Product Management-Head of Learner Response Systems

THE COMPANY-Promethean

About Promethean

"Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire." - William Butler Yeats. Promethean are a global leader and innovator in interactive learning technology that empowers teachers to engage, educate, assess and motivate learners. Developed by and for education professionals, its award-winning products help teachers to prepare digital lessons quickly and easily. The technology enables them to create, customise and integrate text, images, quizzes and tests, web, video and audio content, so they can more easily capture students' attention and accommodate different learning styles. The company supplies Activboard and the latest Activboard+2, the world's most durable interactive whiteboard technology; Activstudio, a software platform for secondary teaching; and Activprimary, the leading whiteboard software designed specifically for use in primary schools and kindergarten. It also offers personal hand-held Activote response units which provide instant polling and analysis to promote learning and teacher productivity. Promethean are committed to supporting effective use of classroom technologies and offer a comprehensive support and professional development service to enable optimum usage and return on investment. Promethean's headquarters are in Blackburn, in the United Kingdom. Its products are distributed through a global network of partners and inspire millions of learners in more than 70 countries. Together we are achieving more... Together we are achieving more through the development and enhancement of learning opportunities and teaching strategies, helping to light the flame of learning in children around the world. Promethean are passionate about education and believe in building partnerships which enrich the learning environment.

Head of Learner Response Systems

Reporting to the Head of Product Management (Interim to the Chief Marketing Officer), this role will have global responsibility for the Learner Response Systems portfolio. The role will initially have one product manager reporting into it based in Atlanta or in the United Kingdom.

Key priorities of the Head of Learner Response Systems role include:

Strategic oversight of the Learning Response system (LRS) market globally understanding key competitor products, pricing, and sales strategies to ensure the success of the Promethean product portfolio in that market.
Responsible for contribution and delivering against the Promethean LRS product road map ensuring that it meets customers needs by conducting market research supported by ongoing visits to customers and potential customers.
Ensure the product strategy for LRS is understood and supported by other departments within the business globally by producing and implementing company wide product launch plans, setting and maintaining prices, ensuring accurate product information is maintained to support the sales and marketing functions, and integrating product plans to ensure appropriate training and support for customers..
Analyze and suggest potential partner opportunities for Promethean LRS. Influence government/district departments to ensure that new product implementation plans and LRS partnerships with third party software suppliers and publishers achieve their commercial goals and meet customer expectations.
Success will be defined by: increased sales of LRS products and meeting/exceeding budget, increased number of key third party companies providing learner response content, roadmap for LRS devices in place and achieving common understanding within sales/reseller community of US benefits.

THE IDEAL CANDIDATE

Has a background in the Education Interactive Systems marketplace, or relevant commercial market. Specific experience desired for this role includes:

Experience (7-10 years) managing the financial success of a portfolio of products in a similar or larger organization.
Five (5) years experience in a relevant education/commercial environment
Strong commercial and financial acumen with the ability to manage the combination of commercial objectives and customer requirements.
Possess an engineer to market mindset, while thinking from the user perspective vs. just technology. Full product life cycle experience, inception of product to marketing capability.
Capable of bringing knowledge and capability from building boxes to shifting to a solutions and integrated portfolio mentality (Hardware/software/services/training etc.).

ADDITIONAL SKILLS AND COMPTENCIES

Excellent written and oral communications skills.
Outstanding project management skills.
Bringing products into a global arena and understanding cultural diversity.
Ability to work effectively building relationships, while influencing ideas and programs across internal and external organizations/customers.
A passion for the product line and the subsequent benefits to education and the learning environment.
Outstanding leadership skills and the ability to bring out the best in employees in a team environment.
As the culture can be described as communicative, open and direct, honest, disciplined but flexible, fast and results oriented, the qualified candidate should match up well with these key attributes to be successful. Smart, innovative, and resourceful people will flourish in this company. To assist in the candidate’s development and substantially grow the company, Promethean has assembled a Global Leadership Team of highly talented professionals.
An undergraduate degree is desired in corresponding functional disciplines of the role, with an MBA being a plus.

LOCATION

Atlanta, (Alpharetta) Georgia, USA

COMPENSATION

In order to attract highly qualified candidates our client offers an excellent compensation package consisting of base salary and performance bonus.

SEARCH PROCESS

Promethean has retained Global People Strategies LLC as its search consultant to identify, assess, present to the company, and assist in the overall hiring process of qualified candidates.

For information regarding this search or candidate consideration, please contact Ken Uhlig, Managing Director, at 770-238-8976, or email Ken@globalpeoplestrartegies.com

To find out additional information about Global People Strategies LLC, please go directly to the website at www.globalpeoplestrategies.com, and for additional information on Promethean, go directly to the website at www.prometheanworld.com.

posted May 15, 2008