Director of Product

Rockstar is recruiting for a nonpartisan nonprofit organization that leverages technology to equip the next generation of Americans with the skills to bridge divides. The client primarily works with college campuses, offering a comprehensive, evidence-based suite of products and services for stakeholders at every level-from college presidents to incoming students. Since launching in 2017, the organization has partnered with hundreds of campuses across the country. The organization was co-founded by psychologist Jonathan Haidt, the bestselling author of The Righteous Mind and The Anxious Generation. This is a pivotal moment to join the team, as the organization is growing rapidly and advances in AI are creating new possibilities for how technology can help people engage in better dialogue across differences. In this role, the selected candidate will be at the forefront of shaping how these tools are leveraged to expand reach and impact.

About the Role

As the software product leader, this individual will report to the Co-Founder and Executive Director. The selected candidate will own the technical vision, strategy, and execution for the e-learning platform, and will be responsible for developing a product roadmap, ensuring the platform is scalable, secure, and accessible. While the initial focus will be the flagship e-learning platform, Perspectives, the product leader will also drive technical innovation across the full suite of offerings, using emerging technologies (including AI) to expand impact, efficiency, and scale.

This individual will serve as a player-coach: managing one product team member (a Product Specialist), while partnering closely with an external development agency to deliver high-quality releases on time and on budget.

Responsibilities

Technical Product Leadership & Strategy

- Serve as the Executive Director’s technical thought partner, shaping how and what is built in alignment with the overall product strategy.

- Stay current on trends and emerging technologies in EdTech, AI, and related fields to inform product strategy and innovation.

- Lead the technical strategy to ensure scalability, stability, security, accessibility, and responsible AI integration across all products.

- Translate product priorities into a clear, actionable technical roadmap.

- Set and track product OKRs and KPIs.

Product Health & Scalability

- Own system monitoring, data pipeline integrity, and risk tracking to safeguard product performance and stability.

- Prototype, validate, and deliver AI-powered features and new AI-driven products that advance the organization’s mission.

- Ensure compliance with privacy, security, and accessibility standards.

Team & Vendor Management

- Manage a Product Specialist, fostering professional growth and high performance.

- Lead relationships with all tech vendors - including development agency, platform hosting providers, and accessibility/security partners.

- Manage the technical product budget, negotiate vendor contracts, and ensure high performance from all technical partners.

- Maintain effective agile rituals for a hybrid internal/agency model, in partnership with the Product Specialist.

Cross-Functional Execution

- Collaborate with Education and Implementation teams to ensure products support effective content delivery and meet partner and user needs.

- Work with Partnerships (Sales) to fulfill technical contract requirements, including integrations and security/privacy documentation.

- Partner with Operations on privacy, security, and AI guardrails.

- Ensure cross-functional alignment on product development, launches, and feedback loops.

Job Requirements

About You

- 7+ years of B2B SaaS product management experience, including 3+ years leading or mentoring other product team members.

- Experience in EdTech or a related field, with knowledge of data privacy/security and accessibility requirements; higher ed compliance experience preferred.

- Proven success delivering products on a modular platform or third-party LMS.

- Hands-on experience building AI-driven products; LLM experience strongly preferred.

- Skilled in product discovery and learning methods, including A/B testing, user research, and analytics.

- Track record of successfully managing budgets, vendor contracts, and delivery schedules.

- Strong communicator, able to translate technical complexity for executives, developers, and non-technical stakeholders.

- Deeply aligned with the organization’s mission and excited to help bridge divides and promote constructive dialogue.

- Experience in startup or scaleup environments, comfortable in fast-paced, ambiguous contexts.

Benefits

- Compensation - $155,000-$170,000

- A Mission-Driven Culture - the organization practices what it preaches, so the work culture is characterized by intellectual humility, continuous improvement, and open-mindedness

- Remote-First - the organization was founded as a remote-first organization, and works hard to maintain a strong team culture across vast distances

- Unlimited PTO - as well as 13 company holidays

- Other Benefits - employer-supported health, vision and dental plans, subsidized parental leave, 3% 401k match, short- and long-term disability insurance, life and AD&D insurance, $1,000 annual professional development budget.