VP Product Innovation, Modern Campus

Position Summary

Modern Campus is seeking a visionary and execution-oriented Vice President, Product Innovation to identify, validate, build, and scale new product opportunities while transforming how we develop products through AI-enabled and agentic practices.

This leader will serve as the company's innovation catalyst, balancing customer discovery, strategic product incubation, and organizational transformation. The Vice President, Product Innovation will lead the creation of new offerings that expand our portfolio while establishing scalable, AI-native product development capabilities that accelerate speed, quality, and customer value across the organization.

The role partners closely with Product Management, Engineering, Design, Sales, Customer Success, Marketing, and Executive Leadership to drive growth through both new products and new ways of building products.

What You'll Do

Product Innovation & New Venture Development

• Identify, validate, and launch innovative software products that address emerging challenges and opportunities in higher education.
• Lead customer discovery, market research, and rapid experimentation to assess new market opportunities.
• Build and test MVPs, prototypes, and pilot programs to validate customer demand and commercial viability.
• Define business models, pricing strategies, and go-to-market approaches for new offerings.
• Partner with Product, Engineering, Design, Sales, Marketing, and Customer Success teams to successfully transition validated concepts into scalable businesses.
• Develop and manage an innovation portfolio that balances incremental improvements with transformative growth opportunities.
• Foster a culture of experimentation, learning, and innovation across the product organization.

AI-Enabled Product Development Leadership

• Define and champion Modern Campus's vision for AI-enabled and agentic product development.
• Establish best practices for leveraging AI across the product lifecycle, including customer research, discovery, requirements gathering, prototyping, documentation, testing, experimentation, and product operations.
• Evaluate emerging AI technologies and identify opportunities to improve how product teams operate and deliver value.
• Develop repeatable frameworks, playbooks, governance models, and adoption strategies for responsible AI implementation.
• Partner with Product, Engineering, and Design leaders to embed AI-native practices into day-to-day product development workflows.
• Measure and continuously improve the impact of AI-enabled practices on customer outcomes, delivery speed, and organizational effectiveness.
• Promote a culture of experimentation, continuous learning, and responsible AI adoption across the company.

Executive Leadership & Collaboration

• Influence company strategy through innovation insights, customer feedback, and emerging market opportunities.
• Communicate vision, strategy, business cases, and outcomes effectively to executive leadership and key stakeholders.
• Build alignment across departments to accelerate innovation initiatives and organizational transformation.
• Serve as a thought leader on AI, product innovation, and emerging technology trends.

What You'll Bring

Required Qualifications

• Proven experience leading software products from concept through customer validation, commercial launch, and post-launch scaling.
• Experience building and managing innovation portfolios, product incubators, or venture-style product development initiatives.
• Demonstrated success delivering revenue-generating software products, including business model development, pricing strategy, and go-to-market execution.
• Deep understanding of artificial intelligence technologies and their application to software product development.
• Hands-on experience leveraging AI tools and agentic workflows to accelerate product development and decision-making.
• Strong executive presence and communication skills with the ability to influence strategy and organizational change.
• Proven ability to operate effectively in fast-paced, ambiguous, and rapidly evolving environments.
• 10+ years of progressive product leadership experience within a software organization.
• Experience leading cross-functional teams, major product launches, and strategic initiatives.

Preferred Qualifications

• MBA or advanced business degree.
• Experience in higher education, education technology, SaaS, or other complex B2B software markets.
• Experience scaling AI-enabled product organizations.
• Track record of launching net-new businesses, platforms, or product categories.

Success in This Role

Within the first 12–24 months, successful outcomes may include:

• Launching three or more new product experiments into market.
• Creating a repeatable and measurable innovation pipeline from idea to commercialization.
• Generating meaningful new revenue streams from newly launched offerings.
• Increasing product team effectiveness through AI-enabled workflows and agentic development practices.
• Improving speed-to-market and customer value realization across the product portfolio.
• Establishing Modern Campus as a leader in AI-enabled product innovation within higher education technology.

Why Join Modern Campus?

At Modern Campus, we're transforming how higher education institutions engage learners throughout the entire student lifecycle. We believe innovation happens when talented people are empowered to experiment, challenge assumptions, and create solutions that make a meaningful impact.

This role offers a unique opportunity to shape both what we build and how we build it, driving the future of product innovation and AI-enabled development across the organization.

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

At Modern Campus, we believe that a diverse, equitable, and inclusive workplace strengthens relevance, resilience, and long-term success. We encourage individuals from all backgrounds, experiences, abilities, and identities to apply.

Modern Campus is proud to be an equal opportunity employer and makes employment decisions without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, or any other protected status. If you require accommodation during any stage of the interview process, please let our recruiting team know.

* Our salary ranges reflect the minimum and maximum target for new hires for the position within the US and Canada. Within the range, individual pay is determined by factors including job-related skills, experience, and relevant education or training.