About American College of Education
Founded in 2005, American College of Education is a leader in professional development through online programs. The mission of ACE is to deliver high-quality, affordable, and accessible online programs grounded in evidence-based content, real-world experience, and relevant application that places students' needs first.
ACE is a mission-driven institution recognized for its commitment to social responsibility and positive impact. As an Impact Institution, ACE believes in responsibility to students, alumni, employees, communities, and society as a whole.
Role Overview
The Product Manager, Student Acquisition owns the strategy, roadmap, and measurable outcomes for the end-to-end student acquisition journey from prospective student through started student. This role serves as the strategic bridge among Marketing, Enrollment, Admissions, Student Services, and IT, translating institutional growth goals and student needs into a prioritized, outcome-based product roadmap. The Product Manager aligns people, processes, data, and technology across the student acquisition technology ecosystem.
Success is measured through improved funnel conversion, faster decision-making and delivery, stronger operational efficiency, better prospective student experience, and clear accountability for the value delivered by technology investments.
Compensation
The starting salary range for this position is $145,000 plus all full-time employees are eligible for an annual bonus. Offers vary depending on education, prior experience, and expertise being applied to the role.
Day to Day Responsibilities
- •Define and communicate the product vision, strategy, roadmap, and success measures for the Student Acquisition value stream, aligned with institutional enrollment, revenue, and student experience goals.
- •Own the end-to-end prospect-to-started-student journey; use research, journey mapping, funnel data, and stakeholder feedback to identify friction, unmet needs, and improvement opportunities.
- •Establish and monitor product objectives and key performance indicators, including speed-to-lead, stage conversion, application completion, yield, cycle time, adoption, data quality, and operational efficiency.
- •Prioritize initiatives across the product ecosystem based on expected business value, student impact, risk, cost, effort, dependencies, and strategic alignment; make transparent trade-off recommendations.
- •Translate business problems and desired outcomes into clear product requirements, acceptance criteria, and decision context for Product Owners, delivery teams, vendors, and implementation partners.
- •Partner with Product Owners and technology teams to sequence delivery, manage cross-platform dependencies, validate releases, and confirm that delivered capabilities achieve intended outcomes.
- •Guide product discovery, experimentation, usability testing, and continuous optimization; apply quantitative and qualitative evidence to product decisions.
- •Ensure consistent funnel definitions, lead qualification rules, attribution, consent, and data flow across channels and platforms in partnership with data and business owners.
- •Own the integrated product roadmap across CRM, marketing automation, digital experience, inquiry and application, communications, workflow, integration, analytics, and reporting capabilities.
- •Evaluate platform capabilities, vendors, and investment options; develop business cases and recommendations that address value, total cost, scalability, reliability, integration, and technical debt.
- •Align Marketing, Enrollment, Admissions, Student Services, IT, and executive stakeholders around priorities, decisions, risks, timelines, and measurable outcomes.
- •Partner with operational leaders on process design, service levels, adoption, training, change management, and readiness for peak enrollment cycles.
- •Ensure product decisions support FERPA, privacy, consent, accessibility, security, data governance, responsible AI, and other applicable institutional requirements.
- •Communicate roadmap progress, product performance, financial impact, risks, dependencies, and decisions to executive and operational audiences.
Qualifications and Education Requirements
- •Bachelor's degree in business, technology, marketing, analytics, or a related field, or equivalent experience.
- •Five or more years of experience in product management, digital product strategy, business technology, CRM, enrollment technology, or a related discipline.
- •Demonstrated experience owning a product strategy and roadmap across multiple platforms, business functions, and stakeholder groups.
- •Experience using product discovery, customer research, journey mapping, experimentation, and data analysis to prioritize work and improve measurable outcomes.
- •Strong working knowledge of CRM and lead management, marketing automation, digital experience, workflow, integration, analytics, and reporting capabilities.
- •Proven ability to define meaningful product metrics, interpret funnel and operational data, build business cases, and evaluate value, cost, risk, and trade-offs.
- •Experience partnering with Product Owners and Agile delivery teams; ability to translate strategy and business problems into outcome-based requirements without prescribing technical solutions.
- •Executive-level communication, facilitation, negotiation, and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to drive decisions across competing priorities.
- •Experience with vendor evaluation, contract or service performance, implementation partners, and third-party platform dependencies.
- •Knowledge of privacy, accessibility, security, data governance, and responsible AI considerations for digital products.
- •Experience in higher education, student recruitment, enrollment, admissions, or a regulated consumer journey is strongly preferred.
- •Product management certification is preferred but not required.
Benefits
- •Medical, dental, and vision insurance
- •HSA and FSA options
- •Paid parental leave
- •Paid volunteer time
- •Tuition reimbursement and reduction programs
- •Generous PTO
- •401k and employer match
- •Full-service wellness and EAP program
- •Employee recognition and awards programs
- •Employer paid life and AD&D insurance
- •Short-term disability
- •Employer paid long-term disability
Additional Notes
This is a fully remote position. Candidates must have a minimum of 50Mbps download and 5Mbps upload internet speeds. At this time ACE cannot consider candidates residing in Alaska, Washington D.C., Massachusetts, South Dakota, or Alabama.
ACE is an Equal Opportunity Employer.