Senior Lead, Product Management - Content Authoring Platform

Location: Remote (UK/US) 

About the Role

We are seeking an experienced Product leader to own the vision, strategy, and roadmap for our Content Authoring Platform - a critical enterprise platform that enables thousands of content creators to build educational content serving millions of learners worldwide across Higher Education, K-12, English Language Learning, and Enterprise segments.

This is a platform product leadership role requiring strategic clarity and technical depth, transforming a set of legacy systems that successfully drives significant revenue today, to a future forward platform that leverages AI innovation to power the learning experiences of tomorrow, through deep user empathy, and a bias to data-driven decision-making. 

You will define how the platform evolves to meet the needs of diverse users - from authors and educators to content producers and downstream products that drive very diverse learning experiences - while navigating a rapidly changing landscape of AI innovation. The platform provides both user-facing applications and developer-facing services (APIs, SDKs, and technical infrastructure), requiring you to balance multiple user contexts and integration patterns.

Key Responsibilities

Platform Vision & Strategy

• Define and articulate a compelling product vision for the Content Authoring Platform that aligns stakeholders and guides investment decisions, in a complex B2B2C environment
• Develop and maintain platform roadmaps that balance business commitments, system consolidation initiatives, and strategic capability investments
• Establish clear strategic principles and decision frameworks that enable coherent prioritisation across a complex stakeholder landscape
• Drive decisions on build vs. buy vs. partner for core platform capabilities, including evaluation of vendor proposals and technology partnerships
• Lead platform rationalisation efforts-consolidating duplicated systems across business units while managing risk and maintaining delivery commitments

User-Centric and Data Driven Product Development

• Develop deep, nuanced understanding of platform users across multiple personas: authors, content producers, educators, instructors, community contributors, and developers/systems consuming platform services
• Drive continuous discovery practices to identify and validate problems worth solving, ensuring product decisions are grounded in user research, behavioural data, and direct engagement – developing empathy for the end customer
• Define and implement a comprehensive instrumentation strategy to capture platform usage, user behaviour, and outcome metrics, using data to inform prioritisation, validate hypotheses, measure feature impact, and identify opportunities for improvement
• Establish success metrics and KPIs tied to user value and business outcomes (e.g., content creation cycle time, author productivity, content reuse rates, API adoption), while building data fluency across product teams - ensuring PMs can access, analyse, and act on quantitative insights

AI & Technical Innovation

• Define and evolve a responsible and impact driven AI strategy for content authoring, with business unit leaders - including generative AI for content creation, AI-assisted quality assurance, intelligent content recommendations, and adaptive content personalisation
• Navigate the rapidly evolving AI landscape-evaluating emerging capabilities, distinguishing signal from noise, and making pragmatic adoption decisions
• Evaluate and integrate AI/ML technologies, LLM partnerships, and emerging capabilities that enhance author productivity and content quality

Product Leadership

• Build, lead, and develop a high-performing product management team aligned to platform capabilities and user segments
• Develop PM talent - coaching on discovery techniques, stakeholder management, strategic thinking, and data-driven decision-making
• Operate effectively in a matrix organisation - influencing without direct authority, building coalitions, and navigating competing priorities across business units
• Contribute to broader product capability building across the organisation, including participation in communities of practice

Required Experience & Skills

• 10+ years of product management experience, with at least 5 years leading product teams and managing product managers
• Significant experience with platform products that serve multiple customer segments, including both UI applications and developer-facing services (APIs, integrations)
• Deep user empathy and discovery skills - demonstrated ability to understand diverse user needs, validate problems, and ensure product decisions are grounded in user insight
• Strong technical acumen - ability to engage credibly with engineering on architecture decisions, API design, and technical trade-offs
• Strong data and analytics orientation-experience defining instrumentation strategies, establishing metrics frameworks, and using data to drive product decisions
• Experience in complex B2B2C enterprise environments - ideally large incumbents with legacy systems and multiple business units
• Experience with AI/ML product development, including practical understanding of how rapidly evolving AI capabilities impact user needs and product strategy
• Experience operating in empowered product team models (SVPG-style or similar) -leading through influence and outcome accountability
• Excellent stakeholder communication skills-ability to build trust with business leaders, translate technical concepts for non-technical audiences, and navigate organisational complexity
• Experience building and developing product teams - hiring, mentoring, and growing PM talent

Preferred Experience

• Background in content management systems, authoring tools, publishing technology, or related domains
• Experience in education technology, media, or content-intensive industries
• Track record of leading vendor evaluations and technology partnership decisions
• Experience with content atomisation, structured content standards, or modular content architectures
• Familiarity with accessibility standards (WCAG) and internationalisation requirements
• Experience with platform consolidation or system rationalisation programmes

This role operates within an SVPG-inspired empowered product team model in a matrix organisation. You will lead a team of product managers, partner closely with engineering and design leadership, and collaborate across business units who are key stakeholders and consumers of platform capabilities. Success requires leading through influence, building strong cross-functional relationships, and maintaining accountability for outcomes.

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About Pearson

Pearson is a global learning company committed to helping people make progress in their lives through learning. As we evolve from a traditional textbook publisher to a digital-first learning company, we are investing in platform capabilities that will power the next generation of content creation and delivery. Our digital courseware and learning products now represent the majority of our revenue, and the Content Authoring Platform is central to how we create educational experiences at scale.

What Success Looks Like

In the first 6 months:

• Deep understanding of platform users across all key personas, grounded in direct engagement and data
• Clear, compelling platform vision and strategy documented and aligned with leadership
• Instrumentation and metrics framework established to measure platform health and user outcomes
• Prioritised roadmap in place with credible, data-informed rationale for sequencing decisions
• Strong working relationships established with engineering, design, and business unit leaders
• Team operating model defined; PM team aligned and effective

In the first 18 months:

• Platform vision driving coherent decision-making across the organisation
• Measurable improvements in key user outcomes (e.g., content creation cycle time, author productivity)
• Data-driven culture embedded in product team-decisions informed by evidence
• AI capabilities in production, delivering measurable value to users
• Progress on platform consolidation-reduced system duplication and improved cross-BU capability sharing
• High-functioning PM team with clear accountability for platform outcomes
• Business unit stakeholders actively engaged as partners in platform evolution

Why Join This Role

• Strategic ownership: Define and drive the vision for a platform that is central to Pearson's digital future
• Meaningful impact: Your platform will power educational content that reaches millions of learners globally
• Complex, interesting problems: Balance diverse user needs, navigate AI disruption, and shape platform evolution
• Significant scope: Lead a substantial PM team and own strategy for a platform spanning multiple business units
• Modern operating model: Work within an SVPG-inspired empowered team environment with genuine autonomy
• AI at the forefront: Shape how AI transforms content creation in one of the world's largest education companies

Compensation at Pearson is influenced by a wide array of factors including but not limited to skill set, level of experience, and specific location. As required by the California, Colorado, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York State, New York City, Vermont, Washington State, and Washington DC laws, the pay range for this position is as follows:    

The minimum full-time salary range is between $190,000 - $220,000.  

This position is eligible to participate in an annual incentive program, and information on benefits offered is here.  

Applications will be accepted through 17th April. This window may be extended depending on business needs.