Director, Supplemental & Assessment Portfolio

Newsela • Remote • 12h ago

The Director of the Supplemental and Assessment Portfolio serves as the strategic leader for the Formative and Newsela supplemental portfolios. Reporting to the Chief Product Officer, this role is responsible for driving product strategy, roadmap execution, and portfolio performance/P&L. This leader will bridge academic credibility, market insight, operational discipline, and GTM alignment to ensure delivery of measurable learning outcomes, district value, and financial results.

Why you’ll love this role:

Portfolio Ownership & Business Management

Serve as the strategic leader for the Formative and Newsela supplemental platforms, responsible for optimizing the balance between learning impact, adoption, renewal, and revenue growth.
Own the Formative and Newsela supplemental product strategy that drives the roadmap, defining and managing the full product lifecycle — from market assessment and roadmap prioritization through launch, maturity, and evolution.
Monitor product health, usage, NPS, and retention metrics; use data to drive investments and continuous improvement.
Partner with product analytics and sales operations to review dashboards to make data-driven decisions and participate in monthly business reviews that track product usage, pilot quantity and performance, pipeline, cross-sell attach, and renewal rates.
Lead the translation of product strategy into actionable product plays that the customer team can incorporate into annual GTM planning, including forecasting and renewal and expansion plays.
Partner with Finance and GTM to inform annual planning, forecasting, pricing, and packaging decisions.

Market & Customer Insight

Maintain deep knowledge of district instruction and assessment needs, procurement cycles, and policy trends (e.g., science of reading, balanced assessment systems, progress monitoring, AI-driven feedback).
Specifically identify how these trends impact district budget allocation to identify opportunities for differentiation and expansion.
Build strong relationships with district leaders and educators, state agencies, and academic advisors to validate roadmap direction and product-market fit.

Product & Solution Strategy

Define strategic positioning and value propositions for the Formative and Newsela supplemental portfolios, ensuring coherence with the broader Newsela portfolio.
Drive a unified "portfolio experience" by identifying integration and cross-sell priorities between Formative and Newsela platforms that reduce platform friction for multi-product districts.
Collaborate with engineering, design, and technical product management to deliver scalable, user-centered experiences that meet district security and interoperability standards.
Balance innovation with operational rigor — ensuring releases meet quality, accessibility, and performance benchmarks.
Champion cross-platform solutions that simplify teacher workflows and accelerate time-to-value.

Go-to-Market & Customer Success Alignment

Partner with Marketing, Sales, and Customer Success to develop launch plans, enablement materials, demo and pilot strategies, and success frameworks for new and evolving products.
Support field teams in articulating the commercial and academic value of the portfolio.
Monitor post-launch adoption and feedback loops; drive proactive interventions to improve engagement and renewal.
Lead strategic, cross-functional working groups to test, optimize, and re-launch platform-aligned GTM plays, ensuring continuous feedback between field performance, product usage data, and future motions.
Collaborate with the Head of Strategic Sales, Formative and Newsela supplemental product marketing teams, and technical product management and engineering leaders to align roadmap and GTM execution.

Leadership & Collaboration

Manage a team of Content Product Managers that own the product strategy for individual products within the supplemental and assessment portfolio.
Lead a cross-functional team of product management, content developers, marketers, and operations focused on measurable portfolio growth.
Operate continuously between quarterly governance cycles to accelerate decision-making and execution.
Collaborate closely with research, analytics, and technical product management partners to connect product usage to learning impact.
Contribute to company-wide strategic planning, representing the Formative and Newsela supplemental businesses within the broader assessment and instructional ecosystem.
Work closely with the Director of Research and Strategic Insights to embed research, workflow studies, and efficacy considerations into product strategy and decision making.

Why you’re a great fit:

8+ years of experience in EdTech or K-12 education, with at least 5 in product or portfolio leadership roles.
Proven track record managing the end-to-end lifecycle of SaaS products — from concept to sustained renewal growth.
Deep understanding of K-12 district assessment and instructional ecosystems, purchasing patterns, and success metrics.
Strong business acumen, with experience managing P&L or portfolio performance indicators.
Excellent communication, stakeholder management, and strategic planning skills.
Bachelor’s degree required; Master’s in Business preferred.
Demonstrated ability to influence across Product, Research, Ops, and GTM teams to drive measurable behavior change and financial outcomes.

Why you’ll love working at Newsela:

Health & Wellness: Comprehensive medical benefits with employer contribution to premiums and to HSA accounts. Additional benefits such as gym reimbursement, pet insurance, free access to the Calm app, Rocket Lawyer and more to help you stay healthy: mind, body, and soul.
Work From Home: We are a fully remote company. We provide a monthly tech stipend to support your WFH needs!
Supporting ALL Families: Inclusive benefits to support you and your family, including parental leave, fertility support, adoption, and more!
Financial Wellbeing: Invest in your future with our 401(k) plan, which includes an employer match to help you build long-term financial security.
Time Off: Flexible PTO, paid sick time off, company holidays plus winter break (Dec 24th - Jan 1st).
Professional Development:Newsela offers an annual learning and development allowance to employees to attend external training sessions, classes, workshops, conferences, and educational materials to foster professional growth within their current role and career aspirations at Newsela.
Make A Difference: No matter your role or department, the work you do each day helps share the future of education and improves the lives of students and teachers.

About Newsela:

Newsela is a leading education technology company dedicated to meaningful classroom learning for every student. We deliver integrated, AI-powered solutions designed to unlock student engagement, empower teachers, and drive meaningful learning outcomes. Our suite of products supports knowledge and skill development, writing practice, daily instruction, assessment, and data-informed decision-making across K–12 classrooms. Grounded in learning science research, Newsela’s solutions integrate content, assessment, and analytics to help educators track progress, understand student outcomes, and deliver high-impact instruction that supports every learner.

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