Senior Product Manager, AI

Company Description

Uncommon Schools is a nonprofit network of high-performing public charter schools dedicated to providing an exceptional K-12 education in economically disadvantaged communities. Operating in Boston, Camden, New York City, Newark, and Rochester, we are committed to closing the college completion gap and preparing every student for college and beyond. Our students consistently exceed national benchmarks, reflecting our dedication to their success. We invest deeply in our educators, offering weekly coaching, feedback, and professional development to ensure excellence in teaching and leadership. Join us to work hard, do good, and make a lasting difference!

Job Description

Independent and Expert Administration of Multiple Products Your Portfolio [for example, MagicSchool)

• Champion Strategic Vision for Portfolio of Products: Set a vision for the technical management of all AI to best support Instructional, Operational, and Home Office partners’ goals
• Manage Use Cases: Deeply understand Instructional goals and use cases for the platforms (i.e. replace teacher instruction versus practice based on live instruction)
• Own Processes: Develop and manage the implementation of all processes for day-to-day platform use (i.e. Student & teacher access, reporting)
• Own Policy & User Management: Build policy resources, including user management policy around roles, access level, and responsibilities for stakeholders and the Data & IT team
• Troubleshoot: Troubleshoot & manage vendor to resolve Tier 3 issues
• Own the Product Roadmap and Maintenance Strategy: Manage system upgrades, backups, testing, and connectivity with other enterprise applications
• Build Expertise: Attend training/webinars offered by the vendor to build expertise

Be a Strategic Thought Partner with Business Process Owner(s) like Director of Curriculum and Assessment Teams or Instructional Chiefs of Staff to understand and champion the appropriate long-term vision for AI platforms.

• Process improvement: Use robust product knowledge to improve systems and processes
• Enhancements: Identify new areas/ways the product can be used (either internally and externally)
• Project Support: Support the implementation and roll-out of new applications
• Value Stream Team Management: Lead team of about 5 cross-funtional D&IT team members
• Agile: Facilitate Agile ceremonies, including backlog refinement, sprint planning, retrospective,etc.
• Planning: Leader planning for 8 to 12 weeks of work for the Value Stream Team via the Planning Increment ceremonies
• Community and Culture: Create and foster a cross-functional community by allowing space and opportunities for team members to deeply engage and collaborate with each other
• Communication: Facilitate cascading communication through cohorts to breakdown functional team silos and ensure that we are the functioning as fast, agile team

Training and documentation

• Knowledge Base: Own creation and management of all internal and school-facing Knowledge Base articles on support, troubleshooting, and best practices for all platforms to be used by all teachers and Ops leaders
• Training: Develop and Facilitate Training
• School facing: Develop and facilitate training for school leaders, which they will turnkey to their staff
• Data & IT: Help define and coordinate vendor-offered training sessions at the right level for those managing the Service Desk and Relationship Managers.
• Process Documentation: Work with School Leaders to document existing processes related to supported applications (e.g. documentation of methods and procedures of PowerSchool)

Vendor Management

• Contract & Payment: Manage the renewal and payment of the yearly contract
• Manage Relationship: Build relationships with vendors, act as liaison between vendors and Uncommon on any projects, and own school-level escalations & difficult conversations.
• Escalations: Manage vendor escalations to deliver best-in-class performance to Uncommon stakeholders

Organizational Relationships

• Work closely with Regional Superintendents, school-based Directors of Operations, Curriculum Directors, Chiefs of Staff, and members of the Data and IT Team.

Qualifications

Education Requirements:

• Bachelors Degree

Experience Requirements:

• 7-9 years of professional experience
  • 5-6 years if directly related experience
  • 5+ years in K-12 or EdTech environment 
  • 1+ year building prompt based tools leveraging LLMs (e.g. ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini)
  • Excellent project management skills within IT and educational