Job Title: Senior Director, Product Strategy & Portfolio Management

FLSA Classification: Exempt

Salary: Starting at $180,000

Reports to: Chief Operating Officer

Department: Product Delivery

Summary/objective

The Senior Director, Product Strategy & Portfolio Management defines the organization’s enterprise-wide product vision, leads the multi-year product roadmap, and oversees product lifecycle management across major product lines, including Core Mobility, Career Progression, and Certification & Credentialing and TruMerit’s enterprise digital delivery platform.

Reporting to the Chief Operating Officer, this role aligns product strategy with market demand, customer needs, operational capacity, technology readiness, and financial sustainability. The Senior Director partners closely with Innovation & Partnerships, Business Intelligence, Program Delivery, Global Affairs, Marketing, IT, and other stakeholders to ensure products meet market needs, drive impact, and advance the organization’s mission.

The ideal candidate brings both strategic insight and operational execution strength, with experience leading cross-functional product teams in a complex, multi-stakeholder environment.

Essential Functions

Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform these essential functions.

Product Strategy, Governance & Roadmap Leadership

• Develop and maintain the enterprise-wide product strategy aligned with organizational goals, market demand, customer needs, and long-term business priorities.
• Create and manage the multi-year product roadmap, ensuring balanced investment across product lines.
• Translate market, customer, and Business Intelligence insights into actionable strategies and product opportunities.
• Lead cross-functional prioritization by preparing product recommendations, sequencing priorities, managing tradeoffs, and ensuring leadership has the information needed to make sound investment decisions.

Portfolio & Lifecycle Management

• Oversee product lifecycle management, including new product development, enhancements, and sunsetting.
• Ensure product initiatives align with operational capacity, technology readiness, and financial sustainability.
• Partner with Marketing and Innovation & Partnerships on product positioning and go-to-market planning.

Cross-Functional Leadership

• Collaborate with Innovation & Partnerships, Business Intelligence, Program Delivery, Global Affairs, the Global Health Workforce Institute, Marketing, IT, and other teams to drive product alignment.
• Build strong relationships with external stakeholders and industry partners to understand evolving global workforce needs.
• Facilitate cross-functional communication, transparency, and governance to support effective product decisions and execution.

Product Team Leadership

• Build, mature, and lead a high-impact product function that includes Senior Product Managers, Managers of Product Delivery, and the UI/UX team.
• Foster a culture of collaboration, customer centricity, accountability, and continuous improvement.  
• Clarify team roles, strengthen collaboration across product portfolios, and optimize product decision-making processes.

Operational & Financial Accountability

• Partner with Finance to develop product budgets and evaluate return on investment.
• Monitor product performance through KPIs, dashboards, customer feedback, and other performance insights.
• Drive data-informed decisions to improve product quality, effectiveness, adoption, and long-term sustainability.

Competencies

• Strategic thinker with a systems-level perspective and strong enterprise product judgment.
• Strong prioritization, decision-making, and tradeoff management skills.
• Collaborative, relationship-oriented leader with the ability to influence without direct authority.
• Skilled at managing complexity across teams, stakeholders, and product lines.
• Customer-centered and data-informed approach to product strategy, lifecycle management, and portfolio decisions.
• Mission-aligned with a global mindset and commitment to advancing workforce mobility and career development.

Supervisory responsibilities

This position is expected to lead a multi-disciplinary product organization, including Senior Product Managers, Managers of Product Delivery, and the UI/UX team. The role provides direction, coaching, performance feedback, and strategic leadership while also leading through influence across Innovation & Partnerships, Business Intelligence, Program Delivery, Global Affairs, Marketing, IT, Finance, and other stakeholder teams.

Work environment

Hybrid or remote work environment with virtual collaboration and in-person engagement as needed to support strategic planning, stakeholder alignment, product governance, and delivery of organizational priorities.

Physical demands

• Ability to remain in a stationary position for extended periods.
• Ability to participate in virtual meetings and collaborate across digital platforms.

Travel required

Minimal; may include occasional travel as needed to support organizational priorities and in-person collaboration.

Required education and experience

• Bachelor’s degree required; master’s degree preferred in business, product management, education, workforce development, public administration, technology, or a related field.
• 10+ years of progressive experience in product strategy, product management, or portfolio leadership roles.
• Experience managing multi-product portfolios or enterprise product strategy.
• Strong cross-functional leadership skills with the ability to influence without direct authority in a complex, multi-stakeholder environment.
• Experience working with UI/UX teams and partnering closely with IT, digital, or systems teams on technology-enabled products, user experience, and data-informed product decisions.
• Excellent communication, facilitation, analytical, and executive presentation skills.

Preferred education and experience

• Background in education, learning, credentialing, certification, assessment, workforce development, career mobility products, or related mission-driven product environments preferred.
• Experience leading product strategy in nonprofit, healthcare, education, global workforce, or other mission-driven environments a plus.
• Relevant product management, portfolio management, Agile, or project/program management credentials preferred.

Other duties

Please note this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities and activities may change at any time with or without notice.

Affirmative Action/EEO statement

TruMerit, formerly CGFNS International, Inc., is an equal opportunity employer committed to inclusion and diversity in the workplace. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, age, national origin, disability, veteran status, gender identity, or any other factor protected by applicable federal, state, or local laws.

TruMerit, formerly CGFNS International, Inc., will not discriminate against or retaliate against applicants who inquire about, disclose, or discuss their compensation or that of other applicants.

Reasonable accommodation is available for applicants with disabilities or religious needs.