Director of Product Innovation

Southwestern Companies•Nashville, TN

13h•Hybrid

About The Position

The Director of Product Innovation is accountable for the future of the Southwestern Advantage product portfolio. This position identifies opportunities and strategies to serve families through innovative and relevant product offerings through thoughtful client and market research. The Director of Product Innovation connects the field insight to portfolio solutions and leads the design, sourcing, and launch of new products and services including digital, AI-enabled and service-based solutions beyond historical print catalog offerings. This position owns the decision of what we build and what we retire. The Director of Product Innovation reports to the President of Southwestern Advantage and works in close partnership with the Director of Product Quality and Enhancement, Sales, Marketing, IT and Finance and provides excellent customer service to team members and customers while demonstrating the company values and supporting the mission.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in business, Product Management, Marketing, Education, Learning Sciences, or a related field
5 years of experience in product management, product development, innovation, commercialization, education products, consumer products, or related business leadership role
Advanced computer skills and ability to effectively operate computer equipment, software systems, and databases
Proven success bringing new products, services, or solutions from concept to market
Expertise in customer discovery and market validation
Strong business and commercial acumen
Understanding of learning methodologies and educational product development
Experience developing and managing strategic partnerships, including negotiating vendor, licensing, distribution, or platform agreements and assessing associated business risks and opportunities.
Demonstrated success leading cross-functional initiatives in complex, matrixed organizations, influencing stakeholders, building alignment, and driving results without direct authority.
Strong strategic thinking, problem-solving, and decision-making skills, with the ability to evaluate opportunities, manage competing priorities, and execute against long-term business objectives.
Exceptional communication and presentation skills, with the ability to effectively influence executives, partners, and cross-functional teams
Ability to work on multiple projects simultaneously while accomplishing daily tasks
Attention to detail and critical thinker with exceptional problem-solving skills
High standards for integrity, honesty, professionalism, and work ethic
Commitment to service excellence
Ability to work independently while demonstrating excellent organization and follow through
Demonstrate flexible and efficient time management and ability to prioritize workload
Ability and willingness to move with purpose and a strong sense of urgency
Self-motivated, positive, and enthusiastic
Self-starter with a strong desire to exceed expectations and capable of supporting a team
Maintain confidentiality discretion
Ability to effectively work in collaboration with others to achieve business objectives
Willing to grow and be challenged
Attend training as requested

Responsibilities

Own a continuous research program with families: in-home observation, post-purchase interviews, structured surveys, and critically research with prospects who declined to buy
Maintain a documented set of assumptions about what families want, and design cheap tests to disprove them before significant capital is committed
Personally spend time in the field during selling season. Ride-alongs and in-home observation are a requirement of this position, not a perk
Build and own an independent channel for dealer and sales-organization feedback
Provide thorough, proven analytics for informed decisions and vision setting including close rates by product, refund reasons, product-level objection tracking, and post-season dealer confidence surveys
Lead concept through launch for new offerings, including digital, subscription, AI-enabled, and service-based products outside our historical print catalog
Design products against the constraints of our channel: a product must be understandable to a parent in a single in-home presentation, and valuable enough that the family still uses it six months later.
Define pricing, packaging, and bundle architecture in partnership with Sales and Finance
Champion and oversee product requirements, learning design standards, and launch readiness criteria.
Identify, evaluate, and negotiate content licensing, technology licensing, white-label, and reseller relationships with publishers, platforms, and technology providers
Structure agreements that protect the channel — including field exclusivity, pricing latitude, customer data ownership, AI and derivative-works rights, and wind-down provisions that guarantee delivery to families who have already paid
Make and defend build-versus-license-versus-partner decisions with clear reasoning about cost, speed, and defensibility
Maintain a validated three-to-five-year roadmap, for the full portfolio and detail product diagnose-design-launch-evaluate timeline within the roadmap, that states its assumptions rather than assuming its conclusions
Lead an annual portfolio review with key stakeholders, including President and product and organization leaders, including formal recommendations to sunset, restructure, or reprice underperforming offerings
Own the new product development budget and report on return against it
Ensure all products and product claims comply with applicable requirements, including student data privacy (COPPA, FERPA and applicable state law), accessibility standards, and truth-in-advertising substantiation for any educational efficacy claim
Adherence to data and factual product representations regarding claims of learning outcomes. Popular but unsupported educational frameworks will not be used as the basis for product design or marketing copy
Collaborate via regular monthly meetings with all departments including marketing, finance, product, IT, operations, sales and administration
Partner with the Director of Product Quality and Enhancement on handoff of validated new products into ongoing catalog stewardship
Perform other duties as assigned