Principal, Product Management

Description: This role aligns to industry level titles such as Principal Product Manager.

Location: Hybrid (Hoboken, US | Raleigh, US)

About the Role

We are hiring a Principal Product Manager to own product area(s) within our Content Authoring Platform – a critical enterprise platform enabling educational content creation, assembly, and reuse at scale across Higher Education, K-12, English Language Learning, and Enterprise.

You will operate with genuine ownership of your area: defining the problems worth solving, driving continuous discovery, and partnering with engineering and design to deliver outcomes that matter to users and the business.

We embrace an SVPG-inspired Product Operating Model, empowering our product teams to solve hard customer and business problems – in ways that our customers love, yet work for our business. Product companies depend on strong products, and strong products come from strong product teams. And we recognise that product teams are only as strong as their product managers. This is an empowered IC role – we expect you to think strategically, work hands-on, and bring a clear point of view rather than wait to be told what to build.

You will be focused on either a specific business unit's content authoring needs or against a horizontal capability, and in either case, you will be the primary product voice for your area. You will need to balance BU-specific requirements against platform-wide coherence, and serving a varied user base from authors and content producers through to developer consumers of platform APIs.

Who you are

You are a curious, hands-on product manager who can own a meaningful slice of a platform end-to-end. You think in outcomes, connect them back to clear value propositions and the jobs your users are trying to get done, and you design measurement before you build. You experiment with current AI tools in your own work and have a sharp view of where AI adds value and where it does not. You break problems down, you are comfortable with engineers on technical trade-offs, and you care about education enough to fight for the right thing.

What you'll work on

Strategy, vision and outcomes

• Define and maintain a clear vision, value proposition, and roadmap for your area, grounded in user insight, business priorities, and platform strategy.
• Set outcome-driven goals (OKRs or equivalent) with leading and lagging indicators planned up front – measurement is part of the design, not an afterthought.
• Make deliberate trade-offs between competing user needs, BU requirements, and platform-wide concerns.
• Contribute to platform-level strategy, bringing your area into broader roadmap discussions and shaping coherent cross-area decisions.

Discovery and customer insight

• Build first-hand understanding of your users – their jobs-to-be-done, pain points, and the contexts in which they work – through regular direct engagement.
• Run continuous discovery using both generative and evaluative methods: customer interviews, usability testing, behavioural analysis, and rapid prototyping.
• Develop empathy for indirect users too – the learners, educators, and administrators who experience the downstream products your platform powers.

Delivery, execution and leadership

• Work with engineering and design as a single team, sharing problem framing and solution design rather than handing over requirements.
• This is a legacy org in rapid transformation – we need PM’s that act as ‘player coaches’, contributing to building the team – sharing what you learn, mentoring peers, helping raise the bar.
• Write clear product artefacts – PRDs, specs, capability definitions, user stories – at the right level for the team, so engineering can build without constant clarification.
• Manage scope and sequencing thoughtfully, balancing strategic bets against near-term commitments and operational needs.

AI and technology

• Engage credibly with engineering on architecture, API design, and technical trade-offs relevant to your area.
• Identify and evaluate relevant AI capabilities in a pragmatic way – generative AI, prompt engineering, ML-assisted workflows, intelligent content tools – impact vs feasibility
• Stay tech-curious beyond AI – devices, ecosystems, adjacent platform shifts – when they shape how content is created and consumed.

Stakeholders and storytelling

• Build strong working relationships with engineering, design, data, and BU partners; operate effectively in a matrix without direct authority.
• Communicate strategy, progress, and trade-offs clearly to senior stakeholders; surface risks and decisions early.
• Tell a clear product story – what problem you are solving, for whom, why it matters, and what 'good' looks like – so the team and your stakeholders move in the same direction.

What we're looking for

• 6+ years of product management experience, with a track record of owning a product or area end-to-end – from discovery through to measurable outcomes.
• Strong discovery skills using both generative and evaluative methods; ability to translate insight into product decisions.
• Experience with platform or B2B2C products serving multiple user types, ideally including both user-facing applications and developer-facing services.
• Technical acumen – comfortable on architecture and API discussions, and able to make informed trade-offs without needing every detail explained.
• Data fluency – defines metrics, plans measurement, works with instrumentation, uses quantitative signals alongside qualitative insight.
• Hands-on experience with current AI tools in your own product work, including prompt engineering and a clear view of when AI is and is not the right tool.
• Strong written and verbal communication – clear opportunity assessments, user stories, and strategic framing that gives teams real direction.
• Stakeholder management in complex organisations – competing priorities, influence without authority, trust-building across functions.

Bonus experience

• Background in content management systems, authoring tools, publishing technology, or related domains.
• Experience in education technology, media, or content-intensive industries.
• Practical experience with AI/ML product development beyond generative AI – classification, recommendation, NLP, vision.
• Experience with content atomisation, structured content, or modular content architectures.

What success looks like

In the first 6 months:

• Direct understanding of your area's users, built through your own engagement – not inherited research.
• Strong working relationships with the engineers, designers, customers, and stakeholders you depend on.
• A clear vision and roadmap documented for your area, value proposition articulated, aligned with key stakeholders.
• Measurement in place for what matters in your area – leading and lagging indicators, instrumented.
• First meaningful outcomes delivered – problems solved, not just features shipped.

In the first 18 months:

• Your area's strategy visibly influencing platform decisions.
• Measurable improvement in key user outcomes (for example task completion, time-on-task, error rates, API adoption).
• Product decisions consistently grounded in evidence – generative and evaluative discovery, behavioural data, experimentation.
• AI capabilities evaluated and, where appropriate, in production – delivering tangible value to users.
• Recognised by engineering, design, customers, and BU partners as a reliable product collaborator who sets clear direction and follows through.

Why this matters

• Real ownership of an area in a platform that powers educational content at scale.
• A team that prizes evidence and outcomes over busywork and stakeholder appeasement.
• A platform at an inflection point: consolidation, AI, and varied user needs all converging.
• Empowered operating model with genuine autonomy – and a clear path as the transformation progresses.

About Pearson

Pearson is a global learning company committed to helping people make progress in their lives through learning. As we evolve from a traditional textbook publisher to a digital-first learning company, we are investing in the platforms, products, and people that will power the next generation of learning experiences. Our digital products represent the majority of our revenue, and the way we build them is changing rapidly.

Compensation at Pearson is influenced by a wide array of factors including but not limited to skill set, level of experience, and specific location. As required by the California, Colorado, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York State, New York City, Vermont, Washington State, and Washington DC laws, the pay range for this position is as follows:    

The minimum full-time salary range is between $190,000 - $220,000.  

This position is eligible to participate in an annual incentive program, and information on benefits offered is here.  

Applications will be accepted through 3rd July. This window may be extended depending on business needs.