Product Manager, Higher Education Discipline Product

Cengage · United States · $77,100–$100,200 (stated in the posting)

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We believe in the power and joy of learning

At Cengage, our employees have a direct impact in helping learners 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.
 

What you'll do here:

We are seeking a Product Manager to lead discipline-specialized product clusters across Higher Education’s Careers and Skills.

In this role, you will use a user-centric, data-driven product management approach to create the best possible learning products for students, instructors, and institutions. You will deeply understand the needs of your assigned market, translate those needs into clear product opportunities, and collaborate to deliver meaningful outcomes.
 

As a Product Manager, you get to own the strategic development and innovation of digital learning experiences within your market. Performing within a product operating model, you will serve as the connective tissue between business strategy, customer needs, market dynamics, and technology delivery. You will define product priorities, lead discovery and delivery for high-impact opportunities, and drive measurable improvements in adoption, retention, learner success, and instructor satisfaction.

Your work will directly support growth and differentiation across our higher education market. You will also help accelerate the way we work by applying data, experimentation, and GenAI-enabled practices where appropriate to improve speed, effectiveness, and product impact. It's an exciting role with the power to have an incredible impact on teaching and learning in higher education!

Skills you will need here:

Product Strategy and Customer Centricity

• Own product strategy, discovery, and roadmap priorities for Professional Careers and Skills’ Higher Education discipline cluster.
• Develop deep understanding of instructors, students, and institutional needs within the assigned market.
• Translate customer insights, business priorities, market trends, and platform capabilities into clear product opportunities and prioritized solutions.
• Champion Cengage’s Digital Product pillars of Career Readiness, Learning Outcomes, and Radical Simplicity in all product decisions.

Product Discovery, Delivery, and Outcomes

• Lead continuous product discovery through user research, usability testing, analytics, experimentation, and collaborator feedback.
• Partner cross-functionally to deliver high-impact product improvements.
• Prioritize initiatives that improve adoption, engagement, success, and retention across Cengage Learning Platforms.
• Define and monitor success metrics, using data to guide prioritization, iteration, and product performance decisions.
• Deliver simple, intuitive, and scalable product experiences that balance customer value, business impact, speed, and technical feasibility.

Cross-Functional Leadership and Operational Excellence

• Represent the voice of the customer in planning, prioritization, and delivery discussions.
• Support successful go-to-market execution through collaboration with marketing, sales, and customer-facing teams.
• Drive fast, iterative delivery and continuous improvement using modern product management practices and GenAI-enabled ways of working where appropriate.
• Build strong collaborative relationships across teams and contribute to a culture of innovation, accountability, and measurable outcomes.

Quarterly Objectives & Key Results

Specific objectives will vary by discipline cluster and roadmap priorities, but Product Managers in these roles will be expected to drive measurable progress against outcomes such as:
 

Customer and Business Outcomes

• Increase adoption and active usage of Cengage Learning Platforms within the assigned discipline cluster.
• Reduce customer churn by addressing key instructor and student pain points.
• Improve instructor satisfaction and student engagement through simpler, more effective learning experiences.
• Strengthen evidence of learner success and career readiness through measurable product and usage outcomes.

Product Delivery and Execution

• Deliver high-impact outcomes for our customers and for Cengage.
• Increase speed and effectiveness of product delivery through iterative releases, experimentation, and cross-functional alignment.
• Use product analytics, customer feedback, and market insights to validate opportunities and create outstanding experiences.
• Improve usability, accessibility, and workflow simplicity across core platform experiences.

Organizational Impact

• Strengthen collaboration across product, engineering, design, content, marketing, sales, and customer success teams.
• Contribute to a culture of continuous learning, innovation, and data-driven decision-making.
• Apply GenAI and operational standards to improve team efficiency, product quality, and customer impact.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience.
• 3-5 years of product manageent expereince required.
• Proven experience working on technology-powered products, digital learning products, or product-adjacent roles such as product management, product operations, UX, analytics, content strategy, engineering, or business analysis.
• Evidence of understanding of contemporary approaches to product management.
• Experience using customer insights, market research, and data analysis to inform product decisions.
• Strong analytical and critical thinking skills with a data-informed approach to prioritization and trade-offs.
• Ability to lead execution for a product feature area, capability set, or market-specific initiative.
• Strong communication and storytelling skills, with the ability to explain customer problems, product decisions, and business impact clearly.
• Curiosity, adaptability, and a commitment to continuous learning.
• Knowledge and understanding of POM (Product Operating Model)

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in higher education, edtech, digital learning platforms, courseware, assessment, or instructional technology.
• Experience working with instructors, students, academic departments, institutions, or education-focused sales and customer success teams.
• Familiarity with Higher Education market: career-connected learning.
• Experience with product analytics, experimentation, adoption metrics, retention analysis, or churn reduction.
• Familiarity with agile methodologies and product operating models.
• Experience working on platform-based products, learning management integrations, content-enabled software, or data-driven digital experiences.
• Understanding of accessibility, inclusive design, and usability best practices.
• Experience applying GenAI or automation to improve product workflows, discovery, delivery, or customer experiences.

Cengage is committed to working with broad talent pools to attract and hire strong and most qualified individuals. Our job applicants are considered regardless of any classification protected by applicable federal, state, provincial or local laws.
 

Cengage is also committed to providing reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities including during our job application process. If you are an applicant with a disability and require reasonable accommodation in our job application process, please contact us at accommodations.ta@cengage.com.
 

About Cengage

Cengage, 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 through education.

Compensation

At Cengage Group, we take great pride in our commitment to providing a comprehensive and rewarding Total Rewards package designed to support and empower our employees. Click here to learn more about our Total Rewards Philosophy.

The full base pay range has been provided for this position. Individual base pay will vary based on work schedule, qualifications, experience, internal equity, and geographic location.  Sales roles often incorporate a significant incentive compensation program beyond this base pay range.

In this position,  you will be eligible to participate in the company’s discretionary incentive bonus program.  This position's bonus target amount, which is not guaranteed and is dependent on individual performance and overall company results among other factors, is provided below.  

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