Product Director— SIFA

What You’ll Do

Product Strategy

• Own SIFA's full strategic direction from MVP to portfolio backbone — setting the investment stage strategy, building the evidence case for the external RCT, and pressure-testing the CPY model against the 100,000-youth cost point.
• Ensure every stage-gate decision is grounded in evidence, not momentum, and that SIFA's AI coaching layer is developed with enough rigor to anchor the broader portfolio strategy.
• Own and drive SIFA's product strategy within the strategic direction, problems to solve, and priorities set by the business unit leader — including the investment stage strategy, next-stage decisions, and the investment memo — with full accountability for the quality of evidence, analysis, and recommendations presented to leadership and the Investment Committee.
• Maintain active alignment with the business unit leader on product direction, payer strategy, and organizational priorities; surface strategic implications and trade-offs proactively so the business unit leader can shape the frame rather than react to decisions already made.
• Lead stage retreats and quarterly planning cycles within the strategic frame of the divisional OKRs and organizational strategy; set stage and quarterly OKRs that reflect both product evidence and organizational priorities; bring a proactive perspective on opportunities and risks beyond the current roadmap.
• Own and evolve SIFA's core strategy artifacts — value proposition, theory of change, lean canvas, user persona (including the "Monica" persona), skills map, graduation criteria, product risk register, and product roadmap — and keep them live and decision-relevant across stages.
• Own LX strategy for SIFA; ensure SIFA's daily coaching rhythm (evening wrap, morning coach, daytime nudge) is grounded in strategic intent and drives measurable behavior change; hold design partners accountable to agreed quality standards.
• Own the gender equity and safeguarding strategies for SIFA in alignment with organizational standards.
• Own the CPY narrative and full product strategy budget; lead BvA reviews; present the investment case to the Investment Committee and drive cost efficiency decisions rooted in the product model — calibrating feature investment against the 100,000-youth cost point and 6X ROI target.
• Own the product dashboard; ensure it reflects the right current-stage metrics — profit uplift, engagement, credit recovery, micro-action completion, and platform availability — and is actively used in strategic decision-making.
• Adapt and apply organisational standards to SIFA's context and contribute to new standards in collaboration with functional leaders.

Product Team Management

• Defines and drives the learning agenda across SIFA's MVP-to-scale transition — setting the evidence standards that gate each stage, weighing external research on digital coaching and youth behavior change, and ensuring every go/no-go decision is based on evidence the team has actively designed to collect.
• Set and own SIFA's learning agenda — defining what must be learned at each stage (retention and habit formation at 1,200 youth; delivery model viability at 5,000; RCT readiness at scale), how evidence will be generated, and how findings feed into stage-gate decisions and the investment memo.
• Proactively widen the evidence base by curating external research on digital coaching, behavior change, and youth livelihoods (in partnership with the evaluation team); deepen the team's interpretation of evaluation results; shape qualitative research to complement quantitative findings.
• Collaborate with the evaluation team to design and oversee SIFA's evaluation plan; ensure pilots, experiments, and research activities — including pre-post profit analyses using the panel method, credit recovery tracking, and engagement monitoring — are executed well and synthesized into clear, actionable findings.
• Own the integrity and decision-usefulness of SIFA's data architecture; integrate external research, evaluation findings, experimental results, user feedback, and operational signals to make high-stakes decisions under uncertainty.
• Own the full suite of SIFA product builds — LX flows, WhatsApp and Webapp journeys, points system, micro-actions, onboarding and activation design, coaching scripts, Business Advisor toolkit, and all field and print materials — to standard and on schedule.
• Own the quality control strategy; define how quality is assessed and how findings feed back into design and the learning agenda. Validate design decisions against CPY constraints and the delivery model; escalate design trade-offs that exceed cost or delivery constraints.
• Maintain a structured feedback loop with the implementation lead; conduct periodic check-ins to monitor gaps between SIFA's designed coaching experience and what youth actually encounter.

Product Development (Discovery and Experimentation)

• Own the relationships required to take SIFA to the RCT and beyond — including tech and evaluation partners, Business Advisor and CEA networks, community-based recruitment channels (including table banking groups), and prospective payers who will need to see credible evidence before committing to digital coaching at scale.
• Resolve cross-product and cross-functional trade-offs proactively, and ensure the broader leadership team understands SIFA's portfolio role and is aligned on what the product needs to deliver it.
• Maintain active alignment with the business unit leader — surfacing strategic implications, trade-offs, and product risks in time for them to shape the frame; ensure the Business Unit leader is never surprised by product decisions that have wider organisational consequences.
• Involve key stakeholders — including youth (the "Monica" persona), Business Advisors, CEAs, impact unit leaders, and functional partners — in setting and validating SIFA's product direction; maintain their understanding of and alignment with the product strategy.
• Support the MD or Country Lead in broader leadership initiatives while maintaining clear accountability for SIFA; ensure cross-functional workstreams — with impact unit, LX, metrics, tech, and implementation teams — execute coherently.
• Represent SIFA clearly in organisational and leadership forums, planning cycles, and funder conversations; maintain accountability for the product area even as organisational priorities shift.

Stakeholder Management

• Maintain active alignment with the business unit leader — surfacing strategic implications, trade-offs, and product risks in time for them to shape the frame; ensure the BU leader is never surprised by product decisions that have wider organizational consequences.
• Manage upward, downward, and across functions proactively; resolve cross-product and cross-functional alignment challenges before they escalate to the business unit leader or MD.
• Support the MD in broader leadership initiatives while maintaining clear accountability for the product area.
• Build and sustain working relationships with functional leaders across design, training, gender equity, and safeguarding; create structured moments for their input during the development cycle.
• Represent the product clearly in organizational and leadership forums; maintain accountability for the product area as priorities evolve.

Who You Are

• You bring 10+ years of experience in product management, product leadership, or closely related roles, with a strong track record of shaping strategic direction across complex or multi-product portfolios — not just executing against existing plans.
• You have led products end-to-end, from defining strategic hypotheses and impact models, to building business cases and financial projections, securing executive buy-in and funding approval, and refining strategy based on performance, evidence, and learning outcomes.
• You are confident making high-stakes decisions in ambiguous environments, and you take ownership of both the outcomes and the learning that comes from them.
• You are deeply experienced in lean startup methodologies, design thinking, and agile product development, and you know how to set high standards while coaching teams to consistently apply them.
• You have experience managing and developing senior product practitioners, building cultures grounded in accountability, continuous learning, experimentation, and rigorous product thinking.
• You are highly analytical and able to synthesize qualitative insights, quantitative data, financial analysis, and evaluation findings into clear strategic decisions and priorities.
• You are skilled at driving alignment across products, teams, and senior stakeholders, including engaging effectively with Managing Directors, leadership teams, funders, and external partners.
• You are an excellent communicator who can make complex product strategy, trade-offs, evidence, and impact easy to understand for both technical and non-technical audiences.
• You lead with empathy and curiosity, taking time to deeply understand the realities, motivations, and challenges faced by underserved and marginalized communities.
• You are passionate about creating transformative opportunities for youth and are energized by environments centered on continuous improvement, innovation, and learning.
• You are excited by the challenge of building and scaling digital products for low-income or out-of-school youth in Sub-Saharan Africa, particularly through mobile-first channels such as WhatsApp, SMS, and web applications.
• You have experience or strong interest in areas such as AI-powered coaching, behaviour change design, livelihoods programming, or evidence-driven product development, including exposure to RCTs, impact measurement, or investor/funder reporting frameworks.
• You understand or are eager to learn about micro-entrepreneurship and informal sector realities within East Africa, and you bring a user-centered approach to designing products that create meaningful impact.
• You resonate with our Five Cultural Tenets and are aligned with Educate!'s culture.

What We Offer

• A vibrant, mission-driven environment with a supportive and fun team.
• Flexibility - Fully remote or hybrid work environment (location dependent).
• Competitive salary based on experience.
• Competitive benefits based on location.
• Learning & growth opportunities.
• Fixed term contract with a possibility of extension based on performance.

Location

Remote (East Africa preferred)

Application Process

Rolling basis, interviews happening soon!