Head of Product

We’re looking for a Head of Product to run our product department at Oak. You'll be leading our digital teams to provide world-class public services for teachers and pupils across the country. We're used by over 1/3 of teachers. We've just launched the world's first openly-licensed, fully resourced curriculum. And we're recognised experts on implementing AI in educational products, with multiple published academic papers on our work with Aila - an AI-powered lesson planning assistant. There's huge potential to scale this impact as we move into our next strategic period. Help us take our products to the next level!

Oak is the publicly-funded provider of free, high-quality digital curriculum and teaching resources for schools. We are a pioneering organsation, fully remote and mission-driven, working to support teachers and improve pupils’ access to quality education. Oak offers high levels of flexibility, autonomy and purpose.

Our culture has been independently recognised through:

• Flexa verified (93% overall score, including 95% for working hours and 97% for role modelling)
• Escape the City's Top 1% Employers – based on anonymous colleague reviews of culture, development, and impact

💡 About the Role

Oak's success is built on a wide range of partnerships across the education and wider public sector.

🔧 What You’ll Be Doing

• Develop and manage a high-performing Product department, leveraging internal and/or external relationships
• Manage the Product department budget (minimum of 6-figures)
• Responsible for all decisions relating to the performance and function of the Product department
• Maintain specialist expertise in digital product and strategy development, and be the authority across Oak and more widely across the sector
• Oversee and continuously improve the operation of cross-functional squads, including individuals from other departments, to deliver our product strategy 
• Ensure that all our products are user-centric, accessible, pedagogically sound and backed by research, deliver high impact for teachers and pupils, and are rigorously evaluated
• Work closely with education colleagues to create an openly-licensed, fully-resourced national curriculum to underpin our products 
• Act as a member of Oak’s leadership team: contribute to the strategy, planning and model the culture of the organisation;
• Work in cross-functional and product-oriented squads with colleagues across the organisation, as required;
• Deputise for the Director of Product Strategy & Impact and take on other general responsibilities as required.

🌱 What We’re Looking For

• 5+ years of experience in product development, including at least 2 years setting product strategy across multiple teams in an organisation
• Experience of recruiting, managing and leading a high-performing department
• Experience of managing a 6-figure budget.
• Demonstrable experience designing and rolling out continuously improving agile ways of working in an organisation
• Proven success in understanding and articulating challenging technical concepts, including the use of generative AI in products, to senior stakeholders
• Good understanding of education policy and the UK education system (desirable).

💛 Our Benefits

• 25 days annual leave, plus one extra day for each year of service (up to 28)
• Additional Oak closure days over Christmas/New Year
• 11% employer pension contribution (with no minimum employee contribution)
• A 36-hour working week, with half-days on Fridays or every other Friday off
• Fully remote working — we’ll support your home set-up and offer coworking options if preferred
• Twice-yearly in-person offsites to collaborate, connect, and have fun
• A culture that genuinely supports flexibility, autonomy, and trust

🌈 Inclusion and Belonging

We believe diverse teams build better products. We warmly welcome applicants from all backgrounds, particularly those who are underrepresented in the tech and education sectors.

We use the Applied recruitment platform to help reduce bias in our hiring process. 

📌 Key Info

• Location: Remote, but you must be based in the UK with the legal right to work here
• Sponsorship: Unfortunately, we’re unable to offer visa sponsorship at this time
• Closing date: 23:59 on 10th October 2025

If this sounds like the kind of role and team where you would thrive, we'd love to hear from you.