Chief Product Officer

As the CPO, you'll be a key ally and advisor to the CEO, driving the transformation of OpenClassrooms' business and products. Success in this role requires matching the Founder’s pace, entrepreneurial spirit, ambition, and passion for the mission.

You will lead the product vision and oversee the entire lifecycle from concept to market launch. Collaborating with marketing, engineering, operations, and sales, you will align product development with business goals, ensuring our offerings are competitive and innovative.

Key Responsibilities:

1. Formulating Product Strategy: Develop a vision that aligns with company objectives, driven by data, market research, and customer feedback.
2. Execution and Delivery: Oversee product development, resolve bottlenecks, and ensure timely delivery using agile methodologies, in close collaboration with the engineering teams. Reach business and commercial outcomes, monitor KPIs, and iterate based on data and user feedback.
3. Team Leadership: Build and inspire a motivated product team. Coach and mentor members, foster collaboration, and ensure alignment with company goals.

Your role will be pivotal in shaping our product strategy, guiding cross-functional teams, and driving a culture of excellence and accountability.

RESPONSIBILITIES

In this role, you will:

1. Deliver on our ambitious impact, financial, and commercial targets: Drive career outcomes, grow bookings, and increase Gross Margins. Support potential strategic acquisitions in the mid and long term.
2. Build and execute on our product vision and strategy: Create a clear and compelling product vision and strategy that aligns with the company’s overall impact and business strategy and rallies the team to execute. Ensure that the product team, as well as the rest of the organization, is bought into that vision. Leverage market research and analyze the competitive landscape to proactively address competitive threats, inform the product roadmap, and get ahead of market trends and evolving client needs. Support the deployment of AI across our product and organization to increase efficiency, outcomes, and build new relevant use cases. Design innovative solutions and build a tech-enabled scalable and sustainable product for the entire lifecycle (enrollment, training, job placement) and all stakeholders (students, employers, mentors, tutors, funding bodies, etc.). Prioritize our many projects against our strategy and key metrics, using data-informed methodologies, and ensure alignment of the entire company around this roadmap. Execute on the delivery of this roadmap, with high velocity, quality, and within budget. Deliver on impact and commercial outcomes, product outcomes, user satisfaction, and perform in-depth analysis of product and business metrics. Build effective partnerships with the rest of the organization (engineering, sales, marketing, finance, ops, etc.). Make new product development predictable and scalable, including efficient agile methodologies for the monitoring of roadmaps, feature prioritization, and schedules.
3. Hire, manage, and empower world-class product management and product design teams: Define the organizational structure that will best support the attainment of strategic business and financial goals. Build and maintain a team of A players. Drive and retain a highly engaged team with a high level of Employee NPS (target at 15 in 2024 then 40+ in the next few years). Establish a product team culture and employee value proposition that attracts top performers from the market. Create an inclusive, dynamic working environment that brings out the best in reporting managers, and creates clear paths for staff growth and career development. Quickly assess, upgrade, and grow the professional capabilities of the team across senior and mid-level executives.
4. Serve as a strategic and cross-team leader: Join the OpenClassrooms’ most senior team, helping shape and deliver the company’s strategy and vision. Participate in board meetings and investor relationships on the business, product, and strategic side. Serve as a strategic partner to the CEO, contribute to the company’s overall strategy and execution, drive the day-to-day operations, and identify critical priorities for the company and appropriately cascade these deeper in the organization. Lead the implementation of a strong strategic planning process that is tightly aligned with management KPIs and incentive plans. Drive a stronger sense of accountability and transparency within the company - protect positive aspects of the culture while evolving and professionalizing the business for scale.

DESIRED EXPERIENCE

The perfect fit will have a proven track record in product management, with experience handling a large P&L in a fast-paced, tech-driven environment. You’ll be adept with product management tools and methodologies, showcasing a deep understanding of the user-centric product development lifecycle.

You’re likely a world-class product leader from a tech-enabled company, skilled in collaborating with engineering teams and bringing strong influence. Your lean mindset and focus on aligning product delivery with OpenClassrooms’ impact and commercial strategy are crucial. Proven commercial success is a must. You have ideally an experience in generating high product-led growth.

Experience in Education or HRtech is preferred. If not, you should be motivated and ready to invest significant time in mastering this complex and regulated market. B2B and B2C experience is also highly desirable.

Cultural fit is essential—you should embody our down-to-earth, pragmatic approach, balancing strategic thinking with a ‘can-do’ attitude. Resilience and hands-on problem-solving are key.

Strong leadership skills and experience managing international teams will set you apart. Your passion for OpenClassrooms’ mission and vision for scaling the product globally will drive your success.

LOCATION

OpenClassrooms is a remote-first organization with offices across the EU, the UK, the US, and headquartered in Paris, France. The role could be based anywhere in the EU or the US, but we have a strong preference for France and ideally Paris. You will have to travel regularly to Paris (HQ) and be ready to reasonably accommodate online meetings on European time zones as the majority of our workforce is based in Europe.

REPORTING LINE, DIRECT REPORTS & KEY STAKEHOLDERS

This role reports to the co-founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Pierre Dubuc. The role will have a team of approximately 25. Its direct reports encompass the experience design director and all product directors. It will work alongside the COO and other business leaders like VP Tech, VP Enrollment, VP Learning, and VP Customer Success to ensure the best user experience possible. This role will be a key member of the top management team and integral to the success of the business overall.

Preferred Experience

In our fast-scaling, pioneering company, you’ll tackle operational challenges with grit and determination. We need someone with the energy to guide our growing teams through the next exciting phase of our amazing story.

This is a rare, career-defining and highly rewarding opportunity for the right executive to make their mark on a truly disruptive company.

LANGUAGES

At least C1 level in English (C2 highly recommended).

Your journey will then start with a phone interview with our search firm. We plan some online meetings and ideally in-person ones as follows:

1. Case studies to be done at home or at the office (3 hours)
2. 1 or 2 members of the product team
3. One of our board members (1hr)

If you reach the final round, you will be asked to provide us with at least 5 360° professional references.