Director of Product, Growth & Expansion

Earnest’s mission is to make higher education accessible and affordable for everyone. We empower past, present, and soon-to-be students to maximize their financial futures through thoughtful guidance and impactful products.

We build tools that help people feel in control of their financial future, including:

• Private student loans - low rates, people-first service, and flexible payments.
• Student loan refinancing - break free from high interest rates or monthly payments.
• Scholarships - access to thousands of scholarships to help students pay less. 

• Scholarships - access to thousands of scholarships to help students pay less. 

The Director of Product, Growth & Expansion position will report to the Chief Product Officer. 

As a Director of Product, Growth & Expansion, you will:

• Play a key role in advancing our mission. At Earnest, we have invested in empowering students with financial support and supercharging their ability to pay down their debt, so they can get on the right financial track, fast. We already help our customers pay down their student debt with our simple and flexible student loan refi product, and we are looking to take the next step in our mission by building out new product lines to help customers make a plan and tackle their debt in the most effective way possible.
• Drive growth through product investments ranging from how we enable partners to offer Earnest products via API to how we create the most engaging and effective product funnel into Earnest to how we enable the most effective acquisition of new customers into that funnel.
• Work with your teams to expand Earnest’s product suite and serve our customers in new and expanded ways, including providing more value to prospective college students through our Going Merry product and delivering new products to professionals who are paying down their student debt and looking to get the highest return on their education.

Your Impact:

• The result of your work will be to drive rapid growth at Earnest - both in the number of customers that we’re serving, and in the breadth of solutions that we’re bringing to market. You will help us transform our product offering from a student lending focus to a broader focus on helping our customers pay down debt, and find ways to multiply our business by helping any customer who could benefit from Earnest products to find us and get started.

About You: 

• 12+ years of experience at leading technology companies in Product Management or other roles bridging business and technology.
• 7+ years building, developing and leading teams.
• Experience driving growth through product investment, including external partnerships, growth features and funnel optimization.
• Experience bringing new products to market, including customer discovery, MVP definition, feature testing and taking this new product to market.
• Experience setting success metrics, and using analytical tools to dig into product data and customer feedback to see what to build next.
• Experience building consumer products.

Even Better:

• Experience in the Fintech space, or similar industries where the software product is not the sole product (e.g. healthcare).
• Experience building products with predictive models driving parts of the customer experience - this could include personalization, algorithmic recommendations, or use of emerging AI tech to solve a customer problem.
• Experience setting an overall roadmap for a company or division of a company.

Where:

• This role will be based in San Francisco Bay Area.
• While you’ll enjoy the flexibility of remote work, we also love to see our Earnies face-to-face! We ask you to join us at our Oakland office for 3 consecutive days a month for team collaboration and some fun. It's a chance to connect, share ideas, and maybe even grab some great coffee together!

About Us:

What makes an “Earnie” culture: 

• Drivers – Drivers are satisfied by making things happen, not coming along for the ride. They feel a strong sense of ownership for their projects and teams and demand high standards from themselves and others.
• Humility – Humble team players check their egos and consider the team’s needs above their own. They are self-aware of their strengths and opportunities for improvement.
• Growth Mindset – People with a growth mindset approach challenges and failures as learning opportunities. They seek feedback to improve, give feedback to others, and genuinely want to perform well. 

Earnies are committed to helping students live their best lives, free from the stress of student debt. If you’re as passionate as we are about our mission, read more below, and let’s build something great together! 

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

• Health, Dental, & Vision benefits plus savings plans
• Mac computers + work from home stipend to set up your home office
• Monthly internet and phone reimbursement
• Employee Stock Purchase Plan
• RSUs
• 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, 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, sexual orientation, gender identity, veteran status disability or genetics. Qualified applicants with criminal histories will be considered for the position in a manner consistent with the Fair Chance Ordinance.

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