Product Manager (Senior or Lead)

About Odyssey:

K-12 education is one of the most consequential determinants of a child's future - and many families have had limited ability to shape how and where their child learns. Education Savings Account (ESA) programs are changing that. One of the fastest-growing public education initiatives in the U.S., they give states the ability to put education funding directly in the hands of families, who can then choose the learning experiences that best fit their child - from schools and tutors to therapy, curriculum, and technology.

But once these policies are signed into law, states face an enormous operational challenge. They must stand up entirely new programs, manage the secure and compliant flow of public funds, approve and monitor thousands of vendors, support families at scale, and prevent fraud - all while delivering a high-quality user experience.

That's where Odyssey comes in.

We partner with state agencies to design, launch, and operate ESA and grant programs on their behalf. We provide the technology, program operations, vendor ecosystem, and family experience that make these programs actually work in the real world. Today, we operate across 6 states, and our platform powers programs serving 200,000+ students and over $1B in education funding - and we're just getting started.

Most recently, we launched the Texas Education Savings Account (EFA) program - the biggest day-one ESA launch in the country - which has already received nearly 200,000 applications. It's the kind of moment that captures exactly what we're building toward: programs that work at scale, from day one, when it matters most.

We're backed by respected investors, including a16z and Tusk Venture Partners, and we're building the team that will take us to the next stage.

Odyssey sits at the intersection of GovTech, EdTech, and FinTech. We are a public-sector operator, a technology company, and a program delivery partner all at once. The work we do is civic infrastructure - it determines whether families can access life-changing educational opportunities.

Why This Work Is Different

We're in the weeds with state partners, internally with our product teams, and turning ambiguous policy into real systems that families depend on. This means building a platform that meets each state's configuration needs while being flexible enough to support all customers. We are not building be-spoke software!

If you want a highly structured environment, this will feel uncomfortable. If you want ownership, speed, and problems that actually matter, you'll feel right at home.

The Role

We're hiring Product Managers (Senior or Lead level) to help scale Odyssey's platform as we expand into new states and deepen our impact with existing programs.

We are hiring across two product squads from a single posting, as many candidates may be strong fits for either team:

• Squad 1 - Parent & School Experience
  
  • Owns the external product experience for families and education providers across the full ESA journey.
  • Design and iterate on onboarding and application flows for families and schools
  • Simplify complex financial and compliance concepts into clear, trustworthy UX
  • Improve funding visibility, payment flows, and communication touch points
  • Identify and reduce friction across the participation lifecycle
  • Partner closely with Product Design on information architecture and user research
  • Define success metrics and measure engagement and retention

• Squad 2 - Growth & Program Operations
  • Owns the internal platform powering payments, compliance, and scalable program delivery across states.
  • Build and maintain payment rails, ledgering, and reconciliation systems
  • Design configurable workflows for state-specific policy and compliance requirements
  • Partner with Implementation and Ops to streamline program launches
  • Improve internal tooling for vendor management and program configuration
  • Identify automation opportunities and reduce manual operational processes
  • Increase data visibility and reporting capabilities for state partners

We are open to hiring at the Senior Product Manager or Lead Product Manager level , depending on experience and demonstrated scope of ownership.

What You'll Do
Core Responsibilities (Both Squads)

• Own product areas end-to-end - from identifying problems through shipping scalable solutions and iterating based on customer feedback and data.
• Drive 0→1 product development in ambiguous environments, bringing structure to complex policy, operational, and user experience challenges.
• Partner cross-functionally with Engineering, Design, Operations, Implementation, and Policy teams to deliver high-impact product outcomes.
• Translate evolving state requirements into flexible platform capabilities that scale across multiple programs.
• Develop deep empathy for customers and stakeholders, ensuring the platform delivers intuitive, reliable experiences for families, schools, and program administrators.
• Use qualitative insights and quantitative data to inform prioritization and measure success.
• Balance speed and quality in a fast-moving startup environment, making thoughtful tradeoffs when needed.
• Contribute to product strategy and roadmap development in close partnership with leadership.
• Operate with a high level of ownership, accountability, and bias toward action.

What We're Looking For

• 4+ years of Product Management experience (Senior); 6+ years (Lead), ideally in platform, marketplace, fintech, govtech, or B2B2C environments .
• Track record of owning complex product areas and delivering measurable outcomes.
• Experience working in ambiguous environments where requirements evolve quickly.
• Strong systems thinking and ability to design scalable solutions across multi-stakeholder ecosystems.
• Ability to translate complex regulatory, operational, or financial requirements into intuitive product experiences.
• Strong collaboration skills and ability to align cross-functional partners around shared goals.
• Experience partnering closely with engineering and design teams to ship high-quality products.
• Experience owning broader product domains or multiple product surfaces, whilst setting product strategy and influencing company-level direction
• Ability to drive highly ambiguous 0-1 initiatives
• Analytical and data-informed, with comfort defining success metrics and measuring impact.
• Strong customer empathy - whether designing for families, schools, internal operators, or state partners.
• Experience in payments, financial systems, marketplaces, or internal tooling is a plus.
• Prior startup experience or strong interest in working in a fast-paced, evolving environment preferred.
• Mission-driven mindset - motivated by expanding access to educational opportunity.

Why You'll Love Working Here

• Make meaningful impact: Help families across the country access education that fits their needs.
• Solve complex problems: Work at the intersection of government, finance, and education.
• Ownership and autonomy: Operate with trust and responsibility in a fast-moving environment.
• Collaborative environment : Partner with mission-driven teammates across engineering, policy, operations, and implementation.
• Mission-backed and well-funded : Supported by top investors including Andreessen Horowitz and Tusk Venture Partners.

Compensation range:

As we are open to hiring at both Sr. PM and Lead PM levels, we have intentionally set a broad range of $160,000 - $210,000 base salary. Compensation determinations will be made based on level of experience.


Our Commitment to Equal Opportunity Employment:

Odyssey is an equal opportunity employer. Reasonable accommodations are available upon request.