Senior Director, Product - BigFuture.org
Remote - USA
Full time
College Board – BigFuture
100% Remote
About the Team
BigFuture reaches over 7 million students each year and is the leading free online resource for College, Scholarship, and Career Exploration. Our BigFuture product team is committed to helping every student own their future. BigFuture consists of three integrated product offerings that serve both students and higher education institutions:
- BigFuture.org provides students and families with tools to explore colleges, discover scholarships, understand how to pay for college, and learn about career pathways. It empowers all students to unlock opportunities that match their aspirations and financial needs.
- BigFuture School is a privacy-forward mobile app that supports students and educators at participating K-12 schools in making critical connections between students’ unique strengths and interests and future pathway opportunities. Students can connect with over 1,500 higher education institutions and receive messages tailored to their interests and goals—putting them in the driver’s seat of their journey.
- College Enrollment Solutions enable higher education institutions to authentically engage in student relevant recruitment efforts to advance college access. Through tools like Search and Connections, colleges can discover and reach a broad population of students from more than 25,000 high schools nationwide.
Our BigFuture team collaborates deeply with other divisions including Technology, Research, College Readiness Assessments, Strategic Higher Education, State & District Partnerships, Engagement and Reach, Legal, and Finance.
About the Opportunity
As the Senior Director, Product – BigFuture.org, you will lead the strategy and execution for BigFuture.org, guiding a portfolio of features that help millions of students plan for college and careers. Bringing deep product management expertise and proven experience leading teams, you will drive meaningful outcomes for students, higher education, and K–12 partners while advancing BigFuture’s long-term vision.
Reporting to the VP of BigFuture Product, you will define product strategy, set clear priorities, and lead a team delivering user-centered, scalable solutions. You’ll collaborate closely with engineering, UX, and cross-functional partners to ensure every decision is grounded in user insight and business impact. This highly collaborative role requires strategic thinking, excellent communication, and the ability to manage complexity while aligning product delivery with organizational goals and enabling successful go-to-market execution.
As a people leader, you will foster a culture of accountability, inclusivity, and continuous improvement—empowering product managers to succeed and grow. This is a unique opportunity to make a lasting impact on the postsecondary journeys of students and families, working at the intersection of product innovation, mission, and scale.
In this role you will:
Product Portfolio Ownership (60%)
- Own the BigFuture.org product portfolio, prioritizing short-, medium- and long-term enhancements that grow participation, improve usability, and support operational and financial sustainability.
- Lead the product team in defining and executing a compelling strategy and roadmap that meets student needs, advances business goals, and delivers high-quality, user-centered experiences.
- Oversee successful product delivery, ensuring launches achieve defined outcomes, drive measurable impact, and reflect College Board’s mission to support student success.
- Develop and refine product plans based on continuous user research, market analysis, and stakeholder feedback from internal teams, students, educators, and higher education partners.
- Drive confident, data-informed decisions, resolve risks and blockers, and lead teams through iterative validation while ensuring transparency and alignment with cross-functional stakeholders throughout.
- Communicate complex technical concepts clearly and accessibly to non-technical audiences to drive shared understanding and informed decision-making.
- Ensure cohesive and effective go-to-market (GTM) planning and execution for product launches, aligning cross-functional partners to drive adoption, engagement, and measurable impact.
Strategic Product Leadership (20%)
- Champion BigFuture’s product strategy internally and externally, articulating value and driving alignment across the College Board and partner ecosystem.
- Collaborate with senior leaders to identify opportunities, coordinate roadmaps across interdependent teams, monitor product analytics and user feedback, and ensure compliance and risk mitigation.
- Translate high-level strategic goals into actionable priorities that guide product planning and cross-functional delivery.
People Leadership & Team Development (20%)
- Manage and mentor a team of product managers, fostering a culture of clarity, accountability, and high performance.
- Set vision and priorities for the team, track and manage progress to goals, and provide support to ensure team members meet and exceed goals, remain engaged, and contribute meaningfully to our mission.
- Cultivate an inclusive and high achieving culture that enables all team members to live out College Board’s Operating Principles.
- Bring proven leadership experience and consistently embody College Board’s Manager Expectations in your work.
- Lead effective onboarding, support continuous learning, provide regular coaching, and oversee performance management to build a strong and engaged team.
About You
To qualify for this role, you must have:
- 8+ years of experience in product management including 3+ years of experience leading product teams and managing product portfolios
- Experience in K–12, higher education, or educational technology is a strong plus
- Experience working with AI or demonstrate a strong curiosity to learn more
- Strong fluency with end-to-end product lifecycle experience - from inception and design to development, implementation, and launch.
- Hands-on experience working in an Agile product development environment, collaborating closely with cross-functional teams
- A strategic and inclusive leadership style: you set clear priorities, build effective team structures, plan for future needs, and foster a culture of belonging
- A proven ability to drive performance and growth: you set high expectations, deliver real-time, evidence-based feedback, and coach team members to take smart risks, stretch their skills, and achieve meaningful impact
- A customer-centric approach combined with strong organizational awareness; you’re curious and adaptable with tremendous learning agility
- Strong analytical skills, using both quantitative data and qualitative insights to define problems and develop effective solutions
- A proven track record of building trusted, productive relationships with internal teams and external stakeholders
- Exceptional communication skills with a proven ability to develop compelling business cases, secure buy-in from senior leadership and stakeholders, and tailor messaging for diverse audiences, including executive and external partners
- A proactive, ownership-first mindset; you take initiative, solve problems independently, and follow through with purpose and accountability
- The ability to travel 6-8 times a year to College Board offices or on behalf of College Board business
All roles at College Board require:
- Authorization to work in the United States for any employer
- A passion for expanding educational and career opportunities and mission-driven work
- Curiosity and enthusiasm for emerging technologies, with a willingness to experiment with and adopt new AI-driven solutions and a comfort learning and applying new digital tools independently and proactively.
- Clear and concise communication skills, written and verbal
- A learner's mindset and a commitment to growth: welcoming diverse perspectives, giving and receiving timely, respectful feedback, and continuously improving through iterative learning and user input.
- A drive for impact and excellence: solving complex problems, making data-informed decisions, prioritizing what matters most, and continuously improving through learning, user input, and external benchmarking.
- A collaborative and empathetic approach: working across differences, fostering trust, and contributing to a culture of shared success.
About Our Process
- Application review will begin immediately and will continue until the position is filled. This role is expected to accept applications for a minimum of 5 business days.
- While the hiring process may vary, it generally includes: resume and application submission, recruiter phone/video screen, hiring manager interview, performance exercise such as live coding, a panel interview, a conversation with leadership and reference checks.
What We Offer
At College Board, we offer more than just a paycheck—we provide a meaningful career, a supportive team, and a comprehensive package designed to help you thrive. We’re a self-sustaining nonprofit that believes in fair and competitive compensation, grounded in your qualifications, experience, impact, and the market.
A Thoughtful Approach to Compensation
- The hiring range for this role is $120,000 – $175,000.
- Your exact salary will depend on your location, experience, and how your background compares to others in similar roles at the College Board.
- We aim to make our best offer upfront—rooted in fairness, transparency, and market data.
- We adjust salaries by location to ensure fairness, no matter where you live.
You’ll have open, transparent conversations about compensation, benefits, and what it’s like to work at College Board throughout your hiring process. Check out our careers page for more.
#LI-MS1
#LI-REMOTE