Senior Director, Product - Education

Common Sense Media • Full-time • San Francisco, California, United States • $140k - $166.20k / year • 3w ago

Senior Director, Product – Education

Common Sense Media is dedicated to improving the lives of kids and families by providing the trustworthy information, education, and independent voice they need to thrive. Our ratings, research, and resources reach more than 150 million users worldwide and 1.4 million educators every year. Learn more at .

Job Overview

We are seeking an experienced product leader to manage the strategy and execution of Common Sense Media's educator-facing platforms. The Senior Director of Product will drive the vision, road map, and cross-functional development of digital tools and curriculum delivery systems that empower K–12 educators and support students' digital literacy and well-being.

The Senior Director of Product will play a pivotal role in translating Common Sense Media's world-class research and curriculum into engaging, scalable, and effective products. This role requires a strong mix of partner and stakeholder management, strategic thinking, user empathy, technical fluency, and executional excellence—alongside a passion for improving student outcomes and educator experiences via digital products.

Location: San Francisco, California

Reports to: Vice President, Product Innovation & Growth

Salary: $140,000–$166,250

Type: Full-time, exempt

What You'll Do

Lead work with cross-functional leadership and external partners to develop strategy, systems, and frameworks to define and evolve Common Sense Media's education product in service of Common Sense's mission and strategic organizational goals. Help source and evaluate opportunities that balance organizational goals with mission objectives via expert frameworks and industry best practices.
Act as the recognized expert in the edtech industry: pedagogy, school systems, classroom realities, competitors, and trends. Act as a recognized expert in incorporating AI into edtech and product development, including sourcing and assessing possibilities, curricular grounding, privacy, and tech industry best practices in AI adoption. Incorporate industry and domain knowledge into product decisions and broader strategic discussions.
In partnership with Marketing, Education, Curriculum, and Research teams, translate field insights, educational frameworks, and research into intuitive, engaging digital experiences for education leadership, teachers, and classrooms. Drive buy-in and alignment from other teams, delivering cross-team solutions and building systems that other teams can leverage. Structure and drive cross-functional prioritization negotiations.
In partnership with the Education team, represent Common Sense Media to high-profile external organizations, grant-making organizations, and educators, including relationship-building conversations, proposal discussions, and presentations to the field.
In partnership with Engineering, deliver the development of digital experiences for educators and students, including curriculum tools, professional learning resources, lesson planning platforms, and integration with school systems. Act as lead to the Education product development team, enabling impactful, high-quality throughput. Lead multiple product-development work streams from concept through delivery, including product briefs, feature specs, implementation planning, and QA oversight.
With support from Engineering and Data partners, build and deliver high-quality data-driven insights and reporting, including data and testing strategy in alignment with overall goals. Become the acknowledged expert in the education product at scale: identify insights in data presented, author analysis strategy that will produce powerful findings, and direct and perform analysis that results in high-priority, actionable insights. Analyze product performance and usage data to assess impact, identify areas for improvement, and drive engagement and adoption in classrooms.
Deliver major cross-functional projects on time to support school partners' academic calendars, including defining, tracking, and reporting on timelines and managing sprint teams in collaboration with Design, Engineering, and Education stakeholders. In support of timely delivery, facilitate backlog grooming, sprint planning, and delivery cycles.
Oversee the strategy and execution of user research and testing, ensuring that educator and student feedback is central to product decisions.
As needed, supervise and mentor Product Managers, Associate Product Managers, and interns, fostering a high-performing and mission-aligned team.
Work closely with internal and external stakeholders—including education partners, school districts, and policy advisors—to ensure alignment and responsiveness to the tactical needs of the field. Stay informed on relevant digital trends, classroom technologies, platform interoperability (e.g., LMS integrations), and privacy regulations such as COPPA and FERPA.
Conduct competitive and market research to inform product optimization and positioning, and to uncover strategic opportunities in the K–12 education space.

What We're Looking For

5 + years of product management experience, preferably with a focus on K–12 education technology, edtech platforms, or educator tools.
Strong technical fluency and ability to collaborate effectively with engineers (coding not required).
Effective management of cross-functional teams through all phases of the product development lifecycle, from product strategy to discovery, launch, and iteration.
Strong communication, facilitation, and consensus-building skills across diverse teams and stakeholders, including high-profile external partners.
Proven track record of effectively building data strategy and using data to inform product decisions. Ability to define and track success metrics tied to engagement, reach, and learning outcomes.
Passion for Common Sense's mission to support student well-being, digital literacy, and digital citizenship through trusted, research-based tools.
Preferred: MA Ed (e.g., Learning Design & Technology), M.Ed, or MBA; or demonstrated expertise in technology, pedagogical, and business/organizational best practices.
Preferred: Experience with district adoption cycles, instructional content platforms, learning management system (LMS) integrations, or educator professional development tools.
Preferred: Demonstrated success translating educational research, curriculum, or learning science into digital product experiences for school leaders, teachers, students, and parents and caregivers.
Preferred: Deep understanding of the U.S. K–12 landscape, industry structures, and the day-to-day realities of teachers and students using technology in schools.
Preferred: Understanding of AI capabilities and impact on students, educators, and the education industry.

Our Benefits

The chance to work with talented, passionate professionals.
A great health and welfare benefits package, including medical, dental, vision, and a matching 401(k).
An organization that offers work/life balance.

Common Sense provides equal employment opportunities to all qualified individuals and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, pregnancy, age, national origin, physical or mental disability, military or veteran status, genetic information, or any other protected classification or characteristic protected by federal, state, or local laws.

Common Sense will also consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records. However, job offers are made on the condition that the applicant subsequently passes a criminal background check. If the background check indicates a prior criminal conviction, we will conduct an individualized assessment to determine whether the conviction should result in denial of employment. Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider employment for qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.

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