Thank you! Your submission has been received!
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.
Hiring a Product leader for an education or EdTech organisation can take longer than expected.
This is not always because there is a shortage of applicants. Many Product roles attract a high number of applications, especially when the market is competitive. The real challenge is finding someone whose experience matches the organisation, its customers, its users and the stage of the product.
A Product leader working with universities may need very different experience from someone building products for schools, colleges or further education providers. The buying process, user needs, budgets and decision makers can all be different.
A strong candidate needs to understand more than Product development. They also need to understand the education setting in which the product will be bought, used and judged.
This is why hiring the right Product person can take time, even when the role receives plenty of interest.
Education products often serve several groups at once.
The person buying the product may not be the person using it. A university leader may approve the budget, while lecturers, administrators and students use the platform. A school leader may make the final decision, but teachers, parents and pupils may all experience the product differently.
Product professionals need to understand these different needs and decide where to focus.
They may also need experience of long procurement processes, limited budgets, data protection, accessibility, safeguarding, integrations and evidence of educational impact.
Someone can be an excellent Product professional in another technology sector and still need time to understand these challenges.
Equally, someone may know education very well but lack experience of building a commercial product, managing a roadmap or making difficult choices about investment.
The strongest candidate often sits somewhere between the two. They understand users and education, but they can also support growth, customer retention and the wider goals of the organisation.
Finding that balance is rarely as simple as searching for one job title.
Product titles vary widely across EdTech.
A Head of Product in one organisation may lead strategy, Product, Design, Research and commercial planning. Another person with the same title may focus mainly on delivery.
A Product Director may have wider responsibility than a Chief Product Officer in a smaller business. Some Product leaders come from teaching, curriculum, publishing, learning design or Customer Success before moving into Product.
This makes hiring more difficult because the right person may not have the exact title listed in the job description.
A search may need to include titles such as:
Head of Product
Product Director
Chief Product Officer
VP Product
Senior Product Manager
Director of Learning Product
Head of Digital Product
Product and Curriculum Director
A specialist recruiter understands how these titles can differ across education, technology and geography. They can look beyond the title and assess the true scope of the person’s work.
A large number of applications can create the impression that there is plenty of suitable talent available.
Often, it creates more work.
Hiring teams may need to review hundreds of CVs, many from people who are capable but not right for the specific role. Some candidates may have Product experience but no understanding of education. Others may know the sector but lack the level of leadership, commercial ownership or technical understanding needed.
This is why relying only on job boards can be difficult for mid level, senior and executive appointments.
Job adverts are useful, but they mainly reach people who are actively searching and willing to apply. The strongest person for the role may not be looking through job boards at all.
They may be performing well in their current organisation and quietly open to the right conversation.
Passive candidates are people who are not actively applying for jobs but may consider a move if the right opportunity appears.
They are unlikely to complete a long application form or respond to a broad job advert. They may, however, speak with a recruiter they know and trust.
Specialist EdTech recruiters often build relationships with candidates over several years. They may have spoken with someone before they were ready to move, followed their career and stayed aware of what they would consider next.
This creates access to a different part of the market.
Rather than waiting for people to apply, the recruiter can approach relevant professionals directly and explain why the role may be worth exploring.
This is especially important for Product leadership roles, where the best fit may come from a small and specific group of people.
A general technology recruiter may understand Product recruitment very well.
A specialist EdTech recruiter brings an additional layer of knowledge.
They understand the difference between selling and building for higher education, K12, further education and workplace learning. They are familiar with the types of customers, users, products and business models found across the sector.
They also know which questions to ask.
Has the candidate built products for institutions or individual learners?
Were they working with schools, colleges, universities or employers?
Did they own Product strategy, or were they mainly responsible for delivery?
Have they worked with long procurement cycles?
Can they balance educational value with commercial goals?
Have they led Product teams through growth, change or investment?
Do they understand accessibility, safeguarding, data and integrations?
This knowledge helps the recruiter assess the substance behind a CV rather than relying only on titles and keywords.
It also helps them challenge the hiring brief when needed.
A company may believe it needs someone from a direct competitor. A specialist recruiter may identify relevant candidates from a related part of the sector who bring stronger skills, broader thinking or a different customer perspective.
The value of a specialist recruiter is not simply the number of people in their network.
It is the depth of those relationships and their understanding of the market.
Over time, recruiters learn about candidates’ experience, career goals, strengths and preferred working environments. They know who may be interested in a startup, who prefers an established organisation and who is ready for wider leadership responsibility.
They may also know professionals who are not visible through a standard LinkedIn search.
Some candidates use unusual job titles. Others have profiles written in another language or do not include enough detail about their sector, product or customers.
A strong recruiter searches more widely and looks beyond the obvious profiles.
However, market knowledge should never replace a fair assessment process. Reputation can offer useful context, but every candidate should still be assessed against clear and consistent criteria.
Hiring teams can become too close to a role.
They may focus on replacing the person who left, search for someone who looks like the previous hire or create a long list of requirements that very few candidates can meet.
An external recruiter can offer a more objective view.
They can help the company decide which experience is essential and which can be learned. They can test whether the salary, title and scope are realistic. They can also identify where the brief may be excluding strong candidates unnecessarily.
This can support a more inclusive search.
For example, the strongest Product leader may not come from another company with the same customer group. They may come from publishing, assessment, education services or another part of learning technology.
A specialist recruiter can help the company understand the value of that experience rather than dismissing it because the career path looks different.
Recruiters usually work through either a contingent or retained model.
With contingent recruitment, the fee is normally paid when a candidate is hired. Several agencies may work on the same role, and there may be no guarantee that the company will continue the process with each recruiter.
A retained search usually includes an upfront fee, with further payments made at agreed stages.
The upfront payment reflects the work required to map the market, approach passive candidates, assess the talent pool and represent the organisation properly.
It also creates a more committed partnership between the company and recruiter.
The recruiter can spend more time understanding the business, its product, customers, culture and hiring goals. They can carry out a thorough search rather than racing other agencies to send the first available CV.
The company also gains one clear partner who can manage the search, share market feedback and adjust the approach when needed.
This model can be especially useful for confidential, senior or difficult to fill Product roles.
It does not remove the need for accountability. The recruiter and company should agree on the search plan, communication, timescales and what success will look like.
Mutual trust works best when it is supported by clear expectations.
EdTech companies expanding into new countries may need Product professionals who understand both the product and the local education market.
A product that works well in one country may need changes to suit another curriculum, procurement process, language or institutional structure.
The company may need someone with international Product experience, local market knowledge or a network across several regions.
A specialist recruiter with an international EdTech network can help identify people who have worked across markets and understand how to adapt products without losing their core purpose.
They can also help the company compare local and international talent, understand salary expectations and decide where the role should be based.
This is difficult to achieve through one job advert.
A longer recruitment process is not always a better one.
Companies can lose strong candidates when decisions take too long, interviews are repeated or the role keeps changing.
The aim should not be to rush the search. It should be to make it focused.
A specialist recruiter can create that focus by agreeing on the key criteria, mapping the market and keeping candidates engaged throughout the process.
They can also share honest feedback when the search is not working.
Perhaps the salary is below the market.
Perhaps the company is asking for several different roles in one job description.
Perhaps the title does not reflect the level of responsibility.
Perhaps candidates are interested in the mission but unclear about the Product direction.
This feedback can help the company solve problems early instead of spending months repeating the same search.
The main benefit of working with an EdTech recruiter is not simply access to more candidates.
It is access to better aligned candidates and a clearer hiring process.
A specialist recruiter understands the sector, the language and the differences between higher education, K12 and further education. They can identify active and passive talent, assess varied career paths and help the company understand what the market can realistically offer.
For Product roles, this matters because the strongest candidates need to connect education, technology, users and commercial goals.
That combination can be difficult to find.
A recruiter who works within the sector can bring market knowledge, trusted relationships and another pair of eyes to the search.
This does not make the hiring decision simple.
It makes the search more informed, focused and likely to reach the people who may never respond to a job advert.
RecruitHer supports education and EdTech organisations hiring mid level, senior and executive professionals.
We combine sector knowledge, targeted headhunting and an international network to help companies reach people who are closely aligned with their product, customers and growth plans.
