Product Operations Manager

PeopleGrove is building a Product Operations function from the ground up, and the Product Operations Manager will establish and enforce the operating system that links product delivery to Sales, Customer Success, Support, and Marketing. This role spans the company from day one and reports directly to the VP of Product.

Role Overview

The Product Operations Manager designs the end-to-end release workflow, defines internal readiness expectations before anything ships, and coordinates cross-functional working rhythms across product and go-to-market partners. In parallel, the role owns operational consistency through Jira hygiene, roadmap board maintenance, and product-quality reporting, helping the team translate delivery into measurable outcomes.

Responsibilities

• Own the end-to-end release process, including the release calendar, release notes, stakeholder communications, and enforcement.
• Ensure each release includes internal readiness across Customer Success, Support, and Sales before anything ships.
• Define and uphold the standard for what “ready to release” means at PeopleGrove, and build scalable processes from the ground up to support that definition.
• Coordinate and run the monthly “New & Next” meeting to review new and upcoming releases.
• Manage bi-weekly product releases, including attendance at bi-weekly release lock-in sessions and communicating upcoming releases to stakeholders.
• Coordinate release notes production with product managers and ensure consistent quality.
• Act as the connective tissue between Product, Engineering, Customer Success, Sales, Support, and Marketing across every release cycle.
• Partner closely with the AVP of Product Marketing and the Solutions Engineer on internal-to-external handoffs.
• Own cross-functional working rhythms, including release meetings, RACI maintenance, and process documentation.
• Manage GTM logistics by attending cross-functional working groups ahead of launch for large releases.
• Define the set of GTM materials by release tier and ensure execution across the relevant teams.
• Establish and maintain processes, templates, and tools that help the product team operate consistently and at high quality.
• Own Jira hygiene, sprint health, and reporting cadence.
• Support quarterly planning rhythms and cross-team alignment rituals.
• Maintain Jira roadmap boards, identify outdated or inconsistent tickets, and track progress toward goals.
• Identify at-risk work and missed deadlines, and escalate appropriately.
• Plan, schedule, and run quarterly roadmap planning sessions.
• Build and maintain the data and reporting infrastructure that provides clear signal on product quality, delivery, and outcomes.
• Define and track key product health metrics in partnership with Engineering and Analytics.
• Review Mixpanel events and implement consistent naming conventions, including standardizing prompts for querying data.
• Set up and report on data dashboards for product KPIs and goals.

Requirements

• 5 to 8+ years of experience in product operations, program management, or a senior product role at a B2B SaaS company.
• Experience building or significantly improving a cross-functional release process, with strong judgment on what “good” looks like and how to get there.
• Ability to hold teams accountable across functions without being adversarial, including follow-ups, constructive pushback, and consistent enforcement of standards.
• Strong working knowledge of standard B2B SaaS tools, including Jira, Confluence, and similar systems.
• Genuine satisfaction from improving systems and making them work well, with interest in scaling team effectiveness rather than owning a product roadmap.
• Experience standing up a Product Ops function from scratch.
• Has operated at or alongside Director level with cross-company scope.
• Familiarity with higher education, edtech, or similarly mission-driven SaaS environments.
• This is not a coordinator or project manager role, and it is not limited to support for a single product team. The role requires representing product’s operating standards across teams and bringing prior experience (or a close equivalent) to enable a short ramp.

Technologies

• Jira
• Confluence
• Mixpanel

Why This Role, Why Now

• Release process dysfunction is a visible and solvable problem on the current roadmap.
• The role drives measurable impact on Sales trust, CS readiness, and product team effectiveness, while building a function that scales with the company.
• The position is high-visibility at a growing company investing in the infrastructure needed to execute well.

About PeopleGrove

PeopleGrove is a B2B SaaS company focused on higher education alumni engagement and career outcomes. The company partners with colleges and universities to help their communities connect, grow, and thrive through two product lines: CORE (ELMS, CompMS, MyCred, Readiness, Recruit) and HUBS (Engagement Hub, Experience Hub, PathwayU). The team is remote-first and focuses on building with purpose while caring deeply about the institutions and students served.

The Opportunity

• PeopleGrove is creating a Product Operations function from the ground up, and this role builds it.
• At an inflection point, product and engineering are executing well, but the operating system connecting what the company builds to Sales, Customer Success, Support, and Marketing needs an owner.
• The company prioritizes improvements in release process, internal readiness, cross-functional coordination, and data hygiene to accelerate growth.
• The role reports directly to the VP of Product and includes cross-company scope from day one.
• Rather than maintaining an existing process, the Product Operations Manager will design and enforce the operating system.

AI Hiring Tools Notice

PeopleGrove may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing responses and identifying potential inconsistencies or verification signals based on available information. These tools assist the recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are made by humans. If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please contact us.