Product Manager

At Earnest, we believe in a world where paying for your education takes less time than earning your degree.  Join us on our mission to empower anyone seeking higher education to reduce the total price tag of their degree, supercharge their ability to pay down student debt, and get on the right financial track fast.

A little background on Earnest: We're a remote first FinTech company with an accomplished team who believe consumer lending can be radically improved and are doing something about it. We are disrupting the trillion dollar student loan industry by redefining what it means to be creditworthy. We created a company that combines data science, streamlined design, and technology to:

• Build products that simplify the lending process
• Personalize loans to suit the needs of our customers
• Engage with our customers through more human experiences

What makes an “Earnie” culture: 

Earnest’s culture is as dynamic as the products we’re building and defining every day. We’re a fast-growing company, and that means we’re constantly integrating the new perspectives of every individual.

Earnies define our culture as:

• Earn Happy Customers
• Our success comes from anticipating their needs and providing the solutions they’re looking for.
• Better is Better
• The path to great means getting better every day. We push ourselves, and each other, to remain curious and think differently.
• PhD in Moving Fast
• Our customers are tired of long wait times and large student loan bills so we constantly seek out ways to deliver faster.  
• Passion for Challenges
• Perseverance and optimism are just the start to take on the inertia of a national trillion-dollar problem. 
• Impact is a Team Sport

• We maximize our impact when we act as one team.

Our Earnie's are fun, innovative, and willing to rollup their sleeves to help their team succeed in a fast-paced environment. If this sounds like you, and you want to join us on our mission to radically disrupt a trillion dollar fintech industry, keep reading to find out how. 

As a Product Manager within the scrappy “Going Merry” team, you will own the student & parent product platforms, with the full array of product responsibilities that entails: from the high-level (identifying product opportunities, solidifying the product vision, and developing a roadmap), to the nitty-gritty (writing specs and tickets, managing sprints). As a key member of the Going Merry leadership, the Product Manager will work cross-functionally with Engineering, Design, Marketing, Operations, and Data. 

What you will do:

• Writes and reviews product specs and tickets
• Manage 1 direct report (product designer)
• Provides feedback to designers, engineers, and QA analysts
• Drives progress on the roadmap, by identifying & removing obstacles, building consensus, making decisions, and escalating as appropriate
• Provides regular updates to cross-functional stakeholders
• Identifies data requirements (including by identifying core metrics)

• Prioritizes features/tickets for sprint planning and grooming
• Reviews data and customer service requests/confusion, to aid in prioritization
• Tracks bug reports and prioritizes accordingly
• Keeps an active pulse on user needs and profiles, e.g. by reviewing research, speaking to users, requesting/running surveys, etc.
• Maintains a prioritized, rolling product roadmap

• Identifies new, meaningful product opportunities that fit into a squad's overarching vision, get onto the roadmap, and achieve their intended objectives
• Inspires and defines for a squad a clear product vision and plan, which proves to enable that team's overall success

• Regularly contributes to team recruiting
• Materially enables the success of other team members 

Experiences you will bring with you: 

• Experience working async & cross-culturally (e.g. with international colleagues/engineers)
• Subject matter expert in college admissions, college/student finances, personal finance, or student loans
• Strong “product sense” - including a foundation in UX/UI best practices and an ability to empathize with a wide array of users
• Ability to analyze and use data to inform decisions
• An entrepreneurial mindset, ready to assemble and lead cross-functional teams.
• Self-starter, able to execute quickly with minimal guidance
• Excellent interpersonal skills - Ability to influence across all levels and foster alignment and a sense of urgency.
• Excellent communication skills. Able to distill key takeaways quickly.
• Problem-solving and issue-resolution skills - Track record of doing whatever it takes to get things done

Earnest believes in enabling our employees to live their best lives. We offer a variety of perks and competitive benefits that include: 

• Health, Dental, & Vision benefits plus savings plans
• Work anywhere in the U.S. 
• Mac computers + work from home stipend to set up your home office
• Monthly internet and phone reimbursement
• Employee Stock Purchase Plan
• 401(k) plan to help you save for retirement plus a company match
• Robust tuition reimbursement program
• $1,000 travel perk on each Earnie-versary to anywhere in the world 
• Competitive days of annual PTO
• Annual “my day” 
• Pet insurance!
• Competitive parental leave
• Plenty of Earnest swag, optional in person team gatherings, picnics, celebrations, and plenty of fun virtual events 

At Earnest, we are committed to building an environment where our employees feel included, valued, and heard. Our belief is that a strong commitment to diversity, inclusion, equity, and belonging enables us to move forward with our mission. We are dedicated to adding new perspectives to the team and encourage anyone to apply if your experience is close to what we are looking for.  

Earnest provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability or genetics. Qualified applicants with criminal histories will be considered for the position in a manner consistent with the Fair Chance Ordinance.