About the Opportunity
JOB SUMMARY
The Director of Market Forecasting and New Product Design will lead a cross-functional team responsible for overseeing product intelligence, product management, go to market strategy, and market intelligence and opportunity mapping. This role will be key in identifying market trends, conceptualizing new products, and enhancing the university's product offerings. The individual will ensure programs are revenue-driven, responsive to market opportunities, and aligned with leadership-supported impact priorities. By using futures thinking and human-centered design principles, the Director will design and support the launch of high-performing, scalable learning programs and identify market trends to inform new strategic program opportunities. This role will report to the VC of Operations and Design and collaborate closely with the Academic Strategy and Portfolio Management teams to ensure high quality, high impact programming and proposals that are delivered on time and under budget.
This position is based in Boston, with the possibility of remote work. On-campus attendance will be required periodically for quarterly meetings and strategic engagements.
MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS
- Minimum of 7-10 years of experience in product management, product marketing, innovation strategy/futures, or market intelligence, with at least 3-5 years in a leadership role.
- Familiarity with higher education trends, challenges, and opportunities.
- Experience leveraging lean, agile and human-centered design principles to build successful customer-centric products, particularly in education, ed tech or adjacent sectors.
- Proven track record of delivering high quality projects on time and within budget. Proven track record of leveraging project management software to manage teams and projects.
- Experience with futures thinking, go-to-market planning, and product governance.
- Demonstrated success in cross-functional collaboration and managing diverse stakeholder groups. Strong analytical skills, with the ability to interpret market trends, customer insights, and competitive intelligence to inform product strategy.
- Exceptional leadership, communication, and presentation skills, with the ability to engage faculty, staff, and university stakeholders effectively.
- Demonstrated leadership, coaching and managerial skills, with the ability to use sound judgment to make decisions and resolve problems diplomatically.
- Excellent organizational skills, with the ability to plan and successfully execute multiple projects with conflicting priorities and concurrent deadlines in a dynamic environment.
- Ability to forge collaborative relationships with peers and to work effectively and collaboratively with diverse stakeholders at various organizational levels.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES & ACCOUNTABILITIES
Product Management & Design Oversight
- Provide leadership and guidance to the product management team, driving products and programs from concept to launch ensuring they meet or exceed enrollment targets.
- Guide the design and implementation of product strategies that are revenue-driven, future-focused, and scalable.
- Lead human-centered design, lean startup, and co-creation approaches to develop and iterate products and programs that address market gaps and learner needs.
- Ensure the development of GTM plans that integrate key elements such as product UVP, audience segments and personas, marketing strategy, and revenue targets.
- Work closely with the team to evaluate program/product value by analyzing current market trends, future opportunities, competitive benchmarks, and feedback from industry experts, faculty, and students.
- Set the standard for product lifecycle management, ensuring the delivery of sustainable and impactful products and programs that enrich the university’s product solution suite.
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Oversee efforts to reduce time-to-market for multi-college programs and streamline hand-off processes.
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Set the standard for consistently leveraging project management technology in offering visibility into projects and on-time delivery, thus supporting the broader portfolio.
Strategic Forecasting, Opportunity Mapping, Product Market Research & Intelligence
- Drive futures thinking and apply market trend analysis to assess opportunities for new and existing products.
- Lead the team responsible for conducting quarterly market trend analysis to inform product development and identify opportunities for innovation.
- Monitor industry trends, competitive landscape, and learner preferences to guide data-driven product decisions.
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Implement processes for gathering market intelligence that contribute to the development of new products and refinement of existing ones.
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Source new initiative ideas through market research and collaborate with IPD (Innovation Planning and Development) and university leadership to prioritize initiatives.
Team Leadership Development
- Provide hands on leadership, coaching and mentorship to product managers, market research and market intelligence staff, ensuring professional growth and effective team collaboration.
- Identify opportunities for deeper collaboration across teams, particularly with academic strategy and portfolio management, to align products with university objectives.
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Continuously improve the product design and market intelligence processes, ensuring that products meet university standards and market needs.
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Promote a test-and-learn culture within the team, supporting innovative thinking and rapid prototyping.
Position Type
Marketing and Communications
Additional Information
Northeastern University considers factors such as candidate work experience, education and skills when extending an offer.
Northeastern has a comprehensive benefits package for benefit eligible employees. This includes medical, vision, dental, paid time off, tuition assistance, wellness & life, retirement- as well as commuting & transportation. Visit https://hr.northeastern.edu/benefits/ for more information.
Northeastern University is an equal opportunity employer, seeking to recruit and support a broadly diverse community of faculty and staff. Northeastern values and celebrates diversity in all its forms and strives to foster an inclusive culture built on respect that affirms inter-group relations and builds cohesion.
All qualified applicants are encouraged to apply and will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, age, sex, sexual orientation, disability status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.
To learn more about Northeastern University’s commitment and support of diversity and inclusion, please see www.northeastern.edu/diversity.
What We Do
Founded in 1898, Northeastern is a global research university with a distinctive, experience-driven approach to education and discovery. The university is a leader in experiential learning, powered by the world’s most far-reaching cooperative education program. We integrate classroom study with opportunities for professional work, research, service, and global learning in more than 100 countries. The same spirit of collaboration guides a use-inspired research enterprise focused on solving global challenges in health, security, and sustainability. Northeastern offers a comprehensive array of undergraduate and graduate programs leading to degrees through the doctorate in nine colleges and schools, and select graduate programs at campuses in Boston, Charlotte, N.C., San Francisco Bay Area, Seattle, and Toronto. Campuses in Burlington, MA, and Nahant, MA, are home to research institutes for homeland security and coastal sustainability, respectively
