Why This Role MattersLiteracy changes life trajectories. At Really Great Reading, we build digital learning experiences that strengthen educator capacity and confidence and help students develop the skills they need to become successful readers. Our vision is a world where every student joyfully learns to read, supported by instruction and tools that deliver measurable outcomes.
The Product Owner helps connect instructional expertise, technology, and classroom needs. By shaping clear problems, collaborating on practical solutions, and learning from product data and educator feedback, this role helps create intuitive, accessible experiences across our student, teacher, and administrator tools.
Success in this role means consistently delivering useful, high-quality product improvements; translating instructional and user needs into well-defined solutions; embedding accessibility throughout the product experience; and using evidence to understand whether our work makes a meaningful difference.
The RoleWe are seeking a collaborative, technically fluent Product Owner to support the continuous improvement of Really Great Reading's digital learning platforms, including existing products and new product initiatives.
Working within a Shape Up environment, you will partner with engineers, curriculum experts, designers, and teams across the business to frame problems, shape solutions, and support execution. You will bring a hands-on approach to user flows, wireframes, and AI-assisted prototyping while helping teams make thoughtful decisions about scope, usability, accessibility, and technical tradeoffs.
The ideal candidate can move comfortably between instructional goals, user experience, and technical conversations. They ask thoughtful questions, communicate clearly, and keep the team focused on solutions that reflect the Science of Reading and the realities of classroom instruction.
What You'll DoProblem Framing, Shaping, and Delivery- Partner with Curriculum, Digital Content, UX Research, business leaders, and other stakeholders to identify user needs and define clear, actionable problems.
- Write concise briefs that explain the problem, intended outcomes, supporting evidence, and relevant constraints.
- Collaborate with senior engineers to shape solutions within the time and resources available for a build cycle.
- Sketch user flows, surface technical dependencies, evaluate tradeoffs, and develop pitches that give build teams clear direction.
- Support execution by clarifying product intent, resolving open questions, and helping teams make scope decisions.
- Bring instructional best practices and classroom realities into product decisions across connected student, teacher, and administrator experiences.
Product Performance and Platform Support- Develop a strong working knowledge of existing platforms and new product initiatives.
- Triage escalated product questions, reported issues, and enhancement requests, coordinating with the appropriate teams.
- Analyze product usage, educator feedback, and other evidence to understand adoption, usability, and the impact of released improvements.
- Use findings between build cycles to inform future problem framing and product priorities.
- Help translate student data into clear information that supports educators' instructional decisions.
UI Design, Prototyping, and Accessibility- Create wireframes, user flows, and interactive prototypes to explore solutions, support discussion, and test ideas quickly.
- Use AI-assisted design and prototyping tools alongside sound UI practices and human judgment.
- Champion accessible experiences across educator-facing tools and interactive student learning activities.
- Partner with engineering to identify and resolve accessibility barriers, support WCAG compliance, and improve compatibility with assistive technologies.
- Incorporate accessibility into problem framing, design, and delivery.
Cross-Functional Collaboration and Enablement- Work closely with Technology, Content, Professional Learning, Sales, Marketing, and Customer Support to build shared understanding of product needs and changes.
- Communicate product decisions, scope, dependencies, and tradeoffs clearly to technical and nontechnical audiences.
- Translate technical functionality into useful release notes, FAQs, and internal training materials.
- Equip customer-facing teams to explain product updates and support educators effectively.
What You BringRequired Qualifications- Experience as a Product Owner or Product Manager working on education technology, interactive learning games, or SaaS digital products.
- Experience working in Shape Up or a similar software development framework focused on outcomes, with a track record of regularly shipping functional, high-quality software.
- Demonstrated experience addressing digital accessibility across educator-facing platforms and interactive student learning experiences, including WCAG compliance, assistive technology compatibility, and inclusive user experience.
- Hands-on experience creating user flows, wireframes, and rapid prototypes, including the use of AI-assisted design tools.
- Technical fluency and the ability to discuss data models, APIs, system constraints, dependencies, and tradeoffs with engineers.
- Experience using product usage data and user feedback to inform priorities, assess results, and make scope decisions.
- Knowledge of the Science of Reading, K-12 public school workflows, and classroom instructional delivery.
- Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to frame problems clearly and explain complex functionality in accessible language.
- Ability to collaborate effectively across technical, instructional, and customer-facing teams.
Preferred Qualifications- A bachelor's or advanced degree in Education, Computer Science, Design, Business, or a related field. A degree is beneficial but is not required.
Physical RequirementsThis is a fully remote role. Team members work primarily at a computer and regularly engage in video conferencing, document review, and digital collaboration. The ability to work at a screen for extended periods, use standard input devices, and participate in virtual meetings is required.
