Head of Product and Education (Chicago)

Head of Product and Education - Healthcare Education & Certification

Chicago preferred, but not required; occasional travel for leadership meetings and industry events.

About Our Client

Founded more than 20 years ago, our client is the premier provider of memory care education and certification to the healthcare industry. Its flagship credential is the gold standard in memory care, held by many thousands of professionals globally, and a nationwide network of 1,300+ certified trainers delivers the curriculum into nursing homes, assisted living, hospice, home care, and hospitals.

Acquired in 2023 by its current CEO and a partner firm, the company has invested heavily in educational quality, technology, and new programming. It is entrepreneurial yet mission-driven, with a strong brand, exceptional customer loyalty (NPS +80), and a mandate for massive growth.

Why this role exists

The company has a gold-standard credential and customers who love it, but not yet a repeatable ability to launch and scale new products. The roadmap has been directional rather than committed, and good ideas have died between conception and market. You will own what gets built, what gets retired, and whether it ships on the date promised.

What makes this role different

This is not a subject-matter-expert role. Clinical and curriculum authority sits with the Director of Training and a bench of 1099 experts - nurses, gerontologists, and educators with decades of memory care experience. They will report to you. Your job is to point that expertise at the right problems, package it into products people will buy, and get it to market. You need enough healthcare fluency to earn their respect, but you do not need to be one of them.

What you'll own

• Product roadmap. Prioritization across certifications, live seminars, online continuing education, digital resources, and facility-level programs.
• New product development. Market research, business cases, pricing, go/no-go decisions, and launch execution end to end.
• Voice of the customer. A recurring research cadence with learners, trainers, and enterprise buyers that changes what gets built.
• Outcomes excellence. Training quality, instructor performance, completion and pass rates - measured and improved.
• Educational operations. Continuing education accreditation, trainer compliance, and program administration.
• Commercial growth. Partnering with the CEO, sales, and marketing to win new business.

First-year outcomes

• A published 12-month roadmap with committed launch dates, and a track record of hitting them.
• New and refreshed offerings live in market with revenue attached, reviewed against the business case.
• A functioning voice-of-customer program feeding roadmap decisions.
• The 1,300-trainer network operating as a measured distribution channel with defined activation and productivity targets.

Who our client is looking for

• A fast-moving owner who does not need consensus to make progress.
• A doer from a lean team who has written the business case, run the research, chased the accreditation paperwork, and pushed the launch over the line.
• 5-10 years of experience, including at least three years owning a product or product line end to end (Product Manager, Director of Product, Product Owner, or business-line GM).
• A track record of identifying a need, shipping the product, and being accountable for adoption, revenue, and post-launch performance.
• Healthcare context preferred, with comfort working with clinicians, regulated content, and accreditation bodies.
• Commercial instincts: you think in revenue, margin, pricing, and cannibalization, and you have killed something you liked because the numbers did not work.
• Conviction: you can take expert input seriously and still make the commercial call.

Compensation and location

$190,000-$210,000 base salary, plus a 15% target performance bonus.