About Benetech

Benetech believes that equitable access to education is a human right. Our technology and services break down systemic barriers and empower all learners regardless of ability. Around the world, we partner with local communities to expand inclusive and equitable education opportunities. To date we have delivered more than 20 million accessible books helping over 1.5 million students, jobseekers, and adults to read, learn, and pursue their dreams. People at Benetech believe strongly in the mission, and we work hard to embody our Truths each day.

Attracting candidates from all backgrounds

Our Benetech team reflects the diversity of the people we impact. We hire great people from a wide variety of backgrounds, including members of historically marginalized or oppressed communities because it makes our organization stronger.

Research shows that individuals only apply to jobs if they meet all of the qualifications. We know there are great candidates who might not check all of the boxes and possess important skills we haven’t thought of. If that’s you, apply and tell us about yourself.

The Opportunity

The VP, Product and Engineering is a new executive position at Benetech that will shape and grow our current education technology products, and conceptualize, build, and bring to market new products that make education inclusive and accessible and seek to improve learning outcomes for all, domestically and globally.

This role leads the design, product management, and engineering functions of the organization. Benetech is seeking a mission-driven innovator who is obsessed with making impactful, engaging and easy-to-use products, a visionary who can inspire teams and look beyond the day-to-day, a coach who can help team members grow, a seasoned manager who is efficient in resource allocation and improving throughput but also realistic in managing expectations and timelines, a technologist who is willing to understand and make product and technical decisions, and a strategist who is a strong voice on the senior leadership team.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the ongoing development and growth of Bookshare and other Benetech products to create easy-to-use, engaging, modular, and global products
• Identify and direct the scoping and build out of innovative new products such as our use of AI to make STEM content accessible
• Nurture a human-centered and user serving orientation in the technology team
• Build and implement partnerships in the education technology ecosystem to help Bookshare and other products connect with more tools and services
• Get stakeholders internally and externally interested in product changes and new product and technology initiatives
• Support the engineering team’s agile approaches, and encourage adoption of new practices and tools, constantly seeking to improve and innovate
• Coordinate closely with senior leaders of Content, Programs, and Business Management groups to reflect their priorities and promote cross functional collaboration
• Coordinate closely with the new Data Insights Team to support infrastructure and other endeavors to make Benetech a truly data driven organization
• Manage and coach direct reports: Principal Engineers, Senior Product Manager, Product Manager, Head of User Experience
• Keep abreast of new technologies, such as rapidly improving assistive technologies, and identify areas where we need to invest time and money towards
• Bring a strong network in and keep Benetech connected to the rest of the tech world, so they are aware of Benetech and vice versa
• Bring a global outlook to our product development, prioritizing needs of underserved communities domestically as well as globally, where technology and internet use is significantly different

Qualifications and Core Competencies

Required Experience in:

• Senior management and strategic leadership roles, responsible for organizational objectives and key results
• Product management
• Elevating user experience and design in software development
• Releasing products and product launches
• Coaching and managing people
• Managing distributed teams and promoting a fulfilling, motivated, productive and creative culture in distributed work environments
• Cultivating innovation with a demonstrated track record
• Mission driven and user-centered orientation
• Collaborating cross-functionally, communicating clearly, and being entrepreneurial
• Inspiring internally and externally

Preferred:

• Experience in EdTech
• Exposure and experience with accessibility or assistive technology
• Experience with nonprofit or public good organizations
• Bring a strong network in big tech

Travel Obligations: Travel for this position may be up to 10 -15%.

Physical Demands and Working Environment:

The bullet points below are representative of the physical demands and working environment that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made for individuals with disabilities to perform the essential job functions.

• Standard / Remote office setting; proximity to office equipment that includes electronic devices.

• Must remain at a workstation for at least 50% of the time; will need to use equipment that includes electronic devices.

• Perceive and interact with text, media, and people.