Vice President of Product

Vice President of Product

The Contingent is a 501(c)(3) venture nonprofit that launches, scales, and supports initiatives designed to mobilize communities and empower leaders to create lasting social change. We believe communities already possess the relationships, assets, and leadership needed to solve complex challenges. Our role is to build the systems, partnerships, and innovations that help those solutions take root and grow.

Since our founding, we have worked alongside community leaders, people with lived experience, public agencies, businesses, faith communities, and nonprofit partners to strengthen support systems for children and families. We are committed to listening deeply, challenging assumptions, and designing solutions that are informed by the experiences and needs of the communities we serve.

Through initiatives such as Every Child and The Script, The Contingent mobilizes community members to take meaningful action on behalf of children and families, whether through fostering, volunteering, mentoring, advocacy, or community support. We combine innovation, partnership, and data-informed decision-making to build stronger communities and create opportunities for every child to thrive.

We ask hard questions. We embrace innovation. We build unlikely partnerships. And we work together to transform systems and communities for the common good.

Opportunity Summary: Every Child sits at the heart of The Contingent's mission, connecting community members to the children and families who need them most. As the organization enters a new phase of operational maturity, there is an opportunity to strengthen and scale the products, services, and systems that support foster parent recruitment, volunteer engagement, and community mobilization across multiple states.

The Vice President of Product will play a critical leadership role in transforming proven approaches into repeatable, scalable solutions. Working in close partnership with the Chief Strategy & Innovation Officer, this leader will build operational excellence across Product Management, Engineering, Design, and State Implementation, ensuring that strategy is translated into disciplined execution. This is an opportunity to lead a high-impact team, improve how Every Child serves communities, and help create the foundation for sustainable growth into new states while increasing the organization's impact for children and families.

This role operates within The Contingent's EOS/Traction framework, functioning as the key senior Implementer to the CSIO's Visionary leadership. That means the VP of Product leads with operational clarity, drives accountability and follow-through, and coordinates execution across teams, while staying deeply aligned to the strategic direction set by the CSIO. This is a collaborative role by design: the VP of Product works in close partnership with the VP of Marketing & Experience, ensuring that the needs of marketing and customer experience are well understood and faithfully reflected in the product roadmap. Within their own team, this person leads with a coaching and empowering posture, creating the conditions for a talented team to grow, make good decisions, and deliver excellent work. Low ego, high trust, and a genuine investment in the success of others are core to how this role shows up every day.

Duties & Responsibilities:

Product Execution & Roadmap Delivery

• Translate the product strategy set by the CSIO into a clear, actionable roadmap that Product Management, Engineering, and Design can execute against with confidence
• Work closely with the VP of Marketing & Experience to ensure the roadmap is informed by and responsive to the needs of marketing and customer experience
• Own the delivery cadence across Product Management, Engineering, and Design keeping sprint execution, resource allocation, and product improvement cycles running smoothly
• Foster a culture of operational excellence across product delivery, where teams are working efficiently, making good decisions, and taking pride in consistent, high-quality output
• Identify and clear obstacles that slow delivery, making timely decisions and bringing the right people in when challenges need broader input

Team Leadership & Development

• Provide direct leadership to five direct reports: a Director of Engineering (who leads a team of six), a Product Manager, a Senior Product Manager, a Senior UX/UI Designer, and an Implementation Manager
• Create a supportive, high-trust environment where team members feel safe to bring forward challenges and do their best work
• Serve as the key decision-maker for the team helping work through complexity, providing clear direction when needed, and creating conditions for confident execution
• Coach and develop team members, investing in their growth and building overall team capability over time
• Make staffing decisions within Engineering, Product Management, and Design, bringing hiring recommendations at the management level to the CSIO

New State Implementation

• Lead the implementation of Every Child products and services in new state jurisdictions, overseeing a dedicated implementation team
• Serve as a senior point of contact for state executive partners, building strong relationships and ensuring accountability throughout implementation
• Identify opportunities to improve and iterate on the product array based on what is learned through new state implementations
• Travel quarterly to support new state implementation activities as needed

Cross-Functional Partnership & Organizational Technology

• Serve as a trusted technology partner for program and operations teams, listening to their needs and finding the right approach whether building in-house, purchasing a product, or integrating an existing solution
• Oversee organizational IT through the Engineering team, ensuring the technology infrastructure across the organization is well-managed and responsive to the people who depend on it
• Engage across teams to work through cross-functional challenges, making sure product and technology delivery supports the broader goals of the organization
• Show up as a collaborative voice in organization-wide planning conversations, bringing an operational and delivery perspective that helps ground strategic decisions in what is achievable
• Stay closely connected with the CSIO to ensure the team has clarity on strategic priorities and that execution remains well-aligned as the work evolves

This role may include variability in responsibilities as deemed by the supervisor. The Contingent employees should be prepared for a dynamic work environment.

Outcomes of This Role

• Operational excellence in product delivery a high-functioning, well-coordinated team that delivers consistently, iterates with discipline, and takes real pride in the quality of their work
• A cohesive and unified product experience Product and Marketing & Experience working in close alignment to deliver a consistent, high-quality Every Child experience across every touchpoint
• A growing and capable team team members who feel genuinely supported, are developing in their roles, and are building the confidence and skills to take on more over time
• Successful new state implementation a consistent, high-quality rollout experience in new jurisdictions that builds strong partner relationships and positions Every Child for continued growth
• A strong Visionary/Implementer partnership the CSIO and VP of Product operating as a highly effective team, translating strategic direction into excellent execution with clarity, trust, and shared accountability
• An organization ready for scale the team, processes, and delivery culture in place to support The Contingent's next phase of growth with confidence

Education and Experience:

• Bachelor's degree in a related field, or equivalent professional experience
• 8+ years of experience in product management, with at least 4 years in a senior leadership role overseeing product, engineering, and design functions
• Demonstrated experience directly managing people managers as well as individual contributors, across a team of 10 or more
• Experience translating strategic vision into an actionable roadmap and delivery cadence, ideally within an EOS/Traction or comparable operating framework
• Experience leading a product or service through expansion into new markets, regions, or jurisdictions
• Experience serving as a senior point of contact for external partners or stakeholders, including managing complex relationships with government, institutional, or enterprise partners
• Experience overseeing organizational technology, including decisions about building, buying, or integrating solutions
• Preferred: experience working in the nonprofit, social good, or government sector, particularly in roles that required balancing mission-driven outcomes with operational and technical rigor

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• Leverage multicultural intelligence, intentional listening, and a deep appreciation for diverse perspectives to build trust, strengthen partnerships, and advance organizational impact across communities
• The ability to work independently and cooperatively in a diverse, perpetually changing environment, while maintaining a calm and positive spirit
• Effective communicator with strong written, verbal, and public speaking skills that is experienced in engaging with diverse audiences
• Excellent organizational skills including attention to detail and multitasking skills
• The capability of handling ambiguity and driving the work autonomously
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