Senior Product Manager

Today, 67% of students and 82% of low-income students can’t read at grade level by the end of third grade. That’s when students are supposed to go from learning to read to reading to learn. It’s America’s number one education crisis and we know how to fix it.

Ignite Reading delivers one-to-one virtual tutoring that teaches every student the foundational skills they need to become a confident, fluent reader. We pair students who need extra support with expert reading tutors who provide daily, 15-minute, Science of Reading-based instruction that rapidly closes their decoding gaps. We focus on the foundational reading skills—phonics, phonemic awareness, and sight words—kids need to master so they can decode a sentence. Students in Ignite Reading’s program achieve over 2 weeks of reading skills growth per week of instruction, and notably all students achieve the same outstanding results including students with IEPs, multilingual learners, students of color and those receiving free or reduced-price lunch.

Ignite Reading is a mission-driven public benefit corporation. We believe we can do well for our team members and shareholders while we solve one of the nation’s biggest challenges. We believe we will be more successful with a diverse team and are seeking candidates who have lived experience related to social justice, diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Your Role

Reporting to the VP of Product, the Senior Product Manager for Shared Services leads the product work for the team that builds Ignite Reading's AI infrastructure and AI-enabled tools, processes, and workflows. Where our other product teams focus on generating better outcomes for students and school champions, your team enables every other team to keep delivering those outcomes as we scale.

This is a senior individual contributor role with no direct reports. You'll partner daily with a small, focused team of AI and platform engineers, and you'll work across the entire organization, from academics to customer experience to the senior leadership team. You'll model best practices in AI-enhanced product management and help the whole company adopt more proactive, embedded ways of working with AI.

The Program

The shared services team builds the AI infrastructure and internal tooling that lets Ignite Reading scale performantly, efficiently, and stably. The work is focused on three needs:

1. AI infrastructure that connects our LLM tools to our data and systems.

2. AI-enabled tools, processes, and workflows that expand capacity for teams across the organization, from automated PRD generation to research and documentation workflows.

3. An organizational roadmap for AI adoption, built from what we learn as teams put these tools to work.

Key Responsibilities

• Partner with teams across the organization to identify, create, and deploy AI-enabled tools, processes, and workflows that expand their capacity and capability.

• Own the shared services roadmap and maintain the program's opportunity solution tree, grounding both in organizational learnings.

• Lead the change management side of AI adoption with care: build trust through education, frame AI as added capacity rather than a threat to anyone's job, and keep teams engaged without getting defensive.

• Assist the VP of Product in working with the senior leadership team to deliver AI-enabled tools, processes, and workflows and drive adoption across the organization.

• Define and document product requirements, including user stories, use cases, and functional specifications.

• Iterate relentlessly: uncover gaps, learn from real usage, and refine tools and workflows rather than shipping once and moving on.

• Collaborate with engineering and AI engineering teams to create and deliver high-quality internal products that meet team needs.

• Communicate product development strategy, progress, decisions, risks, and blockers clearly to technical and non-technical stakeholders through meetings and documentation.

• Define and monitor program performance metrics and conduct internal user research to measure success and identify areas for improvement.

• Share successful workflows and discoveries with the team to build collective knowledge and support teammates with their AI learning journey.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of experience in a product management role.

• Deep, demonstrated experience with AI: you've built your own AI tools, processes, and workflows, and ideally you've done it at the organizational level, not just for yourself.

• Technical fluency: comfort with engineering and AI terminology, and an understanding of AI as infrastructure (harnesses, observability, evals), not just chat applications.

• Strong cross-team collaboration skills and proven ability to navigate the politics of change management.

• A strategic mindset: you prioritize against the needs of the organization, not just a team or an individual.

• AI optimism: you can speak to the transformational potential of AI for organizations and individuals, and relay that vision credibly across a company.

• Solid product fundamentals: discovery, requirements documents, use cases, and the ability to find the heart of what needs to be done without drowning in details.

• Excellent communication, collaboration, and problem-solving skills.

• Ability to work effectively with cross-functional teams in a fast-paced startup environment.

• Mission-driven: you find real value in ensuring every kid learns to read, and that's part of why you're here.

• Preferred:

  • Experience at early-stage startups

  • Experience with Education Technology

Compensation & Benefits

At Ignite Reading, we embrace transparent compensation for a few reasons: to promote fairness and equity, to reduce pay discrimination based on gender, race, or negotiation skill, and to build trust within our team. The same role receives the same compensation — no negotiation.

Salary: $170,000

We also ensure you have the tools you need to thrive both in and out of work.

📈 Employee Stock Options - we want our success to be yours too

🩺 Medical, Dental, and Vision plans to support you and your well-being (80% employee coverage, 70% dependent coverage)

🏥 Short-term Disability (100% employer paid)

🏦 401(k) retirement plans with company contribution

👶 12-weeks paid parental leave

🌴 Unlimited vacation days (+ 12 paid holidays)

💻 Technology Stipend

🧘 Wellness Stipend

🛟 Voluntary Life Insurance

👩‍💻 Professional Development Stipend

We believe in building and fostering a diverse and inclusive workplace environment. We are proud to be an equal opportunity employer where all applicants are considered for employment without attention to color, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran or disability status. Research shows that candidates from underrepresented backgrounds often don't apply for roles if they don't meet all the criteria – unlike majority candidates meeting significantly fewer requirements. We strongly encourage you to apply if you’re interested!

We are seeking candidates who have lived experience related to social justice, diversity, equity, and inclusion. We are a virtual organization with headquarters in the California Bay Area.