Director of Product (Product Lead)

About CDI

The Constructive Dialogue Institute (CDI) is a nonpartisan nonprofit that leverages technology to equip the next generation of Americans with the skills to bridge divides. We primarily work with college campuses, where we offer a comprehensive, evidence-based suite of products and offerings for stakeholders at every level—from college presidents to incoming students. Since launching in 2017, CDI has partnered with hundreds of campuses across the country. CDI was co-founded by psychologist Jonathan Haidt, the bestselling author of The Righteous Mind and The Anxious Generation.

It’s a pivotal moment to join CDI. We’re growing rapidly, and advances in AI are creating new possibilities for how technology can help people engage in better dialogue across differences. In this role, you’ll be at the forefront of shaping how we leverage these tools to expand our reach and impact.

About the Role

As CDI’s software product leader, you’ll report to our Co-Founder and Executive Director. You will own the technical vision, strategy, and execution for our e-learning platform, and you’ll be responsible for developing a product roadmap, ensuring our platform is scalable, secure, and accessible. While your initial focus will be our flagship e-learning platform, Perspectives, you’ll also drive technical innovation across CDI’s full suite of offerings, using emerging technologies (including AI) to expand impact, efficiency, and scale.

You’ll serve as a player-coach: managing one product team member (a Product Specialist), while partnering closely with an external development agency to deliver high-quality releases on time and on budget.

Responsibilities

Technical Product Leadership & Strategy

• Serve as the Executive Director’s technical thought partner, shaping how and what we build in alignment with our overall product strategy.

• Stay current on trends and emerging technologies in EdTech, AI, and related fields to inform product strategy and innovation.

• Lead our technical strategy to ensure scalability, stability, security, accessibility, and responsible AI integration across all products.

• Translate product priorities into a clear, actionable technical roadmap.

• Set and track product OKRs and KPIs

Product Health & Scalability

• Own system monitoring, data pipeline integrity, and risk tracking to safeguard product performance and stability.

• Prototype, validate, and deliver AI-powered features and new AI-driven products that advance CDI’s mission.

• Ensure compliance with privacy, security, and accessibility standards.

Team & Vendor Management

• Manage a Product Specialist, fostering professional growth and high performance.

• Lead relationships with all tech vendors — including development agency, platform hosting providers, and accessibility/security partners.

• Manage the technical product budget, negotiate vendor contracts, and ensure high performance from all technical partners.

• Maintain effective agile rituals for a hybrid internal/agency model, in partnership with the Product Specialist.

Cross-Functional Execution

• Collaborate with Education and Implementation teams to ensure CDI’s products support effective content delivery and meet partner and user needs.

• Work with Partnerships (Sales) to fulfill technical contract requirements, including integrations and security/privacy documentation.

• Partner with Operations on privacy, security, and AI guardrails.

• Ensure cross-functional alignment on product development, launches, and feedback loops.

About You

• 7+ years of B2B SaaS product management experience, including 3+ years leading or mentoring other product team members.

• Experience in EdTech or a related field, with knowledge of data privacy/security and accessibility requirements; higher ed compliance experience preferred.

• Proven success delivering products on a modular platform or third-party LMS.

• Hands-on experience building AI-driven products; LLM experience strongly preferred.

• Skilled in product discovery and learning methods, including A/B testing, user research, and analytics.

• Track record of successfully managing budgets, vendor contracts, and delivery schedules.

• Strong communicator, able to translate technical complexity for executives, developers, and non-technical stakeholders.

• Deeply aligned with CDI’s mission and excited to help bridge divides and promote constructive dialogue.

• Experience in startup or scaleup environments, comfortable in fast-paced, ambiguous contexts.

Benefits

• Compensation — $155,000-$170,000

• A Mission-Driven Culture — we practice what we preach, so our work culture is characterized by intellectual humility, continuous improvement, and open-mindedness

• Remote-First — CDI was founded as a remote-first organization, and we work hard to maintain a strong team culture across vast distances 

• Unlimited PTO — as well as 13 company holidays

• Other Benefits — employer-supported health, vision and dental plans, subsidized parental leave, 3% 401k match, short- and long-term disability insurance, life and AD&D insurance, $1,000 annual professional development budget.