Director, Product Communications and Special Projects

About the company

The company helps teachers bring delight and rigor to students every day. We have become a leader in K–12 literacy, biliteracy, math, and science by building inspiring teaching and learning experiences based on research. The company Classroom platform combines curriculum, assessment, and supplemental learning into one coherent high-quality instructional system. A pioneer in education since 2000, the company has developed deep relationships in states and districts by partnering with educators to drive implementation quality and improved outcomes. Today, the company serves more than 18 million students and teachers across all 50 states and on six continents. For more information, visit the company [link for members]

Job Description

We are looking for a strategic operator and exceptional communicator who can design the connective tissue of a complex, matrixed organization. You will own the operational rhythm of the Product leadership team using strategic communication levers, lead high-priority surge projects, and ensure senior leaders are focused on the most critical strategic trade-offs. If you believe a well-designed meeting, a tightly crafted narrative, and a thoughtful offsite agenda can be the difference between organizational drift and organizational momentum, this is the role for you.

Responsibilities

• Communications Architecture & Organizational Rhythm

• Design and own the communications architecture across the Product team (~400 people) — from CPO leadership touchpoints to multi-day offsites, Product Town Halls, Product QBRs, and planned moments of cross-functional alignment. You think about how Slack communication flows through the Product team and other key channels, and how to improve day-to-day communication practices that elevate work and clarify both decisions and progress. You are not simply scheduling meetings; you are engineering the information flow of the organization.

• Shape the leadership cadence: Ensure the CPO’s leadership team is spending its time on the thorniest, highest-leverage problems. Design leadership team agendas that drive strategic debate and real decision-making, not status reporting.

• Reimagine how we convene: Rethink Product town halls, Product all-hands, and QBRs to be authentic, engaging, and aligned to the narratives that matter. Establish planned moments of communication — both internal and with partner functions like Sales, Marketing & Public Affairs, and Customer Experience — that build transparency and confidence in the product planning and execution model.

• Facilitate quarterly ceremonies and cross-functional touchpoints that surface dependencies, progress, and trade-offs across suites and shared services.

• Manage and develop a junior team member who supports deck development, research, and communications execution. You set clear priorities, coach in real time on the work itself, and create stretch opportunities that grow their capabilities and extend the reach of the function.

• Strategic Leverage & Executive Voice

• Executive communications: Draft internal memos, leadership-facing decks, and department-wide communications that ensure a consistent, motivating narrative from Product leadership.

• Narrative synthesis: Translate complex product, operational, and pedagogical updates into clear, high-level executive summaries for company leadership and cross-functional partners. Establish and communicate the narratives that align product development with broader company objectives, with a focus on operational excellence in delivery.

• Information cascading: Ensure strategic decisions from leadership flow to teams without losing context, and that ground-level insights flow up to inform strategy. You act as the connective tissue between the top of the house and the people doing the work.

• Special Projects & Surge Capacity

• Lead cross-cutting initiatives that are complex, high-priority, and don’t have another natural home — the projects that fall between functional lines and would otherwise stall. You drive them to completion.

• Culture Carrier & Organizational Health

• Serve as a “temperature taker” for the Product function: You have a finger on the pulse of team morale, energy, and engagement across the Product organization. You proactively surface what people are feeling — not just what they’re delivering — and translate those signals into actionable recommendations for leadership.

• Take action on employee engagement: You analyze quarterly pulse check employee engagement data and EOY engagement data, identifying with product leadership the highest-priority improvement areas and building recommendations for how to improve and how you’ll measure improvement function-wide.

• Be a culture carrier: Model and reinforce the behaviors and norms that define how Product works at its best. Whether through the tone of a town hall, the design of an offsite, or a one-on-one conversation with a frustrated team lead, you shape the lived experience of the organization.

• Build trust across the org: Serve as a trusted, neutral point of contact for other departments and for teams across Product who need a place to raise concerns, flag friction, or simply be heard. You create the conditions where people feel seen and where cross-functional decision-making moves faster because relationships are strong.

Who You Are…

• A Nimble Thinker: You can digest a 50-page research paper and turn it into a 5-slide strategy deck by morning. You move fluidly between the strategic and the tactical.

• A “Low Ego” Leader: You are equally comfortable presenting to the ELT as you are rolling up your sleeves to fix a spreadsheet or coordinate logistics for a 200-person offsite.

• An Expert Navigator: You know how to build influence across a matrixed organization to get things done without formal authority. You are the person people turn to when something is stuck.

• An Operational Strategist: You find deep satisfaction in a perfectly run meeting and a clear, actionable project plan. You see operational design as a form of leadership, not overhead.

• A Champion and Unifier: You are an internal force that straddles multiple product lines, grade levels, and functions — representing the broader Product organization in cross-functional forums and ensuring alignment across product development initiatives.

• A Gifted Communicator: You write with precision, present with clarity, and design communications experiences that leave people better informed and more aligned than they were before.

Basic Qualifications

• 8–10+ years of experience in a high-growth environment plus 5 years of increasing managerial experience (Strategy, Operations, Chief of Staff, Program Management, or Management Consulting), ideally in technology, education, media, or another content-driven business.

• Proven experience designing organizational operating rhythms — you have built the meeting cadences, planning cycles, and communication architectures that keep complex organizations aligned.

• Exceptional deck and narrative skills: You are the person leaders turn to when the story needs to land. You can build a board deck, an all-hands presentation, or a strategic memo with equal fluency.

• Experience operating in a matrixed, cross-functional environment where influence without authority is the primary leadership currency.

• People management experience: demonstrated ability to directly manage and develop a team member, with a track record of coaching early-career talent and accelerating their growth.

• K–12 or education context preferred — familiarity with curriculum development, the school adoption cycle, or the general complexity of the American education system is a meaningful advantage.

• Educational foundation: Undergraduate degree required; MBA or advanced degree preferred.

The company is an Equal Opportunity Employer. The company makes employment decisions based on qualifications and merit, and does not discriminate based on race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability status, veteran status, or any other legally protected characteristic or status.

The company is committed to providing reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities, including disabled veterans. If you have a disability and need an accommodation in connection with the application or hiring process, please email [link for members]

If you are selected for employment, a background check will be required. As required by state and local laws and district policies, you may be required to provide additional documentation, such as proof of vaccination, or submit to enhanced background screening, such as fingerprinting.

The company is an E-Verify participant.