Associate Portfolio Product Manager - Political Science

at Cengage Group in Chicago, Illinois, United States

Job Description

We believe in the power and joy of learning

At Cengage Group, our employees have a direct impact in helping students around the world discover the power and joy of learning. We are bonded by our shared purpose – driving innovation that helps millions of learners improve their lives and achieve their dreams through education.

Our culture values diversity, engagement, and discovery

Our business is driven by our strong culture, and we know that creating an inclusive and diverse workplace is absolutely essential to the success of our company and our learners, as well as our individual well-being. We recognize the value of diverse perspectives in everything we do, and strive to ensure employees of all levels and backgrounds feel empowered to voice their ideas and bring their authentic selves to work. We achieve these priorities through inclusive programs, benefits, and initiatives that are integrated into the fabric of how we work every day. To learn more, please see https://www.cengagegroup.com/about/inclusion-and-diversity/ .

The Associate Portfolio Product Manager is a Cengage Academic Portfolio Product Management (PPM) role at Cengage. This particular APPM role will cover our US Higher Education Political Science portfolio within the Social Sciences team.

The PPM creates product strategy by understanding the audience, analyzing the market and competitive trends, developing hypotheses, testing ideas in the market, processing data, and ultimately making product design decisions based on these insights and evidence. The PPM leads product development, partnering with team members to ensure on-time delivery of high-quality learning experiences. The PPM clearly articulates the features and benefits of a product to the market, enabling the creation and delivery of compelling messaging for target audiences through measurable campaigns and programs.

The Associate PPM role differs from the PPM role in that there is a larger focus on learning and development. During one’s time in the role, an Associate PPM hones the skills and proficiencies expected of full PPMs.

What you’ll do here:

+ Lead a profitable product line and develop strategic business plans in partnership with the Portfolio Product Director.

+ Be objective and willing to make hard choices regarding investment prioritization for the good of the overall organization.

+ Provide product leadership, representing the portfolio and customers across audiences.

+ Use data to make market-informed business proposals, take mitigated risks, and guide strategic decisions.

+ Balance experience, market knowledge, and insights to make impactful decisions and long-term plans.

+ Translate priorities into organized end-to-end development plans with budgets, resources, performance goals, and key checkpoints.

+ Provide project team direction, facilitating effective communication, and ensuring timely delivery of multiple products simultaneously within scope and budget.

+ Cultivate an environment of creativity and collaboration.

+ Deliver quality learning experiences to students and instructors.

+ Maintain key author relationships and recruit new talent, as necessary.

+ Build relationships with adoption decision makers to gain customer insights, strengthen adoptions, and identify author talent.

+ Develop a deep understanding of competitors and an ability to anticipate competitor activity.

+ Identify and test product ideas within segments, including the administration of focus groups, advisory boards, reviews, and customer meetings as appropriate.

+ Regularly analyze product and portfolio plans to align forecasting and measurement of progress towards goals.

+ Partner closely with Marketing and Sales teams to seed and secure adoptions.

+ Work closely with colleagues in other functional areas (Learning Design, Content Production, Marketing, Sales, Technology, etc.).

+ Create compelling needs-based discipline, course, and product positioning and customer segments as inputs for campaign and sales enablement efforts.

+ Make presentations at internal and external meetings, campus visits, and academic conventions in support of sales efforts and to drive sales.

Skills you will need here:

+ Creative and curious problem solving and collaboration

+ Understanding of the educational technology and publishing industry

+ Ability to clearly articulate vision and strategy and help team members understand how their work impacts business success

+ Customer focus with understanding of how customer needs and challenges translate into opportunities

+ Demonstration of strong communication skills with keen ability to facilitate team meetings, presentations, focus groups, and interviews

+ BA or BS Degree

+ Ability to inspire change through influence; honed interpersonal skills

+ Self-discipline with a high degree of accountability

+ Strong financial analysis and modeling skills and an understanding of business metrics

+ Natural curiosity and willingness to learn paired with a desire for continuous improvement

+ Proven written and verbal abilities enabling the preparation and presentation of information and recommendations to a diverse and senior level audience

+ Expected travel ~10% of time

+ Proficiency with Word, Excel, and PowerPoint

Preferred

+ Experience in product management, product development, brand management, marketing, or other relevant management role

+ Cross-functional team leadership experience

Cengage Group’s Higher Education business, Cengage, supports learning and student success by providing materials and digital solutions to faculty and students enrolled in two-year, four-year and vocational programs. We currently serve more than 10 million of the 18 million students in US higher ed. Setting a new standard of service for our customers, we deliver quality, easy-to-use course materials from textbooks and eBooks to courseware such as MindTap and WebAssign. In the US, we offer Cengage Unlimited and Cengage Unlimited for Institutions. We help instructors be better teachers, we help institutions solve problems, and we empower students to leverage the power and joy of learning to transform lives.

Cengage Group is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity and Affirmative Action employer. We do not discriminate based upon race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability, age, veteran status, marital status, parental status, cultural background, organizational level, work styles, tenure and life experiences. Or for any other reason. You may view Cengage’s EEO/Affirmative Action Policy signed by CEO Michael Hansen (https://p.widencdn.net/pdvq6j/EEO\Policy\Statement\January\2017) and Equal Employment Opportunity is the Law notice (http://embed.widencdn.net/pdf/plus/cengage/ybs5gt19ik/eeopost-merged.pdf) by visiting their corresponding links.

Cengage Group is committed to providing reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities in our job application procedures. If you need assistance or an accommodation due to a disability, you may contact us at accommodations.ta@cengage.com or you may call us at +1 (617) 289-7917.

About Cengage Group

Cengage Group, a global education technology company serving millions of learners, provides affordable, quality digital products and services that equip students with the skills and competencies needed to be job ready. For more than 100 years, we have enabled the power and joy of learning with trusted, engaging content, and now, integrated digital platforms. We serve the higher education, workforce skills, secondary education, English language teaching and research markets worldwide. Through our scalable technology, including MindTap and Cengage Unlimited, we support all learners who seek to improve their lives and achieve their dreams th