Chief Product Officer

We’re a small, fast-moving nonprofit with one flagship product—and we move fast, collaborate deeply, and care obsessively about the students, schools, and communities we serve. As our Chief Product Officer, you’ll be both the visionary and the operator behind our platform’s evolution—leading a lean product team and guiding how we turn big ideas into tools that tangibly support student success. You’ll own the roadmap and execution, managing day-to-day delivery across research, design, engineering, and marketing. You’ll also play a critical role in imagining what’s next: surfacing user insights, identifying new features, and building relationships with API and platform partners to grow our impact and interoperability. This is a rare chance to step into a C-level role in a small organization, gain hands-on leadership experience, and shape a product from level one to two—while setting yourself up for your next big leadership move.

About Uprooted Academy

Uprooted Academy is a tech non-profit that offers an AI-powered, student-centered platform that ensures under-resourced students can navigate the college application process with confidence, resilience, and well-being. Our holistic, data-driven approach connects students to the resources, mentorship, and social capital needed to pursue their dreams and close the wealth gap. We’ve reached thousands of students through early partnerships with school districts and community organizations. Now we’re scaling nationally and building the tech backbone to support that growth to reach 1M students.

Description

Chief Product Officer

Location: Los Angeles (Hybrid with in-office days)

Start Date: October 15, 2025

Salary Range: $110,000-$130,000

Uprooted Academy is committed to equity and transparency in our hiring practices. To support fairness across our team and reduce bias in salary negotiations, we do not negotiate individual salaries. Compensation for this role is set based on the scope of responsibilities and external market benchmarks for similar roles in the nonprofit and education sectors.

Core Responsibilities

Cross-Functional Team Leadership 

• Own, and define key product metrics comprising: e.g. - user engagement, value generation/growth, stakeholder need/feedback, product gaps etc. Lead development of product requirement documentation (PRD)
• Lead the product team’s preparation and participation in quarterly strategic sync with the CTO, CIO, and CEO—sharing roadmap progress, user engagement data, and partner feedback to guide technical, compliance, and growth alignment.
• Lead product strategy and identify new partnership and product opportunities, presenting them to the team to enhance interoperability and expand organizational impact.
• Ensure data insights and product outcomes are synthesized and shared regularly with the CEO, funders, and external partners 

Product Operations and Delivery

• Lead and manage the overall product delivery process—organizing people, timelines, and dependencies across design, research, engineering, marketing, and integrations to ensure smooth execution
• Manage sprint planning, backlog prioritization, and cross-functional alignment—leveraging an understanding of technical capabilities to collaborate effectively with the CTO.
• Lead product configuration management planning
• Manage product documentation and delivery milestones 

Partnership Strategy and Support 

• Lead the discovery and partnership conversations for new, strategic product integrations (ex. Common App, Beyond12, scholarship tools, SIS/CCGI, FAFSA, etc.)
• Serve as the primary technical contact during onboarding for new school, organizational partners and technical vendors 
• Lead Clever rostering and integration across new districts—ensure smooth data sync, SSO setup, and troubleshooting
• Evaluate integration impact and ROI over time, supporting long-term interoperability strategy 

Quality Assurance Across Platform 

• Create a team plan for zendesk ensuring tickets are triaged, prioritized, routed to appropriate team members, and oversee resolution 
• Track quality assurance and testing milestones on the roadmap to ensure features are properly vetted before release; define A/B testing strategy 
• Monitor platform health and surface bugs or gaps in the support experience to the CTO and development team 
• Maintain interoperability amongst internal systems and external partners

External Visibility & Platform Representation 

• Represent Uprooted Academy at local and national conferences, school district events, and community activations 
• Serve as a product spokesperson in panel discussions, demos, and presentations to education and edtech audiences 
• Support marketing and partnerships by speaking about product features, student impact, and platform innovation 
• Table and engage with school and nonprofit partners during in-person events to elevate platform visibility and deepen relationships 

Qualifications

• 7–10+ years of experience in technical product management, platform operations, or technology leadership—ideally in education, edtech, or mission-driven startups
• At least one year experience in coding and backend engineering via bootcamp or degree in computer engineering 
• Familiarity with AI and agentic AI capabilities
• Proven success leading and managing cross-functional teams across product, design, research, engineering, and/or data to deliver high-impact digital tools or platforms
• Experience managing or collaborating with technical teams (e.g., engineering, data systems, IT); able to translate between technical and non-technical stakeholders
• Demonstrated ability to define and drive product roadmaps, manage complex project plans, and ensure timely, high-quality execution
• Experience building or managing integrations with third-party tools, platforms, or data systems (e.g., Clever, SIS, Common App, scholarship databases, etc.)
• Track record of partner-facing communication, including technical onboarding, platform demos, or implementation support
• Comfort managing internal IT workflows, help desk systems (e.g., Zendesk), or QA processes
• Bonus: familiarity with college access/advising ecosystems, student support platforms, or education equity movements
• Bonus: experience scaling a product in a startup, early-stage nonprofit, or high-growth environment

Perks

• Generous PTO – Enjoy two weeks off in the winter and one week off is summer, plus additional paid time off.
• Comprehensive Benefits including 401k match
• Coworking Membership with free meals
• Laptop + hotspot 
• Annual Team Retreat – A fully planned retreat to recharge, strategize, and build community.
• And More! – We’re always adding benefits that support our team’s well-being and growth.

Who You Are

You are a strategic and values-driven product leader who sees technology not just as a tool, but as a powerful lever for social change. You thrive in fast-paced, mission-driven environments. You’re driven by curiosity—about new technologies, about the people who use them, and about the systems they can disrupt. You stay ahead of what’s possible, while staying grounded in what users actually need.

As Chief Product Officer, you bring both decisiveness and humility to your work. You’re able to navigate ambiguity, make clear calls when the path forward is complex, and adjust as new information comes to light. You’re not just a visionary—you’re a conductor, orchestrating internal and external relationships that keep the platform moving forward: from engineers and designers to school district partners and third-party platforms.

You are deeply curious about how students and educators interact with technology, and you're passionate about building tools that close equity gaps. You have a strong technical fluency, allowing you to collaborate with engineers and data teams, and you’re energized by partnerships that expand what your platform can do. You know how to coordinate across departments, translate insights into action, and keep teams aligned around a shared vision.

You're a systems thinker, a clear communicator, and a natural collaborator. Whether you’re facilitating a roadmap discussion, debugging a UX issue, or representing the platform at a national conference, you show up with humility, urgency, and a deep belief in young people’s potential..

Why Join Uprooted Academy?

• Work in a mission-driven organization that is expanding college access through AI-powered innovation.
• Join a fast-paced, collaborative team that values iteration, learning, and bold ideas.
• Hybrid work flexibility with up to 3 days in-person at our workspace in Los Angeles.