Associate Product Manager

Product Growth Strategy

• Plans, develops and implements comprehensive learning, practice and test solutions for the Career and Technical Education market.
• Provide product strategy leadership to assigned product core teams in order to orchestrate product planning and execution in support of sales, market reach and customer satisfaction targets.
• Participate in ongoing research and analysis to expose gaps and opportunities in the product category and learning pathway for each product line, including exam preparation products and services, SKU configuration, pricing, and bundling strategies.
• Develop and execute strategies and plans with key internal and external stakeholders to launch new products and services, and to discontinue (end of life) aging and non-performing products.

Project Initiation & Orchestration

• Ensure that requirements are collected and documented from both the client and the market to enable accurate cost and timeline estimates.
• Document & develop a business case and garner organizational support for proposed product solutions.
• Work closely with internal and third-party development project managers to ensure adherence to timelines, budgets and build requirements / specifications; and to identify and escalate risks and resolve issues.
• Gather requirements for and orchestrate necessary internal resources to streamline customer delivery and access to assigned products and services, and to meet client interface, and other 3rd-party integration efforts needed to support program growth.

Pricing, Budgeting & Reporting

• Set and annually review geo and market sector pricing for assigned products.
• Develop a proposed capital budget by product designed to maximize growth opportunities.
• Achieve annual revenue and sales goals, and support client reach metrics / goals.

Communication / Collaboration

• Train and serve as a resource to internal and external stakeholders, including sales, on-boarding, and support teams on assigned products with respect to new products, new features, target markets, and competition.
• Support sales and marketing to create presentations and demonstrations, and by serving as a ‘sales engineer’ or expert for significant opportunities.
• Collaborate with product marketing to align product goals and direction with marketing strategies.
• Support and review the marketing launch plan and outbound communication (e.g., data sheets, website, partner kits, sales tools and training) for product and service bundles / offerings.
• Work with marketing and sales on campaigns to stimulate product growth in specific regions and market sectors.
• Work with channel organization on product setup on portal, pricing and announcements to partners and active test delivery channel.

Leadership & Other Duties as Assigned

• Act as a leader within the company, using holistic program(s) perspective to encourage good business decisions across all business units.
• Establish thought leadership in the assigned product space both internally and with external audiences.
• Attend industry events in support of product research and advocacy; present if there is an opportunity.
• Become an expert with respect to the competition, and lead research, innovation and positioning to gain competitive advantage.

Qualifications

Education and Experience:

• Product management experience
• Bachelor’s degree in business, Marketing, Information Systems or equivalent
• Microsoft Office Specialist certification highly preferred

Skills, Knowledge and Abilities:

• Demonstrated / documented success defining or sourcing, launching and managing profitable products.
• Demonstrated budgeting experience and successful ownership of sales and revenue performance targets for assigned products.
• Proven track record of effectively engaging the target market: prospective and existing customers, partners and other stakeholders.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Intermediate to advanced Microsoft Office application skills, particularly in Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
• Demonstrated negotiation, collaboration and teamwork skills.
• Proven ability to influence and work effectively in cross-functional teams without line authority.

Who we are:

At Pearson, our purpose is simple: to help people realize the life they imagine through learning. We believe that every learning opportunity is a chance for a personal breakthrough. We are the world's lifelong learning company. For us, learning isn't