Director, Product Strategy and Research

About Uprooted Academy

Uprooted Academy is a tech non-profit that offers an AI-powered, student-centered platform that ensures under-resourced students can navigate the college application process with confidence, resilience, and well-being. Our holistic, data-driven approach connects students to the resources, mentorship, and social capital needed to pursue their dreams and close the wealth gap.

About the Role

We are seeking a strategic and hands-on Director of Product Strategy and Research to lead the development and continuous improvement of our student and counselor platforms. This role centers the practice of insight gathering: staying deeply connected to the needs, frustrations, and aspirations of school counselors and students; turning those into clear product and content decisions; and working cross-functionally to bring ideas to life. You’ll hold the product vision while always anchoring in the human challenges we’re trying to solve. The ideal candidate blends practitioner experience with a research mindset — someone who knows how to design thoughtful feedback loops, interpret both qualitative and quantitative data, and translate findings into action.

Core Responsibilities

Product Strategy Grounded in Field Insight

• Lead a dynamic, best-practice informed product roadmap aligned to Uprooted’s mission and theory of change
• Create regular touchpoints with counselors and students — listening sessions, advisory circles, interviews to surface challenges and opportunities
• Work alongside internal design and tech teams to translate insights into features, programming, or content tone
• Spot patterns in counselor/student needs and proactively shape product opportunities from the field up
• Integrate equity-centered design and mental wellness frameworks into all product decisions

Research, Evaluation & Learning

• Design small-scale learning pilots and feedback loops to understand platform effectiveness
• Develop and refine mixed-methods evaluation systems (quantitative and qualitative) to track outcomes that may include student wellness, usage, or application progress
• Interpret data to produce external reports or white papers on product impact
• Collaborate on research briefs or proposals that could unlock future funding or partnerships

Community of Practice

• Grow Uprooted’s community of counselors and advisors through regular gatherings and co-design opportunities
• Create professional trainings and resources that provide value and upskilling opportunities to counselors
• Build systems that help counselors use the platform more effectively and shine in their role
• Keep an “ear to the ground” for trends in the field — translating what’s emerging into new ideas and interventions
• Create feedback loops to ensure product ideas connect to lived realities

Product Partnership

• Support integration of partner offerings into the platform through API, content, or co-designed programming
• Build relationships that extend product reach and deepen postsecondary outcomes for users

Content Strategy & AI Oversight

• Oversee tone and structure of content across student and counselor platforms
• Guide AI-generated content reviews to ensure clarity, accuracy, and equity
• Stay current on emerging tools and trends in edtech, college access, and generative

Qualifications

• Minimum of 5 years of experience as a school counselor, admissions officer or in postsecondary access
• PhD or EdD is a plus, particularly if you can lead insight generation, write white papers, and align research with funding opportunities
• Strong analytical skills with experience in impact evaluation and data-driven decision-making
• Curiosity and creativity to use technology to advance college advising in a fun way
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills with the ability to work cross-functionally
• Proficiency in integrating equity-centered design principles into product development
• Familiarity with AI tools and content management systems
• Comfortable with public-facing communication, including event outreach, tabling, or speaking with community partners
• Empathy for counselors and the structural challenges they face — and want to build tools that make their work easier and more impactful

Who You Are

You are a listener, builder, and connector who believes that powerful solutions start with deep understanding. You’re curious about how things work—and even more curious about how they could work better, especially for students and counselors navigating an often inequitable college access system. You bring a thoughtful mix of practitioner experience and research-mindedness, and you're motivated by translating real-world challenges into products that make a difference.

You have experience in or exposure to the college advising ecosystem—whether as a school counselor, admissions officer, nonprofit partner, or someone who’s been on the receiving end of transformative advising. You see the pain points clearly and believe in the power of technology to support human-centered solutions. You have an ear to the ground, a care for community, and a vision for how systems could work more justly and effectively.

You’re just as comfortable facilitating a conversation with counselors as you are interpreting data, mapping product iterations, or refining a content feature. You care deeply about outcomes, but just as much about the people behind them. You value collaboration, bring humility and ownership to your work, and are excited to co-create with our team and community.

Why Join Uprooted Academy?

• Work in a mission-driven organization that is expanding college access through AI-powered innovation.
• Join a fast-paced, collaborative team that values iteration, learning, and bold ideas.
• Hybrid work flexibility with up to 3 days in-person at our workspace in Los Angeles.