Product Manager (Senior or Lead) - Financial Workflows & Consumer Experience

About Odyssey:

K-12 education is one of the most consequential determinants of a child’s future — and many families have had limited ability to shape how and where their child learns. Education Savings Account (ESA) programs are changing that. One of the fastest-growing public education initiatives in the U.S., they give states the ability to put education funding directly in the hands of families, who can then choose the learning experiences that best fit their child — from schools and tutors to therapy, curriculum, and technology.

But once these policies are signed into law, states face an enormous operational challenge. They must stand up entirely new programs, manage the secure and compliant flow of public funds, approve and monitor thousands of vendors, support families at scale, and prevent fraud — all while delivering a high-quality user experience.

That’s where Odyssey comes in.

We partner with state agencies to design, launch, and operate ESA and grant programs on their behalf. We provide the technology, program operations, vendor ecosystem, and family experience that make these programs actually work in the real world. Today, we operate across 6 states, and our platform powers programs serving 200,000+ students and over $1B in education funding — and we’re just getting started.

Most recently, we launched the Texas Education Savings Account (EFA) program — the biggest day-one ESA launch in the country — which has already received nearly 200,000 applications. It’s the kind of moment that captures exactly what we’re building toward: programs that work at scale, from day one, when it matters most.

We’re backed by respected investors, including a16z and Tusk Venture Partners, and we’re building the team that will take us to the next stage.

Odyssey sits at the intersection of GovTech, EdTech, and FinTech. We are a public-sector operator, a technology company, and a program delivery partner all at once. The work we do is civic infrastructure — it determines whether families can access life-changing educational opportunities.

WHY THIS WORK IS DIFFERENT

We’re in the weeds with state partners, internally with our product teams, and turning ambiguous policy into real systems that families depend on. This means building a platform that meets each state’s configuration needs while being flexible enough to support all customers. We are not building be-spoke software!

If you want a highly structured environment, this will feel uncomfortable. If you want ownership, speed, and problems that actually matter, you’ll feel right at home.

THE ROLE

We’re hiring Product Managers (Senior or Lead level) to help scale Odyssey’s platform as we expand into new states and deepen our impact with existing programs.

We are hiring across two product squads from a single posting, as many candidates may be strong fits for either team:

Focused on the external product experience used by families and education providers participating in ESA programs.

This squad builds the end-to-end journey across discovery, application, onboarding, tuition payments, and ongoing program participation. The work is highly user-facing and requires strong product intuition around UX, information architecture, and designing for trust in complex financial and government workflows.

Focused on the internal platform capabilities that power program configuration, financial workflows, compliance, and scalable program delivery across states.

This squad builds the internal tooling, payment rails, ledgering systems, integrations, and configurable infrastructure that allow Odyssey to operate complex ESA programs efficiently and reliably.

Across both squads, Product Managers operate with a high degree of ownership and autonomy — turning ambiguous policy and operational requirements into scalable, configurable software systems that serve thousands of families and schools.

We are open to hiring at the Senior Product Manager or Lead Product Manager level, depending on experience and demonstrated scope of ownership.

WHAT YOU’LL DO

CORE RESPONSIBILITIES (BOTH SQUADS)

• Own product areas end-to-end — from identifying problems through shipping scalable solutions and iterating based on customer feedback and data.

• Drive 0→1 product development in ambiguous environments, bringing structure to complex policy, operational, and user experience challenges.

• Partner cross-functionally with Engineering, Design, Operations, Implementation, and Policy teams to deliver high-impact product outcomes.

• Translate evolving state requirements into flexible platform capabilities that scale across multiple programs.

• Develop deep empathy for customers and stakeholders, ensuring the platform delivers intuitive, reliable experiences for families, schools, and program administrators.

• Use qualitative insights and quantitative data to inform prioritization and measure success.

• Balance speed and quality in a fast-moving startup environment, making thoughtful tradeoffs when needed.

• Contribute to product strategy and roadmap development in close partnership with leadership.

• Operate with a high level of ownership, accountability, and bias toward action.

SQUAD-SPECIFIC FOCUS AREAS

Parent & School Experience

• Design intuitive onboarding and participation journeys for families and education providers navigating ESA programs.

• Partner closely with Product Design to create clear, trustworthy user experiences across application flows, funding visibility, payments, and communication touchpoints.

• Simplify complex financial and compliance concepts into understandable workflows for everyday users.

• Improve engagement and retention by making program participation seamless and transparent.

• Identify opportunities to reduce friction across onboarding, funding, and ongoing usage of ESA programs.

• Ensure product experiences build confidence and trust for families managing critical education decisions.

Growth & Program Operations

• Build scalable internal systems that enable Odyssey to efficiently launch and operate ESA programs across multiple states.

• Design configurable workflows that support payments, ledgering, reconciliation, compliance tracking, and reporting requirements.

• Partner closely with Implementation, Operations, and Finance teams to streamline program delivery and reduce operational overhead.

• Improve tooling that supports program configuration, vendor management, and state-specific policy requirements.

• Identify opportunities to increase automation, improve data visibility, and reduce manual processes.

• Develop systems that balance flexibility with consistency across diverse program requirements.

WHAT WE’RE LOOKING FOR

• 4+ years of Product Management experience for Senior level candidates; 6+ years for Lead level candidates, ideally in platform, marketplace, fintech, govtech, or B2B2C environments.

• Track record of owning complex product areas and delivering measurable outcomes.

• Experience working in ambiguous environments where requirements evolve quickly.

• Strong systems thinking and ability to design scalable solutions across multi-stakeholder ecosystems.

• Ability to translate complex regulatory, operational, or financial requirements into intuitive product experiences.

• Strong collaboration skills and ability to align cross-functional partners around shared goals.

• Experience partnering closely with engineering and design teams to ship high-quality products.

• Analytical and data-informed, with comfort defining success metrics and measuring impact.

• Strong customer empathy — whether designing for families, schools, internal operators, or state partners.

• Experience in payments, financial systems, marketplaces, or internal tooling is a plus.

• Prior startup experience or strong interest in working in a fast-paced, evolving environment preferred.

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