Director of Product

Director of Product

Remote (UK-based) Full-time £106,918 + benefits

We're looking for someone to Lead the product strategy that helps thousands of schools deliver a world-class curriculum and shapes the high-quality and safe use of AI in education.

Oak is a fully remote, mission-driven organisation offering high levels of flexibility, autonomy, and purpose. We're a national not-for-profit organisation working in partnership with teachers to create high-quality, sequenced curriculum and lesson resources for pupils across all subjects and age groups.

Our culture has been independently recognised through:

• Flexa verified (93% overall score, including 95% for working hours and 97% for role modelling).
• Escape the City's Top 1% Employers - based on anonymous colleague reviews of culture, development, and impact.
• Investors in People Gold - through external accreditation and colleague feedback.

About the Role

Oak is entering a critical new phase. Over the next three years, we will support the implementation of a revised digital national curriculum, deepen adoption of our curriculum resources across schools, and play a leading role in shaping the safe and ethical use of AI in education.

We are now seeking a Director of Product to lead this work.

This is a senior leadership role responsible for setting and delivering Oak's product strategy across curriculum, platform, data, research, design and AI quality and safety. You will ensure our products deliver real impact for teachers and pupils, are grounded in evidence and pedagogy, and exemplify what a modern, digital public service can be.

We welcome applications from candidates with senior leadership experience in education, technology, digital or related fields, including those who have not previously held a formal "product" title.

If this sounds exciting and is something you could thrive on, we want to hear from you.

What You'll Be Doing:

• Develop and manage a high-performing Product department, leveraging internal and/or external relationships.
• Manage the Product department budget (minimum of 6-figures).
• Accountable for the department's delivery against division and organisation-wide KPIs.
• Maintain specialist expertise in digital product and strategy development, and be the authority across Oak and, more widely, across the sector.
• Lead Oak's product strategy and roadmap, ensuring alignment with organisational strategy, user research and evidence.
• Ensure our products meet high standards for user experience, pedagogy, evidence and AI safety, supported by robust evaluation and insight.
• Build strong relationships across education, government and technology to ensure Oak's products solve real-world needs ethically, safely and cost-effectively.
• Member of the Senior Leadership Team.
• Lead the strategy, planning and model the culture of the organisation.
• Work in cross-functional and product oriented squads with colleagues from across the organisation, as required.
• Deputise for the CEO and take on other general responsibilities as required.

What We're Looking For:

• 3+ years holding responsibility for product/strategy development across a department/organisation.
• Experience of being part of a senior or wider leadership team.
• Experience of recruiting, developing and managing a high performing department.
• Experience of managing a 6-figure budget and ensuring value for money.
• Extensive experience using qualitative and quantitative data to guide decisions and measure impact.
• Proven success leading strategy implementation grounded in user needs, research and evidence.
• Proven ability to articulate complex or technical concepts to senior stakeholders.
• Good understanding of education policy and the UK education system (desirable)
• You will be comfortable working at pace, with a range of digital systems (including proprietary ones as required) and you will continuously look at ways that the team can keep getting better. You will be excellent at working as part of a remote team, building relationships and managing your time effectively.

Our Benefits:

• 25 days annual leave, plus one extra day for each year of service (up to 28)
• Additional Oak closure days over Christmas/New Year
• 11% employer pension contribution (with no minimum employee contribution)
• A 36-hour working week, with half-days on Fridays or every other Friday off
• Fully remote working - we'll support your home set-up and offer coworking options if preferred
• Twice-yearly in-person offsites to collaborate, connect, and have fun
• A culture that genuinely supports flexibility, autonomy, and trust

Inclusion and Belonging

We believe diverse teams build better products. We warmly welcome applicants from all backgrounds, particularly those who are underrepresented in the tech and education sectors.

We use the Applied recruitment platform to help reduce bias in our hiring process.

Key Info:

• Location: Remote, but you must be based in the UK with the legal right to work here
• Sponsorship: Unfortunately, we're unable to offer visa sponsorship at this time
• Closing date: 23:59 on Wednesday, 4 February 2026. We'll be reviewing applications as they come in, and may close the role early.

If this sounds like the kind of role and team where you could do your life's best work, we'd love to hear from you.

Next Steps

We aim to run a fair, inclusive process that helps people show what they can really do.

Stage 1: Apply (via Applied)

You'll apply through the Applied platform. Your application will be scored anonymously against the published criteria and reviewed by multiple assessors.

Stage 2: Short practical exercise (video)

If you progress, we'll send you a short brief and a few suggested technologies you could use. You'll then have time to go away, create a simple prototype or generate an insight in response to the brief, and record a short video walking us through what you have produced and why.

This exercise is designed to be accessible to both technical and non-technical candidates, so please don't be put off by it. We are not assessing production quality or technical polish. We see it as an opportunity for you to show us how you approach problems, test ideas, and think differently.

Videos will be scored by a group of assessors using clear criteria.

Stage 3: Interview

A shortlist of candidates will be invited to a competency-based interview, assessed against the criteria set out in the job description.

We'll share full details, timelines and support as you progress. We're happy to make reasonable adjustments at any stage.

Use of AI in applications

You can use AI to help draft your answers, but remember, we are looking for your experiences and insights, not generic or AI-generated responses.

We score for specific, real examples and your own judgement. If your answers read like AI output or could describe anyone's experience, they will score poorly.

We are receiving excellent responses to our job advertisements. This may lead us to close the role early, so if you are considering applying, then please get your application in early to avoid missing out.