Senior Product Manager

Company Description

More than 50 years ago, Walden University was founded to support adult learners in achieving their academic goals and making a greater impact in their professions and communities. Students from across the U.S. and more than 115 countries are pursuing a certificate, bachelor’s, master’s or doctoral degree online at Walden.

We offer more than 100 online degrees and certificate programs. Walden University is accredited by The Higher Learning Commission (hlcommission.org). Visit WaldenU.edu for more information, and follow Walden on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

We operate on a hybrid schedule with four in-office days per week (Monday–Thursday). This approach enhances creativity, innovation, communication, and relationship-building, fostering a dynamic and collaborative work environment.
 

Job Description

The Senior Product Manager owns a vertical product portfolio and is accountable for new enrollment growth within it, weighted toward enrollment in recently launched programs. You decide what we build, what we upgrade, and what we retire, and you bring it to market faster than we do today.

You operate as part of a standing cross-functional team for your vertical that brings together product, marketing, academic leadership, enrollment, student success, and operations. The team meets on a regular cadence and carries shared accountability for total enrollment in the vertical. Your seat at that table is the growth of the product portfolio: making new and upgraded programs a larger, more reliable driver of enrollment.

What You Own

• Recommend which programs in your portfolio launch, upgrade, or sunset each quarter, and carry those recommendations into regularly scheduled decision meetings. Ensure decisions occur in the room and are carried out with speed and fidelity.
• Design the features of new and upgraded offerings: modality, pacing, credit structure, stackability, credential type, and pricing inputs.
• Build and defend the business case behind every recommendation, including addressable demand, competitive position, employment outlook, enrollment forecast, cost to build, and contribution over the life of the program.
• Own the P&L and the multi-year plan for your portfolio.
• Drive cycle time and throughput. Hold the plan for each program in development, name the constraint the moment a launch is at risk, and escalate early rather than absorbing slippage.
• Bring the customer and employer view into the room. Use labor market projections, competitor scans, student research, and field intelligence from our B2B team to decide what to build, rather than defend what already exists.
• Complete other duties as assigned.

Where You Provide Support

• Provide consultative support to Category Marketers on positioning, naming, and messaging for the programs in your portfolio.
• Support academic leaders in shaping programs of study for new and upgraded offerings.
• Provide guidance to the Business Operations Manager on launch process and project execution.
• Set tactical growth priorities for the vertical jointly with the academic leader and the Category Marketer.
• Contribute to the continued competitiveness, accreditation, and regulatory standing of the existing portfolio alongside academic and compliance partners.

How Success Is Measured

• New enrollment growth in your vertical
• Total enrollment in your vertical, shared with your cross-functional partners.
• Enrollment contribution from recently launched and upgraded programs.
• Cycle time from approved concept to first term of enrollment.
• Launch throughput against the annual product roadmap.
• Portfolio contribution against plan

Qualifications

Required

• Bachelor’s degree.
• Five (5) to ten (10) years in product management, product strategy, or a closely related discipline, including ownership of a portfolio P&L.
• Track record of taking products from concept to market, with a specific account of what you did to compress the timeline.
• Ability to make and defend a build or no-build call using demand evidence rather than internal preference.
• Proven success operating through influence across academic, marketing, enrollment, and operations partners, none of whom report to you.
• Strong quantitative and financial skills: forecasting, business case construction, data