Product Management Director Discovery & Strategy

Product Management Director Discovery & Strategy

At Pearson, we are committed to helping people make progress in their lives through learning. We create innovative and accessible educational products and services that foster personal and professional growth. We are looking for a passionate and skilled Product Director to join our team and drive the development of cutting-edge educational products.

About the Job

We embrace an SVPG-inspired Product Operating Model, empowering our product teams to solve hard problems customer problems and business problems in ways that our customers love, yet work for our business. Product companies depend on strong products, and strong products come from strong product teams. And we recognise that product teams are only as strong as their product managers. The Product Excellence team brings together exceptional product leaders to tackle Pearson's most complex challenges, while transforming how we build products. We're on a mission to create the capabilities, culture, and operating model that empower product teams to consistently deliver breakthrough outcomes for learners and the business.

Position Overview

We're seeking an innovative and highly experienced Product Management Director to lead product strategy and product delivery initiatives across our product portfolio, with a strong lens on customer discovery and experience design. This role combines deep expertise in Product Management with user research, design thinking and a coaching mindset to accelerate transformation initiatives, strengthen discovery practices, and build capabilities across teams. A key requirement for this role is experience of taking innovative products from "0-1".

Key Responsibilities

Product Leadership & Strategy

Work with product, engineering and design teams to deliver innovative products and features to market, backed by rigorous user research and market analysis

Embed into business units to develop customer-centric roadmaps, compelling business cases and product strategy

Coach teams to develop high-quality MRDs, PRDs, and integrate discovery insights into product backlogs and roadmaps

Drive excellence reviews and continuous improvement following roadmap reviews and strategic planning cycles

Discovery & Experience Design

Own and drive initiatives with product and engineering teams to enhance user experience and find product-market-fit.

Lead and facilitate design sprints to rapidly validate ideas and solve complex user problems

Coach product managers and designers on advanced prototyping, iterative user testing, and insight synthesis methodologies

Run hands-on discovery sessions with teams, modelling best practices in user research and validation

Product Excellence & Coaching

Execute player-coach model : hands-on discovery work to guide teams through complex strategic decisions using evidence-based discovery insights

Coach teams to seamlessly integrate discovery practices into agile development processes driving adoption of '2 track' delivery and discovery

Lead targeted interventions to strengthen product strategy and user-centric thinking across organizations

Facilitate training on discovery methods, design thinking, and strategic product planning

Strategic Initiatives

Required Qualifications

8+ years of product management experience with demonstrable expertise in customer centric product strategy and product delivery

Strong background in experience design, '0-1' product building and related strategic disciplines

Proven track record facilitating design sprints and leading discovery initiatives

Deep understanding of product sense and developing customer-backed business cases that drive prototyping, user testing and insight synthesis

Experience building strategic product roadmaps informed by rigorous user research

Preferred Qualifications

Advanced degree in Design, Psychology, Human-Computer Interaction, or related field

Successful experience leading product delivery in the context of transformation in complex organizations

Domain expertise in learning technologies and educational product development

Background in design research, ethnography, or behavioural science

Strong facilitation skills and experience building discovery communities of practice

What You'll Love About This Role

Shape the future of educational experiences at global scale, reaching learners of all ages

Work directly with cutting-edge technologies while coaching world-class product teams

High autonomy and direct impact on strategic initiatives across multiple business units

Opportunity to build and lead in a transformation environment with significant growth potential

Compensation at Pearson is influenced by a wide array of factors including but not limited to skill set, level of experience, and specific location. As required by the California, Colorado, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York State, New York City, Vermont, Washington State, and Washington DC laws, the pay range for this position is as follows : The minimum full-time salary range is between $200,000 - $225,000. This position is eligible to participate in an annual incentive program, and information on benefits offered is here.

Applications will be accepted through November 10th, 2025. This window may be extended depending on business needs.

At Pearson, our purpose is simple : to help people realize the life they imagine through learning. We believe that every learning opportunity is a chance for a personal breakthrough. We are the world's lifelong learning company. For us, learning isn't just what we do. It's who we are.

Pearson is an Equal Opportunity Employer and a member of E-Verify. Employment decisions are based on qualifications, merit and business need. Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, ethnicity, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, national origin, protected veteran status, disability status or any other group protected by law. We actively seek qualified candidates who are protected veterans and individuals with disabilities as defined under VEVRAA and Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act. If you are an individual with a disability and are unable or limited in your ability to use or access our career site as a result of your disability, you may request reasonable accommodations by emailing TalentExperienceGlobalTeam@grp.pearson.com.