Product Manager

Job Description

Job Description

Position Overview:

The Product Manager defines product goals to drive the development of applications in Kuder’s portfolio of career guidance products. The Product Manager must have a keen eye for customer problems, be a skilled analyst, and possess a curious and innovative mindset. The Product Manager is always willing to ask “Why?”

The Product Manager is an advocate for our users and a creative problem solver whose primary mission is to guide a cross-functional team from concept and product discovery through product release. A key member of cross-functional product development teams, the Product Manager champions the customer and helps drive the product roadmap forward.

Exceptional communication and stakeholder management are central to this role. The Product Manager builds trust across all levels of the organization, including executive leadership, engineering, customer support, marketing, and account management. They ensure stakeholders, both internal team members and external partners, are aligned around priorities, clarity of direction, and shared ownership of outcomes. The ability to listen actively, communicate with precision, and navigate competing interests is what ultimately determines a Product Manager’s long-term impact.

Location:

Headquarters, Adel, Iowa – preferred

Hybrid schedule – Monday – Wednesday in office; Thursday – Friday remote

Essential Job Functions:

Strategy & Stakeholder Leadership

• Drive the product and business planning processes across cross-functional teams for assigned products to bring product vision to life.
• Communicate and provide documentation on new product enhancements to internal teams, customers, and other stakeholders.
• Build and maintain strong relationships with key stakeholders across the organization, including executive leadership, engineering, customer support, marketing, and account management, to ensure sustained alignment on product direction, priorities, and tradeoffs.
• Communicate product priorities and requirements to internal team members and external partners as needed to ensure stakeholders are aligned on priorities, direction, and shared ownership of outcomes.
• Act as a liaison between product end-user communities, business partners, and the technology team—translating user needs into actionable strategy.
• Be an escalation point and decision-maker regarding product requirements, design reviews, and clarifications during development cycles.

Product Delivery

• Translate customer needs and product strategy into clear, well-structured requirements, including user stories, acceptance criteria, and supporting documentation, for prototype construction and final product development by engineering teams.
• Collaborate effectively with design teams to ensure product requirements are delivered thoughtfully and completely.
• Support agile development processes by actively participating in sprint ceremonies, maintaining a healthy and prioritized backlog, and ensuring the team has what it needs to deliver successfully.

Market & Competitive Intelligence

• Maintain a deep understanding of the career guidance and education technology market, including customer segments, buyer needs, and how Kuder’s products are positioned relative to competitors.
• Monitor industry trends, competitive landscape, and emerging technologies to inform product strategy, identify opportunities, and ensure Kuder’s portfolio maintains a differentiated and relevant market position.
• Analyze customer needs and current market trends to ensure the voice of the customer is represented in all product decisions.
• Lead the execution of relevant product lifecycle processes for assigned products, including product research, market research, competitive analysis, planning, positioning, requirements development, and product launch.

Requirements:

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent practical, working experience.
• 3+ years of experience in Product Management, business analysis, or a related role, with experience launching a new product or delivering multiple major feature upgrades to an existing product.
• Education or education technology experience preferred.

Skills and Abilities:

Communication & Stakeholder Management

• Exceptional stakeholder management skills, including the ability to build trust, navigate competing priorities, influence without authority, and maintain alignment across diverse groups of people with different perspectives and goals.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, with a demonstrated ability to drive clarity and precision when communicating customer problems, product requirements, priorities, and decisions to a wide range of audiences.
• Proven track record of cross-team collaboration that demonstrates adaptability, leadership, and resilience—especially in ambiguous or rapidly changing situations.
• Experience speaking and presenting to various audiences, including customers, peers, and senior executives.

Market & Industry Knowledge

• Understanding of the career guidance and education technology market—including key competitors, customer segments, and buyer dynamics—and how Kuder’s products uniquely serve learners and institutions.
• Ability to synthesize market intelligence, competitive data, and customer feedback into strategic product insights.
• Familiarity with qualitative and quantitative consumer and usability research methods.
• Passion for career guidance, education, and ed-tech. Driven to help learners of all ages discover what they want to be.

Technology & Tools

• Commitment to staying current with technology trends, product management tools, and industry best practices, including developments in AI, data analytics, and modern product development frameworks, that enable more effective product leadership and decision-making.
• Strong understanding of product management systems and methodologies, including agile and scrum.
• Experience delivering consumer-facing software products, with fluency in translating user needs into well-defined product requirements.

Professional:

Ability to follow Kuder’s culture and values:

• Attitude is Everything – We believe we have more potential to accomplish goals, develop resiliency, and make improvements when we choose to lead with a positive attitude.
• Create Partnerships – We create genuine, flexible, and long-term partnerships that cultivate collaboration and support for achieving common goals.
• Deliver Success – We drive results and reach our goals with passion, urgency, and a commitment to excellence. We are accountable and encouraging as we collectively celebrate our victories and turn setbacks into progress.
• Foster Innovation – We promote innovation and welcome ideas. We are curious, we listen, and we take action to elevate and improve how we deliver reliable solutions.
• Thrive Together – We invest in an authentic environment where our team is motivated, supported, and successful. We respect all voices and experiences as we work together for meaningful growth.

This job description is not intended to be all-inclusive. Employee may perform other related duties as negotiated to meet the ongoing needs of the organization.

At this time, we’re not able to consider candidates needing sponsorship now or in the future or those needing work authorization for this role. (This includes students on F1-OPT, F1-CPT, J-1, etc.) However, we hope you continue to keep us in mind for future opportunities.

We value diversity, equity and inclusion. We value the power of an inclusive culture and a strong sense of belonging. We seek to infuse diversity and inclusion in everything we do while promoting a culture where differences are embraced as strengths; opportunities are equal and accessible; consideration and respect are the norm; and all team members are supported in reaching their full potential.

Through our talent, we believe that diversity and inclusion make us a more innovative and vibrant place to work. People are at the center, and we are committed to a sustainable environment and workplace where talent can learn, grow, and thrive.