a web presence.

• Co-create a communication plan for internal stakeholders as well as a public product launch. Plan should include a go-to-market strategy (public relations, social media, digital advertising, etc.) and an audience acquisition strategy to drive unique users to the platform.

• Provide national thought leadership on issues related to domains of expertise, including through speaking engagements at high-profile events, op-eds, publications, and social media; represent ASA on the national stage.

Experience:

A Successful Candidate:

• Is an innovative, subject matter expert in the career navigation landscape with experiences in K-20 education and have demonstrated experiences in product management, relationship management, partnership development, project management and collaboration.

• Possess a strong product background including proficiency in product development management principles, methodologies, and best practices. You possess a deep understanding of product development processes, including ideation, prototyping, testing, and refinement. You bring experience defining roadmaps, prioritizing features, managing product lifecycles, particularly introduction and growth stage product.

• Has a strong proficiency in conducting market research, which includes leveraging competitive analysis, and customer interviews to gather insights and inform product decisions.

• Is well versed in leveraging KPIs and metrics to measure product success and drive business growth, particularly of new product models.

Skills:

• Excellent verbal and written communication skills: Superior communication skills are mandatory.
  
  Must be able to communicate both verbally and in writing with all levels of management including senior leaders. Outstanding presentation and negotiation skills: superior success influencing up, down and across an organization; influencing without authority. Superior writing skills; including synthesizing multiple business priorities into coherent, relevant and impactful communications/presentations. Must be able to distill large amounts of information into easily digestible pieces for consumption and have a keen ability to adapt messages for audience relevance

• Strong business acumen, strategic thinking and decision-making skills: Must possess a strong business acumen with the ability to quickly understand the company's diverse landscape of people, systems, and processes.
  
  Must have demonstrated business savviness, business sense and business understanding with a keenness and quickness in understanding and dealing with a business situation (risks and opportunities) in a manner that is likely to lead to a good outcome. Much be self-sufficient and possess the ability to select between two or more alternatives to reach the best outcome in the shortest time. Must be able to evaluate risks and opportunities and make the best decisions to achieve the company's goals.
  
  Must demonstrate a strong ability to analyze problems, showing logical reasoning skills, and an ability to communicate solutions. Also, must display a high level of emotional intelligence.

• Strong interpersonal skills: Ability to quickly establish a good rapport with all contacts.
  
  Ability to motivate others in order to accomplish objectives and build consensus. Must be able to work with all levels of the organization as well as with content contributors and organizational partners. Must be able to fluently and confidently converse with all levels of the business. Having great facilitation skills and experience leading teams is a must.

• Excellent organizational ability: Must be detail-oriented, process-driven, able to prioritize own work, set and meet deadlines, and manage multiple projects simultaneously.
  
  Must have the ability to handle a high volume of work in a short period of time and be able to organize and assimilate information across multiple business units in a succinct manner. Ability to effectively prioritize and execute tasks in a high-pressure environment is crucial. History of successfully developing/delivering programs that support company vision and build thought leadership brand awareness/sentiment.
  
  Outstanding track record of managing large scale projects as evidenced by working with large cross-functional groups/managing multiple vendors and completing projects on time/on budget. Must be able to create and present project briefs, proposals & playbooks and develop detailed project plans for execution.