Senior Product Manager, New Product Online Education

Division and Unit Overview

The American Chemical Society (ACS) is the world’s largest scientific membership association and one of the top ten peer-reviewed science publishers in the world. The Publications Division of the ACS has all of the characteristics of a medium-sized commercial STM publishing company: its primary competitors for authors, market-share, and talent are Elsevier, Wiley, and Springer/Nature. It is one of two ACS divisions charged with serving a dual function: generating substantial revenue – currently in the range of $200M - to support the Society’s programmatic activities and fulfilling a core mission of the Society by advancing knowledge in the field of chemistry and the chemical enterprise.

 

Position Summary

ACS Publications, by virtue of its products and wide-ranging peer review, touches hundreds of thousands of active researchers. Our focus has been on their research outputs, not the skills and techniques required for researchers to excel professionally. The Division’s primary products and revenue center have traditionally been peer-reviewed journals that are widely disseminated through online subscriptions, receiving the most downloads and citations in chemistry. ACS Publications has a significant footprint in the global academy: 3,500 institutions from high schools to teaching hospitals subscribe and use our content services or seek to enhance their professional standing though our publications and events. To further enhance the impact of the Division, the New Product Innovation team is tasked with developing and launching new products, services, tools, or solutions consistent with the Societal mission to provide indispensable information.

 

The goal of the Senior Product Manager, Online Education is to develop the business, product, and implementation strategy for a suite of online technical training products including responsibility for user research, product vision, solution development, feature validation, and delivery of products at scale. The incumbent is responsible for implementing a defined content roadmap and bringing consistency and quality to the product portfolio. As a start-up initiative within a traditional organization, the incumbent should be comfortable solving a wide range of dynamic issues. The Senior Product Manager, Online Education will work closely with external vendors, subject matter experts (SMEs), colleagues across Education, Scientific Advancement, and Membership, others in the Innovation team, and the Division’s editorial, sales, and marketing teams. This position reports to the Portfolio Manager, Online Learning & Training.

 

Position Accountabilities

• Lead product vision, content strategy, and course development for a portfolio of online technical training products, including defining success metrics and managing the content and course development lifecycle to continually enhance product content, features, and capabilities.
• Recruit and manage SMEs and establish a network of chemistry professionals to serve as reviewers and advisers that will help define course learning objectives while also ensuring course content supports the technical training needs of customers in academia, government, and industry.
• Collaborate with SMEs, technical product managers, and instructional designers to develop an online technical training roadmap that aligns with business and market needs.
• Conduct user testing with customers to ensure the courses contain accurate and engaging content and fulfill stated needs and objectives.
• Participate in launch activities including go-to-market plans, training, and communication. Participate in the development of marketing and sales collateral and tools.
• Evaluate the efficacy of courses post launch to ensure learning outcomes are achieved. Determine when product and content updates and enhancements are necessary.
• Understand the competitive landscape and evaluate market trends to better inform product roadmap.
• Maintain awareness of educational software, training technologies, and pedagogical approaches to higher education. Stay abreast of pertinent federal, state, and university regulations, laws, and policies to ensure lab safety program compliance.

 

 Education/Experience/Technological Knowledge

• PhD with 3 years of experience or Master’s degree with 5 years of experience in chemistry or related sciences, instructional design, or training development a plus.
• 3 - 5+ years of demonstrated experience overseeing safety activities in an academic or industrial lab setting, managing online education products, or in instructional design and course development. Experience managing external vendors and SMEs a plus.
• Adept at dealing with ambiguity and a frequently changing work environment.
• Ability to manage multiple products and tasks while meeting stated deadlines.
• Demonstrated experience in leading through influence.
• Strong organizational, planning, and time management skills. Ability to present information clearly and concisely.
• Strong written and oral communication skills.
• Effective problem solver and multitasker with strong analytical skills.
• Collaborative working style, effective at working with cross-functional teams and supporting authors to produce high quality content.
• Willingness and ability to travel up to 15% of the time.

 

Position is based in Washington, DC.

 

 EEO/Minority/Female/Disabled/Veteran

Nearest Major Market: Washington DC
Job Segment: E-Learning, Testing, Instructional Designer, Education, Research, Technology

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