Head of Product (UpNext)

ROLE MISSION As Product Manager at Up. Next, you'll own product strategy and execution for the Up. Next platform: the transfer portal intelligence tool used by college coaches nationwide to track transfer portal activity, build recruit lists, and evaluate roster needs. You'll partner with Up. Next leadership to set and prioritize the roadmap, and work day-to-day with Scope.

Labs, Up. Next's product development partner, to turn priorities into shipped features. This is a foundational product hire, you'll help define how product decisions get made as Up. Next scales. CORE RESPONSIBILITIES PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT

• Document and organize feedback and feature requests from coaches, internal stakeholders, and platform usage data, prioritizing initiatives based on product intuition, user insights, and business priorities
• Product interviews of customers across the full product lifecycle, including coaches, agencies, and athletes
• Own the Up. Next feature roadmap end-to-end: prioritization, sequencing, and communicating status to leadership
• Write clear, detailed product specs (requirements, user journeys, technical specs) in partnership with Scope. Labs
• Partner with Scope. Labs' engineering team to shepherd features from spec through launch across core platform surfaces: Search, Smart Lists, Insights, Team Pages, Athlete Profiles, and the Activity Feed
• Conduct QA testing on new releases to ensure high-quality deliverables before they reach coaches
• Identify product improvement opportunities through customer calls, platform usage, and analytics tooling
• Stay close to Up. Next's core data pipeline (NCAA transfer portal data, JUCO data, AI-resolved transfer destinations, and emerging high school data sources) and find new data providers to enhance the data coverage and data integrity. STAKEHOLDER & TEAM MANAGEMENT
• Communicate roadmap status and delivery timelines to Up. Next leadership
• Gather and triage feedback from coaches and internal stakeholders
• Represent the voice of the customer (coaches and recruiting staff) in product decisions PROCESS & OPERATIONS
• Own Up. Next's weekly release cycle process, including sprint planning and ticket triage
• Manage bug triage and prioritization across the product roadmap
• Suggest and drive process improvements as the product organization matures
• Help evolve Up. Next's product development processes as the team grows beyond its initial Scope. Labs-supported build phase GROWTH PATH
• FIRST 3 MONTHS MONTH 1: FOUNDATION
• Shadow existing product meetings, QA cycles, and release processes
• Develop a deep understanding of the Up. Next platform: Search, Smart Lists, Insights, Team Pages, Athlete Profiles, and Activity Feed
• Learn the recruiting and transfer portal domain: NCAA transfer rules, portal data sources, and in-flight JUCO and high school data initiatives
• Learn Up. Next's spec-writing approach and begin drafting specs with mentorship from Scope. Labs MONTH 2: GROWING OWNERSHIP
• Begin presenting in the weekly product/leadership meeting
• Start owning coach and stakeholder communications
• Take point on spec writing for new initiatives
• Begin coordinating directly with Scope. Labs' engineering team on sprint planning and delivery
• Start managing parts of the release and QA process MONTH 3: INDEPENDENCE
• Own the full feature roadmap end-to-end
• Own spec creation end-to-end
• Own all stakeholder and coach communications
• Manage feature delivery independently in partnership with Scope. Labs
• Contribute to high-level product strategy discussions for Up. Next's next phase of growth ADDITIONAL OPPORTUNITIES
• Shape Up. Next's product development processes as the team scales beyond its initial build phase
• Deepen expertise in the college sports recruiting and transfer portal space
• Contribute to strategic conversations about Up. Next's product direction and data strategy This is just a starter list… many more TBD!