Technical Specialist, Platform Product Management

By joining the National Student Clearinghouse, you can be sure that the work you do now will help shape the future of education and the workforce in the U.S. As the trusted source for higher education data since 1993, the Clearinghouse is the leading provider of transcript and data exchange services, automated enrollment and degree verifications, learner insights and research, and compliance solutions for schools, businesses, and learners nationwide. As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, the Clearinghouse works with nearly 3,600 postsecondary institutions to meet their compliance needs and with thousands of high schools and districts to provide continuing collegiate enrollment, progression, and completion statistics about their alumni. In addition, the Research Center publications inform policymakers and business leaders about student educational pathways. Using our unique combination of data, analytics, and software to drive our mission, security and privacy is paramount. Join us as we continue to invest in our talent and new advanced technologies to unlock the power of data on behalf of all learners.

The Technical Specialist, Platform Product Management is a senior-level technical leader responsible for end to end oversight of a highly complex enterprise technology platform that supports our products. This role translates Clearinghouse's enterprise data platform and business strategy into a cohesive product roadmap and actionable, prioritized platform capabilities that enable secure, scalable, and reliable delivery of data products across the organization.

Operating with a high degree of autonomy and latitude, this role leads research, discovery, and prototyping of platform capabilities spanning data lakehouse architectures and AWS public cloud services. The individual ensures that platform architecture and engineering roadmaps are tightly aligned with product and business objectives, and that platform capabilities are ready for enterprise-wide adoption, integration, and long-term operation.

This position sits within the technology organization and is embedded with the teams responsible for designing, building, and operating the enterprise data platform. The role partners closely with platform engineering, security, data governance, and architecture leaders to define and deliver platform functionality from concept through development, release, onboarding, and ongoing operation. Acting as a technical product leader and internal customer liaison, this role represents platform capabilities and constraints to business Product Owners and works to translate business data needs into reusable, scalable platform services.

As a standing product leader within Agile delivery teams, this role manages and leads multiple concurrent, high-impact platform initiatives, balancing foundational engineering needs (security, identity and access management, governance, reliability, observability, and scale) with new enablement capabilities (AI/ML enablement, data APIs, and data marketplace services). The role is accountable for product delivery, including roadmap sequencing, release readiness, and ensuring feature enhancements respond to enterprise and customer needs.

Currently, this is a remote-first position, and this position may be required to periodically work on-site at our office and the frequency would depend on the department/division's requirements. Therefore, candidates must either reside within a reasonable distance to commute to our office or be willing to travel to our office in Herndon, when required.

• Demonstrate the Clearinghouse's core competencies: Customer Focus, Optimizes Work Processes, Collaborates, Communicates Effectively, and Be Open and Authentic.
• Lead platform product discovery, research, and analysis to define platform strategy, roadmaps, and priorities aligned with enterprise and business objectives.
• Act as the primary product authority for enterprise data platform capabilities, standards, and shared services.
• Partner with Product Owners and business leaders across domains to understand complex data needs and translate them into scalable, reusable platform products and services.
• Serve as a technical consultant and liaison between platform engineering teams and internal customers on platform architecture, integration, and usage patterns.
• Own and continuously refine the end to end platform product backlog, including stories, technical enablers, and non-functional requirements that support security, privacy, reliability, performance, cost efficiency, and scalability.
• Lead major platform and feature releases, coordinating scope, dependencies, timelines, and release readiness across engineering, security, governance, and delivery teams.
• Define and maintain platform-level non-functional requirements (NFRs) and definitions of done, ensuring operational readiness (monitoring, alerting, logging, runbooks, access patterns, and support processes).
• Ensure the platform's technology and architectural roadmap supports current and future product and business roadmaps.
• Establish and document enterprise platform standards, reference architectures, integration patterns, and onboarding guidance.
• Collaborate with security and governance partners to design and embed controls for data protection, privacy, compliance, and auditability that scale across the platform.
• Analyze platform telemetry (usage, performance, cost, reliability, incidents) to evaluate product performance and drive continuous improvement.
• Manage dependencies and risks across upstream data producers, downstream consumers, and existing applications.
• Work with Agile delivery and project leadership to align priorities, schedules, dependencies, and release milestones.
• Communicate platform capabilities, constraints, and adoption guidance clearly to technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• May provide matrixed leadership, mentoring, and coaching to other Product Managers or Product Owners contributing to enterprise platform initiatives.

Position may be required to perform other duties as required. These essential functions are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the job. Reasonable accommodations will be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform these essential functions.

• Bachelors degree in technology, business, or related field. A combination of education and experience including military service will also be considered.
• 6 years of direct and relevant experience in product management for enterprise technology platforms, shared services, or complex IT products, including work in Agile delivery models as a Product Manager, Technical Product Manager, Platform Product Manager, or Product Owner.
• Experience:
  
  
  
  • Experience with enterprise data platforms and modern data architectures, including a working understanding of how data is modeled, defined, validated, captured, cleansed, stored, governed, accessed, and shared across the data lifecycle.
  • Demonstrated experience embedding quality, security, privacy, and reliability controls into platform delivery processes to ensure compliant data use and uninterrupted operation.
  • Experience analyzing platform and data telemetry (e.g., usage, performance, cost, reliability) to develop targeted requirements, define measurable outcomes, and translate strategic and tactical goals into an actionable platform roadmap.
  • Proven experience managing mission critical platforms with significant complexity, cross functional dependencies, and multiple stakeholders, while ensuring alignment between product roadmaps, architectural direction, and engineering execution.
  
  
  
  
• Expert-level understanding of enterprise data platform capabilities and the downstream impact of platform decisions on data producers, data consumers, analytics and AI/ML use cases, and business- or customer-facing products.
• Proactive, demonstrated ability to operate effectively in ambiguous, complex environments, bringing structure, clarity, and direction to evolving or undefined problem spaces.
• Demonstrated ability to:
  
  
  
  • Lead research and discovery to solicit, define, and author complex platform requirements, incorporating stakeholder input from engineering, security, governance, and business Product Owners, and translating findings into clear, actionable user stories, technical enablers, acceptance criteria, and non functional requirements.
  • Re engineer and simplify business processes and application user experiences, ensuring platform functionality is intuitive, scalable, and improves upon-not replicates-legacy patterns.
  • Clearly and persuasively articulate platform capabilities, constraints, and usage patterns to technical and non technical audiences, including business, product, customer care, and implementation stakeholders, to support effective adoption and long term platform use.
  • Identify, assess, and communicate tradeoffs across competing priorities, constraints, and dependencies, and drive resolution of complex technical and product challenges across the organization.
  • Manage and prioritize multiple concurrent initiatives, balancing risk, dependency management, and business value to ensure timely delivery and issue resolution.
  
  
  
  
• Proficient in:
  
  
  
  • Applying Agile product and delivery principles to drive decision-making, align teams and stakeholders on goals and outcomes, and ensure consistent delivery of platform capabilities.
  • Modeling and validating platform and application solutions that balance business needs, usability, architectural integrity, and technical feasibility.
  • Using Microsoft Office Suite, approved AI tools, and collaboration platforms to support analysis, documentation, communication, and delivery.
  • Communicating and negotiating effectively with stakeholders at all organizational levels, and representing the product, department, and organization in discussions that require influence, judgment, and credibility.
  
  
  
  
• Excellent written, verbal, interpersonal, and presentation skills, with the ability to tailor messaging to diverse stakeholder audiences.
• Proven ability to build strong collaborative relationships and influence outcomes across engineering, security, architecture, governance, and business teams.
• Strong product, technical, and project management skills, applied to large-scale, enterprise platform initiatives.
• Demonstrates the Clearinghouse's core competencies: customer focus, optimizes work processes, communicates effectively, collaborates, and is open and authentic.
• Must live within a commutable distance to Herndon, VA or in one of the Clearinghouse's approved States for hiring purposes. Refer to our HR Policies Page, located on our Careers site at https://www.studentclearinghouse.org/careers/human-resource-policies/, for more details.
• Must be currently authorized to work in the United States on a full-time basis. We do not intend to sponsor external applicants for work visas, and may consider sponsorship only if no qualified candidates can be found who are authorized to work without sponsorship.
• Must be at least 18 years old.

Additional Desired Qualifications

• Master's degree or PhD in technology, business, or related field.
• Experience with:
  
  
  
  • Enterprise data platforms and lakehouse concepts (e.g., data ingestion, storage/compute separation, catalog/metadata, governance, and self-service analytics).
  • AWS data and analytics services and patterns (e.g., IAM, encryption/key management, data lake storage, orchestration, and monitoring/observability).
  • Software development management tools (Rally, JIRA, Confluence).
  • CRM and enterprise tools.
  • Performing complex data analysis using analytic tools and database queries.
  • SIS vendor solutions.
  
  
  
  
• Knowledge of:
  
  
  
  • Clearinghouse services and applications, and how they produce and consume data across the enterprise.
  • Education related data standards, such as IMS Comprehensive Learner Record or Common Education Data Standards (CEDS) or other industry-based or government-based data exchange standards.
  • Higher education institution processes.
  
  
  
  
• Expertise in Data exchange such as REST-XML-EDI.

• Use of a computer for 8 or more hours a day.
• Use of a telephone and/or copy machine.
• Frequently required to sit for 7 or more hours per day.
• ccasionally required to use hands and fingers to operate, handle, and reach.
• Vision abilities include close vision and the ability to adjust focus.
• Travel via car, train, and airplane, when needed.
• In regard to visual abilities, required to have close visual acuity to perform activities such as: verifying, validating, preparing, analyzing data, charts, architectural diagrams, business flows and other diagrams on a computer.

The National Student Clearinghouse provides a robust benefit program designed to help meet the needs of each employee and their family, both now and in the future. We offer comprehensive medical, dental, and vision insurance, as well as life and disability insurance benefits, for employees and their qualified dependents. Health care, dependent care, and limited purpose flexible spending accounts, as well as a health savings account with annual employer contributions of $300 for employees and $600 for employees who are enrolled with their spouse and/or dependents, voluntary supplemental health plans for Accident and Hospital Indemnity coverage, and infertility coverage are options available for employees to set aside pre-taxed dollars for certain qualifying expenses. We offer a very generous 401k matching contribution program with the opportunity to defer pre-tax and Roth contributions, as well as catch-up contributions for those who are eligible! We are proud to offer a competitive paid leave program consisting of vacation, sick, and personal time, as well as paid holidays, up to 3 weeks of paid parental leave during a 12-month period , and up to 5 days of paid military leave per calendar year . Vacation time will accrue based on length of service, and new full-time hires can accrue up to 13 days of vacation and up to 10 days of sick time per year. On an annual basis, new employees may use up to 32 hours of accrued sick time as personal time. Additionally, the Clearinghouse observes at least 15 paid holidays per year, including company year-end close between Christmas and New Years Holidays.

Another perk is that employees have the option to get reimbursed for basic wholesale company and roadside assistance memberships (e.g., Costco and AAA) and to request a buy back on portions of unused accrued vacation based on tenure and certain other qualifications. Employees can further their education and professional development by using our Employee Education Assistance Program, which establishes reimbursement for qualified education expenses upon successful completion of the program, and leveraging the enterprise-wide LinkedIn Learning subscription. There are additional employee benefits too, including but not limited to, mental health with up to eight free therapy sessions for employees and their family members and well-being reward benefits. With the Clearinghouse being an eligible 501(3)(c) nonprofit organization, employees are eligible for service credit towards the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program (PSLF). To find out more, please request a copy of our Benefits at a Glance!

Additionally, we reasonably believe that the salary range for this position is between $140,000 and $165,000.

The pay range listed above represents a good faith estimate and is not a guarantee of compensation or salary. The National Student Clearinghouse considers multiple factors when determining base pay for offers, including but not limited to the responsibilities and scope of the role, as well as a candidate's experience, education, knowledge, skills, abilities, internal equity, and alignment with market data.

Internal Candidates: If you feel you meet the qualifications for the role, we strongly encourage you to apply and focus on preparing for the application process. Finalist internal candidates will receive a compensation review prior to any offer being made. In accordance with the Clearinghouse's compensation and promotion guidelines, internal compensation practices will be applied first, which may result in pay that differs from the posted salary range.

This job announcement was posted to the National Student Clearinghouse's Careers site at www.studentclearinghouse.org/careers on 5/8/2026 and the online application period will be open for at least 3 days. A completed online application is required to be considered for this opportunity.

Equal Opportunity Employer/Protected Veterans/Individuals with Disabilities: The National Student Clearinghouse is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to actual or perceived race, creed, color, religion, alienage or national origin, ancestry, citizenship status, age, disability or handicap, sex, marital status, veteran status (or known to have a spousal, family, business, social or other relationship or association with a protected veteran), sexual orientation, genetic information, arrest record, natural hairstyle, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local laws. Our management team is dedicated to this policy with respect to recruitment, hiring, placement, promotion, transfer, training, compensation, benefits, employee activities and general treatment during employment.

Pay Transparency Notice: The National Student Clearinghouse is a federal contractor that abides by all applicable equal opportunity laws and regulations. Under these laws, companies doing business with the federal government must provide applicants and employees with certain policies, including the following information. The contractor will not discharge or in any other manner discriminate against employees or applicants because they have inquired about, discussed, or disclosed their own pay or the pay of another employee or applicant. However, employees who have access to the compensation information of other employees or applicants as a part of their essential job functions cannot disclose the pay of other employees or applicants to individuals who do not otherwise have access to compensation information, unless the disclosure is (a) in response to a formal complaint or charge, (b) in furtherance of an investigation, proceeding, hearing, or action, including an investigation conducted by the employer, or (c) consistent with the contractor's legal duty to furnish information. 41 CFR 60-1.35(c)