Product Manager - SaaS Student Platform

About Steppingblocks and Role Overview

Steppingblocks empowers students and educational institutions by leveraging data to provide insights that bridge the gap between education and career outcomes. Their flagship product, the Digital Career Counselor (DCC), equips students and higher education partners with actionable information to make informed future decisions.

We are seeking a Product Manager to take ownership of the DCC student platform. In this position, you will guide how students explore career options, understand outcomes, and make informed choices about their futures. Reporting to the Senior Product Manager, you will collaborate closely with engineering, design, and Partner Success teams to deliver features that delight students and support institutional needs. This role is ideal for someone who excels in clarifying ambiguity, enjoys user-focused product development, and is passionate about integrating AI-driven workflows into product management.

Responsibilities

• Manage and prioritize the DCC product backlog, making final decisions on feature delivery timing and sequencing.
• Define the scope for new and enhanced DCC features, including customization capabilities and internal administrative tools for managing customer tenants.
• Establish acceptance criteria, readiness checkpoints, and success metrics for every shipped feature.
• Collaborate with design and engineering teams to make joint decisions on design and user experience, treating design as a collaborative craft rather than a separate handoff.
• Assess and prioritize bug fixes, balancing immediate and deferred resolutions.
• Coordinate dependencies across engineering, design, and data teams to ensure smooth delivery.
• Regularly communicate roadmap status and feature updates to internal stakeholders.
• Ensure all DCC features meet accessibility standards and maintain an up-to-date feature inventory as new updates are released.
• Lead discovery and research processes for new features, using AI-assisted prototyping and mockups to gather customer feedback before engineering efforts commence.
• Partner with the Partner Success team to prepare customer-facing documentation for each release.
• Contribute to the broader DCC product roadmap and engineering resource planning, having meaningful input while final decisions rest with product leadership.

Required Qualifications

• 3 to 5 years of product management experience on customer-facing SaaS platforms, preferably in agile environments.
• Proficiency and daily use of AI tools such as Claude, ChatGPT, or Cursor, and enthusiasm for incorporating AI-native workflows into product development.
• Experience managing the full product lifecycle including discovery, scoping, launch, measurement, and iteration.
• Comfort making decisions and communicating trade-offs when working with incomplete information.
• Strong collaborative skills, working closely with designers and engineers and valuing design and UX as a shared responsibility.
• Excellent written communication capabilities to manage customer documentation, internal updates, and executive summaries effectively.
• Self-motivated and adaptable with the ability to manage multiple competing priorities independently.
• Customer-focused mindset that builds trust and advances work efficiently and diplomatically.
• Openness to feedback and collaboration, flexible in viewpoints and comfortable acknowledging errors.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience developing consumer or education-related products aimed at students.
• Knowledge of accessibility compliance (WCAG) and inclusive design principles.
• Familiarity with multi-tenant SaaS architectures.
• Hands-on experience with AI-powered prototyping, delivering large language model-powered features, or conducting AI-assisted research cycles.
• Basic proficiency in SQL for exploring product usage data independently.

Why Work at Steppingblocks?

• Lead development of a student platform that supports learners in career discovery and confident decision-making.
• Build and refine AI-integrated workflows both within the product and in product development processes.
• Join a mission-driven and innovative team within a flexible, remote-friendly work culture.
• Be part of a growing organization with proven success and strong partnerships with universities and institutions.
• Opportunity for career growth by influencing product strategy, mentoring colleagues, and leading strategic initiatives across the platform.

Benefits & Perks

• Comprehensive Medical, Dental, and Vision insurance coverage.
• Work-from-home flexibility to support your best working environment.
• Unlimited paid time off to maintain work-life balance.
• 401K retirement plan participation.
• Continuing education stipend to support your professional growth.
• Engaging and supportive coworkers fostering a positive work culture.

Equal Opportunity Commitment

Steppingblocks is dedicated to fostering diversity and creating an inclusive workplace. Applicants from all backgrounds who share the mission of closing the education-career information gap are encouraged to apply. The company prohibits discrimination based on race, color, creed, religion, ancestry, age, gender, marital status, national origin, disability, veteran status, or any other legally protected characteristics.