Company Overview

Academia.edu is a venture-backed, for-profit business based in San Francisco whose mission is to accelerate the world’s research. Our platform enables researchers worldwide to effortlessly find and access academic papers, stay current with peers and relevant research areas, and enhance their ability to publish and distribute their work. With over 100 million academic papers, a vast user base of over 250 million and adoption by over half of the academic community, we're at the forefront of transforming the $25 billion academic publishing industry.

The Role

We are seeking a high-performing Product Leader to lead our Engagement Products group. We believe there is a major opportunity to provide Researchers with a best-in-class social experience to keep up-to-date in their fields; maintain relationships with their colleagues, discover great research, and collaborate with peers to accelerate their work. In this role you will drive up the number of academics engaging in our free social products on the site on a recurring basis. This includes developing the key surfaces and functions of our site, including the home page and onboarding experiences, people recommendations, and new social modalities like groups or events. You will be responsible for 3 product teams to start, both with PMs in seats and the need to develop (and hire) the area further.

• Define the strategy for the Academia.edu social platform and drive alignment with key exec stakeholders
• Drive adoption and growth of the Academia.edu social experience
• Hire and support a high-performing product team; with a track record of empowering reports
• IC a product team in the early stages of your time with us, in order to show execution excellence and model performance to your reports
• Advocate for and up-skill product as a function in your area, and across the company

• 7-12 years of product experience, with a focus on social (or community) B2C products
• Previous experience in one of engagement growth, media/messaging/community products, or onboarding/activation of B2C users
• Previous experience hiring and leveling-up PMs
• Strong IC product skills; you know how to “lead from the front” and teach best practices
• Exceptional communication skills, both written and oral
• Demonstrated ability to make a significant business impact, autonomously
• Customer-centric approach with a knack for data-driven validation
• Experience working with cross-functional teams (ENG, UXR, Data, Design) and leaders
• Startup experience is essential; bonus for a history of successful product pivots
• Technical understanding and ability to engage in high-level technical discussions
• Extensive experience with A/B testing and user research (both qualitative and quantitative)
• Proven expertise in launching and scaling products to millions of users

• Experience in Edtech or academia
• A stint in growth-stage tech companies during a ‘high-growth’ period
• A stint in social media tech companies (ex: Meta, Youtube, Reddit, Linkedin)Experience in launching products from inception to market (0->1)

Diversity and Inclusion

Academia is a proud equal-opportunity employer and we are committed to hiring and supporting a diverse workforce. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.