Director, Product Owner – AI, Cloud, SE and Devops

DEPARTMENT: National Program 

POSITION TITLE: Director, Product Owner – AI, Cloud, SE and Devops

REPORTS TO: Sr. Director, Product Management

DURATION: Full-time 

MODALITY: Remote, must be in compliance with Per Scholas office policy/Travel: 25%

WHO WE ARE LOOKING FOR: 

Per Scholas is seeking a dynamic, strategic, and results-oriented Product Owner to lead our Software Engineering, DevOps, and Cloud curriculum portfolio. In this role, you will serve as the vertical subject-matter expert (SME) and curriculum product owner—translating labor market intelligence, employer demand, and instructional research into high-quality, scalable learning products that drive learner outcomes, credential attainment, and job placement. You will own discovery, define the learner's experience intent, translate technical requirements into clear learning objectives and measurable assessments, and partner cross-functionally through build, launch, and continuous improvement.

You bring an engineering background with strong cloud fluency (AWS and/or Azure) and the ability to translate real-world technical requirements into clear learning objectives, competency maps, hands-on labs, and measurable assessments. You will embed AI-enabled engineering workflows into the curriculum (e.g., AI-assisted coding, testing, and DevOps automation) while promoting responsible and effective AI usage aligned to employer expectations

WHAT YOU’LL DO:

Roadmap Ownership & Strategic Alignment:

• Own and maintain the multi-year curriculum product roadmap, with clear prioritization criteria, explicit tradeoffs, and documented decisions across market-driven, customized, and alumni offerings.
• Establish and maintain a disciplined Operating Rhythm, including discovery-to-delivery planning, milestone tracking, and monthly portfolio reviews tied to outcomes and capacity.
• Lead end-to-end product lifecycle management, including opportunity intake, discovery, evaluation, build decisions, implementation, adoption, performance improvement, and strategic sunsetting.
• Define and uphold curriculum product standards (quality, consistency, accessibility, assessment rigor, credential alignment) and ensure adoption across the portfolio.

Curriculum Discovery, Requirements Translation, and Design Leadership:

• Serve as the primary curriculum strategy lead in partner and funder discovery—translating business requirements into learning objectives, assessments, and curriculum design intent.
• Assume accountability for the analysis and design phase of new and existing curricula by setting clear design requirements, acceptance criteria, and readiness-to-build decisions for Product Owners.
• Ensure curriculum alignment to industry standards and certification requirements, and partner with Evaluation/Delivery to validate learning effectiveness and job relevance.
• Establish durable “definition of done” criteria for curriculum releases (learning objectives, assessments, instructional assets, delivery readiness, and measurement plan).

Stakeholder Advisory & External Enablement:

• Act as a lead consultant for internal and external stakeholders—including donors, executive leadership, government partners, and employer partners—to shape curriculum strategy and delivery commitments.
• Spearhead the narrative and content development for client/funder-facing curriculum materials (e.g., solution decks, portfolio overviews, proposals), ensuring accuracy, clarity, and alignment to outcomes, while partnering with Product Operations for packaging, version control, and distribution.
• Support grant and contract requirements by translating compliance and reporting needs into product requirements, measurement plans, and deliverable timelines.

People Leadership & Product Owner Enablement:

• Provide direct supervision and professional development for the Product Managers team, ensuring high-quality instructional output across technical tracks and consistent use of product discovery practices.
• Coach Product Owners on discovery, scoping, learning experience intent, assessment strategy, and tradeoff decisions—protecting focus on the highest-impact work.
• Serve as the primary intake and prioritization lead for new product requests, optimizing departmental capacity and protecting the team from scope creep.

Operational Excellence, Measurement, and Governance:

• Own, define, and actively track curriculum product KPIs, using them to drive roadmap decisions, accountability, and continuous improvement across offerings.
• Partner with Product Operations to maintain curriculum documentation standards, decision logs, and a reliable system of record for portfolio artifacts (course catalog, product briefs, version history, collateral).
• Design and implement Quality Assurance (QA) frameworks to reduce curriculum development cycle time while improving consistency and delivery readiness.
• Collaborate with Product Delivery and Evaluation teams to ensure products are measurable, improve outcomes over time, and meet placement and credential-attainment goals.

Systems, Process, and Cross-Functional Integration:

• Partner closely with Training Delivery, Instructor Development, and Product Delivery to ensure curriculum roadmap commitments align with instructor readiness, scheduling realities, change-absorption capacity, and launch readiness.
• Navigate enterprise-level technology challenges to ensure integration between product offerings and infrastructure (LMS, CRM, content repositories, and cloud platforms).
• Identify cross-functional process gaps impacting curriculum quality, speed, or adoption and drive improvements in partnership with Product Operations (workflows, templates, handoffs, governance).

WHAT YOU’LL BRING TO US:

Professional Qualifications

• 6+ years of hands-on software engineering experience in modern stacks including Java/Java EE, Javascript, NodeJS, React, Angular, etc…
• 3+ years of cloud experience successfully deploying and managing solutions on platforms such as AWS, GCP, or Azure.
• 2+ years of experience with DevOps, CI/CD pipelines, and QA processes, including containerization, orchestration, automation, and monitoring/observability.
• Active Technical Portfolio: Must maintain an active GitHub, GitLab, or similar profile and be prepared to present and explain the architecture and logic of specific projects during the interview process.
• Proven ability to translate technical requirements into structured learning objectives, competency-based outcomes, and assessable performance measures.
• Product ownership discipline: experience managing a backlog, writing clear requirements, aligning stakeholders, and driving execution from discovery through launch.
• Executive communication strength: ability to synthesize technical complexity into clear tradeoffs, decisions, and measurable outcomes.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience developing or evaluating technical training content, labs, and performance-based assessments.
• Familiarity with workforce development or scaled training delivery environments (multi-site, standardized delivery, instructor enablement).
• Experience applying AI tools in engineering workflows (coding, testing, DevOps automation) and teaching responsible, effective usage patterns.

Personal Characteristics

• Outcomes-oriented: prioritizes learner job readiness and employer relevance over activity or output volume.
• High standards with psychological safety: balances rigor, clarity, and accountability with supportive collaboration.
• Systems thinker: improves repeatability, documentation, and process discipline across cross-functional teams.
• Strong collaborator: builds alignment across Product, Design, Delivery, and Operations; leads through influence and crisp decision-making.

Compensation 

For this role specifically, we are targeting a salary of $85,000 - $90,000 where the difference in salary is typically determined by several factors, including geography in which the selected candidate resides, and alignment with qualifications and experience.