Job Type
Full-time
ABOUT THE SENIOR PRODUCT MANAGER ROLEReporting to the VP of Engineering, the Senior Product Manager of the Open edX® Project will join a worldwide open-source community that is collaborating to build the leading open-source platform for learning online. In this role, they will own the full product development lifecycle for our broad-access bundle, with a goal of significantly increasing US market share by updating the platform with rich new features-including integrated content, comprehensive student support, and a modern credentialing system-all while maintaining a low-cost, high-quality offering with no per-learner fees. They will work closely with the Ecosystem Development, Engineering and Product teams to bring this work to fruition.
Axim is headquartered in the heart of Kendall Square in Cambridge, MA. This role may be hybrid (for an employee based in MA, ME, NH, RI or VT) or remote (for an employee based in CO, MD or MI). This role requires travel to 6-8 events per year. Additionally, all staff are required to attend in-person programming in Axim's Cambridge, MA office three times a year.
Strategy & Market Definition - Own the vision, strategy, and product definition for a packaged Open edX® offering for community colleges and other broad-access institutions, translating market needs, institutional constraints, and ecosystem capabilities into a coherent solution.
- Conduct user and institutional research and ground the offering in how broad-access institutions actually operate in terms of procurement, budget cycles, staffing, and IT capacity.
- Map the institutional journey from evaluation through implementation and renewal, identifying where service is the constraint.
- Define and maintain a prioritized roadmap tied to adoption KPIs and Axim's 3-5 year plan.
- Design the offering to be sellable, serviceable, and low cost to operate at scale, including packaging and pricing that balance institutional affordability with sustainable delivery.
- Track competitive alternatives, commercial LMS, hosted Open edX® providers, and how they bundle technology and services.
Delivery & Adoption- Lead complex, multi-team initiatives across Axim, ecosystem providers, and contractors; partner with engineering and design to ship, writing the requirements that earn stakeholder sign-off.
- Define the delivery model for bundled services, implementation, training, support, including who delivers each and how quality is assured.
- Drive go-to-market readiness: release notes, help content, and institutional onboarding materials.
- Partner with business development to qualify and close institutional opportunities, incorporating learning back into the offering.
- Own the business case: cost-to-serve, demand forecasts, and the trade-offs behind pricing decisions.
Leadership & Ecosystem Influence- Contribute actively to Open edX® community groups and facilitate initiatives in relevant domains, aligning shared work with ecosystem providers and identifying relevant capabilities to fold into the offering.
- Earn and maintain core contributor status as a product leader in the community.
- Surface and communicate technical, cost, and cross-functional trade-offs; decide soundly but quickly, with community input.
- Adapt audience communication from engineers to college administrators to funders.
- Mentor Product Managers and strengthen team practice through thought partnership, product requirements document (PRD) review and feedback.
Requirements
Basic Qualifications: - Passion for education access and equity, and alignment with Axim's mission.
- At least 7 years of experience in product management
- Excellent communication skills, written, verbal, and public speaking, with the ability to represent an organization credibly to senior external audiences.
- Comfort operating in messy, unstructured problem spaces, with genuine enthusiasm for ambiguity rather than just tolerance for it.
- Strong, core agile product management toolkit, including experience creating user stories, developing roadmaps, prioritizing work, and producing other artifacts to manage delivery and communicate plans.
- Experience driving new products or features through the full product development lifecycle.
- Strong curiosity for learning new things, with the ability to develop a deep understanding of all key components of the platform.
- Ability to work iteratively, delivering incremental value to customers while understanding tradeoffs and making them appropriately based on the information at hand.
- Excellent cross-group communication and collaboration skills, including conflict resolution, presentation, and negotiation.
- Data-driven approach to decision-making, with comfort defining metrics and using data insights to proactively update processes and identify new opportunities.
- Experience in vendor management or collaborating with partners outside the organization to achieve business outcomes.
- Ability to balance a portfolio of work, some delivered personally, some delivered through others, while providing oversight and guidance.
Additional Qualifications and Skills: - Experience mentoring or leading a small team, acting as a formal people manager is a plus.
- Experience working with or on open-source projects or community-driven projects is a plus
- Experience operating and thriving in a results focused, fast-paced environment.
- Ability to speak both technical and non-technical languages to bridge engineering with other parts of the organization to facilitate problem solving.
- Experience in the education technology (edtech) sector and familiarity with the Open edX® platform or similar open-source learning platforms, particularly learning management systems or higher education institutions.
- International experience or cultural fluency, given the global nature of the Open edX® platform service provider ecosystem.
This role is exempt under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). This role is not eligible for visa sponsorship.
Salary range: $187,000- $225,000
Benefits Statement We offer a comprehensive benefits package including comprehensive medical and dental insurance, generous paid time off, paid parental leave, life and disability insurance, a competitive 401(k) plan and a generous employer match.
Salary Description
$187,000- $225,000
