Our Culture: Why Work With us?
Aspire Institute’s mission is to prepare low-income first-generation college youth, at scale, to be leaders in their communities.
Vision and Mission
Aspire Institute is dedicated to driving transformation in education and community development. We aim to create innovative, evidence-based solutions that address complex challenges in education and promote lifelong learning. There are over 200M English speaking first-generation, low-income (FGLI) youth globally who do not have access to resources and networks to attain their full potential. Our mission is to empower FGLI to achieve their fullest potential and impact their lives and communities through leadership development skills offered by world-class faculty, comprehensive research, thoughtful advocacy, and transformative educational programs.
Who We Are:
Co-founded by Harvard Business School faculty, Aspire aims to nurture leaders who will drive significant social impact in their communities. Only a fraction of all college youth has access to the best education that can result in economic mobility. Aspire’s systemic model relies on local partners globally to help identify first generation low-income youth who would otherwise be left behind. Additionally, partners provide local support, mentoring, and internship opportunities to equip our students to excel and lead in diverse fields.
Who You Are:
You’re someone who’s passionate about technology and enjoys rolling up your sleeves to make learning management systems work at scale. You have ideally worked with LMS platforms and are eager to dive deeper, finding clever ways to solve challenges. You get excited when your work directly impacts learners and enhances their experience. Collaboration is important to you, and you value working closely with both your local team and international colleagues to deliver impactful solutions. You’re ready to contribute to Aspire Institute’s mission of empowering learners globally and are motivated by the opportunity to help reach more than 1,000,000 active participants by 2027.
The Role:
As Senior IT Program/Product Manager you will collaborate with the Aspire Team in Cambridge MA., and our Technology development team in Bangalore to ensure our educational platform is ready for production and implementation. Your day will involve troubleshooting, coordinating across teams, and rolling out new features that make an impact, for all Aspire Institute stakeholders. You will report to the Technology Officer based in the US, providing updates while keeping the platform on track to meet our 2025 goal of receiving 250,000+ applications with a program completion rate of 35-50%.
Work Environment:
Work remotely or in-person at the Aspire Bangalore office for 40-hours work week between US and India time zones.
Key Responsibilities:
- Collaborate with the Technology Officer to define the product vision and product roadmap aligned with Aspire Institute 2–3-year goals.
- Break down the roadmap into quarterly engineering delivery milestones. Work with the engineering team for seamless execution and drive periodically progress status meetings
- Communicate effectively with stakeholders at all levels, ensuring clear understanding of product vision, goals, and progress.
- Collaborate closely with cross-functional teams, including engineering, design and business to ensure seamless execution of the product strategy
- Define and track key success metrics around user conversion, engagement, and retention. Implement dashboards, with the help of engineering, to monitor daily, weekly, and monthly performance metrics, providing actionable insights to guide product, operation and business decisions.
- Define CRM strategies and execute campaigns to engage and retain students
What We Need From You:
- Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, dynamic environment with a focus on delivering results.
- 8+ years of experience in product management, with a focus on consumer apps.
- Experience in the MOOC space is a plus but not required.
- Strong understanding of key metrics for user conversion, engagement, and retention.
- Highly data-driven, with the ability to design and implement performance dashboards.
- Exceptional communication skills, with the ability to articulate complex ideas and strategies to diverse audiences.
- Proven experience in defining and executing long-term product roadmaps and breaking them down into quarterly milestones.
Compensation & Benefits
Salary based on experience. Aspire offers a competitive salary; paid vacation and holidays including the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day, illness and personal time off; health insurance; life and ADD insurance and a 403b retirement investment plan.
How to Apply:
Please submit to your resume, cover letter, and references to Career_SIPM@aspireleaders.org.
Aspire Institute is an equal opportunity employer that does not discriminate against applicants or employees and ensures equal employment opportunity for all persons regardless of their race, creed, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, pregnancy, national origin, age, marital status, disability, citizenship, military or veterans’ status, or any other classifications protected by applicable federal, state or local laws. Aspire Institute’s equal opportunity policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including but not limited to recruiting, hiring, training, promotion, job benefits, and pay.
