Product Manager

Our mission at Ello is simple and urgent: Maximize the potential of every child, everywhere. We’re building the world’s first AI teacher to close that gap: one that listens, speaks, adapts, and inspires, just like the best human educators.

Our first product, Read with Ello, is already helping tens of thousands of kids each week learn to read. It listens as they read aloud, offers support when they stumble, and generates magical, personalized stories using generative AI. It works—and kids love it.

Now, we’re scaling that success into something even bigger: a complete AI teacher for all children. We’re building a real-time learning platform that combines language, speech, and memory to power personalized, interactive education for kids worldwide. We’re moving fast: we ship weekly, test directly with kids and families, and push the boundaries of what AI can do in education.

With the resources of the world's top investors and the heart of a public benefit corporation, we’re here to revolutionize how children learn globally. Featured on TIME’s Best Inventions and Fortune’s Change the World, Ello is a small, mission-driven team taking on one of the most critical challenges of our time: to democratize education.

About the Role

We’re hiring a Product Manager to lead product development in our Nairobi hub, working on Ello’s global AI tutor platform used by children around the world.

You’ll be part of the core product team and will ship features, experiences, and systems that directly shape how children everywhere learn through Ello. You’ll collaborate closely with global design, engineering, and research teams across the U.S., Brazil, and Europe, while driving execution locally in Nairobi.

You’ll own meaningful parts of the product experience end to end: turning real-world insight into product hypotheses, testing with families and learners, and translating results into shipped improvements. This is a highly autonomous role — ideal for someone who combines strong product instincts with an ownership mindset and the ability to deliver in ambiguity.

Exciting Things About This Role

• Be one of the first members of our Nairobi product team and have a big voice in shaping how we build.
• Ship features from Nairobi that reach children around the world.
• Drive ideas that have a direct impact on learning outcomes and business growth.
• Work at the cutting edge of interactive learning and artificial intelligence.
• Collaborate with world-class engineers, designers, and researchers across continents.
• Do work that matters — making a real impact on child development at scale.
• Build a career in a fast-growing global company with significant ownership and autonomy.

Key Requirements

• 3–5 years of experience in product management or adjacent roles (project management, UX design, engineering, or education technology).
• Track record of shipping high-quality products from concept to launch.
• Strong design sense — able to recognize great UX and collaborate closely with designers to create simple, delightful experiences.
• Analytical and problem-solving skills with a structured approach to decision-making.
• Comfortable working with technical teams and understanding system tradeoffs.
• Excellent communication skills and the ability to lead through clarity and context.
• Demonstrated ownership mindset — proactive, accountable, and outcome-driven.

Nice to Have

• Experience shipping zero-to-one products and bringing them to market.
• Experience with rapid prototyping tools (e.g., Bolt, Replit) and a hands-on approach to testing interactions and product ideas.
• Software engineering experience or equivalent experience with highly technical products.
• Experience with data analytics tools (A/B testing tools, visualization tools, basic ability to write queries …or ask GPT-4).
• Past experience working on high-growth, direct-to-consumer products and driving new product adoption.
• Experience working on education products or familiarity with the consumer education market.
• Familiarity with game design mechanics, engagement loops, and motivation frameworks.
• Understand qualitative research methods, experience conducting UX research and/or run play testing to drive product decisions.
• Experience leading sprint schedules with technical teams in fast-paced, high-growth environments.
• Strong understanding of customer and business needs with ability to translate customer feedback into product needs.
• A track record of using AI tools to accelerate your workflows.

We Look for Candidates Who

• Want to build products that create an impact with delight.
• Are self starters with a strong sense of ownership, and are driven to improve and elevate business processes that empower other teams.
• Thrive in a fast-paced, dynamic environment and are able to adapt to change.
• Are highly organized and have an eye for detail.
• Have excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to work with cross-functional teams.
• Are deeply curious about the rapidly evolving world of AI
• Are excited to build engaging and educational experiences for children worldwide
• Value building strong and meaningful relationships with their colleagues and teammates.

About Ello

Ello is a public benefit corporation on a mission to maximize the potential of all children. We’re currently around 45 people, headquartered in San Francisco, with offices in São Paulo, Brazil; Nairobi, Kenya; and New York.

Our team has deep expertise in artificial intelligence, K-12 education, and child development across institutions such as Stanford, Berkeley, Google, Apple, and more. We were part of Y Combinator’s W20 batch and are funded by world-class investors including Goodwater Capital, Homebrew, Reed Hastings, Common Sense Growth, Ravensburger, Project A Ventures, Reach Capital, Khosla Ventures, WndrCo, Visible Ventures, and K9 Ventures.

We’re a small, collaborative team that takes each other’s voices very seriously. Because our mission is to support all children, it is critical that our team is representative of the communities we work in; we place significant emphasis on ensuring diversity in our team and inclusion in our culture.

We feel enormously privileged to be one of the few companies that has the opportunity to take a shot at truly revolutionizing education with AI at this inflection point in technology. We don’t take it for granted, so we work quite hard to turn that vision into reality with urgency. We want to create an environment in which we can all be our best selves, use our strengths to take Ello forward, and develop our own skills. We want to have fun while working hard to do impactful things that we’re proud of – and we believe it’s possible to do both.