Product Operations Specialist (Grant Funded)

National Student Clearinghouse•Herndon, VA

16h•$54,000 - $67,500•Remote

About The Position

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. About the Role: The Specialist, Product Operations is responsible for supporting the vision, leadership, and product implementations of the Product Management department in partnership with the Senior Manager, Product Management, Product Managers, and Education Solutions internal stakeholders, such as Customer Care and Implementations. A primary goal of this position is to make the Education Solutions teams more efficient by streamlining processes to include communication within the product team and other parts of the organization and standardizing business processes such as planning and reporting. The Specialist works in conjunction with the Learner Insights leadership and staff to help oversee product quality assurance and identify product improvement opportunities. The Specialist will work with product management to develop the ideal product experience and organize and analyze product data to help product management make informed decisions. In addition, the Specialist works to ensure that the necessary groups are aware of product changes and will coordinate the needed training for internal groups such as Customer Care, Implementations, Data Operations, etc. The position reports to the Senior Manager, Learner Insights. 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. Note: This position is funded by a grant and the funding is currently through 6/30/2026.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree, or a combination of education and experience including military service will also be considered.
3 years of progressively responsible Customer Service or Client Management experience.
Experience with a Client Relationship Management (CRM) tool, such as Salesforce.
Demonstrated ability to: Effectively work on a team and across organizational boundaries. Adapt to changing priorities and procedures and remain poised under pressure. Successfully manage multiple tasks and priorities simultaneously. Work independently with minimal supervision, in a fast-paced environment with a team and achieve results in a team environment. Identify and analyze service issues or other problems, and proactively provide resolution. Highly customer centric, service oriented with the ability to understand, execute, and meet customers expectations.
General knowledge of the: Learner Insights Products. SDLC and methodologies, including Agile. Contract management process.
Excellent analytical skills and detail oriented.
Excellent verbal, written and interpersonal communication, time management, and effective presentation skills.
Proficient in Microsoft Office Suite, and other collaboration tools.
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.

Nice To Haves

Experience within the Education field.
Knowledge of: Adult learning principles. Student Information Systems. The features/benefits of Clearinghouse services. The educational reporting processes that the Clearinghouse supports.

Responsibilities

Demonstrate the Clearinghouse's core competencies: Customer Focus, Optimizes Work Processes, Collaborates, Communicates Effectively, and Be Open and Authentic.
Partner with clients to provide white glove service and improve utilization of assigned products.
Assist with managing the customer feedback lifecycle to include information gathered from surveys, focus groups, etc.
Gather and analyze statistics to identify product improvements, whether customer facing or process focused.
Define and maintain the customer support process to include first and second level support.
Streamline routine and/or recurring tasks and internal processes to ensure cross-functional consistency.
Lead change execution with ideas for improvement.
Maintain templates, guidelines, and resources for the product team and business analysts.
Assist with developing internal training programs for Clearinghouse teams such as Customer Care and Implementations as new products and services are launched.
Coordinate between Product Management, Customer Care, and Corporate Communications to generate customer communications in a timely manner.
Be able to help with the contract process for the more unique situations such as College and Career Readiness Evaluation Consortium (CCREC), by reviewing documents to ensure language around the product/offering is correct, monitoring the feedback cycle between parties, etc. to help ensure efficiency.
Assist product managers in the promotion of StudentTracker and Post-secondary Data Partnerships (PDP) at conferences both virtually and in person by helping to man booths, answering questions about the product, and helping with presentations.
Work as an extension to the Customer Care and Operations teams to improve overall experience.
Keep management and relevant staff informed about potential product improvements and upcoming releases for products via internal presentations, training guides, and/or product release notes.
Effectively communicate between groups to ensure a common understanding of pertinent product related topics (e.g., between Customer Care and Product Managers).
Demonstrate openness to new perspectives and ideas.
Build trust with internal and external stakeholders by demonstrating consistency between words and actions.
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.

Benefits

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).