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Fractional Head of Product

Chicago, IL; New York, NY

Next Street aims to help small businesses facing disproportionate barriers realize their potential. For the last 20 years, we have designed and implemented solutions that connect entrepreneurs and small business owners with the right resources at the right time. Next Street accelerates the impact of institutions and advisors on small businesses, providing millions of business owners with the experts, tools, and capital they need to thrive.

We have an extensive network of small business advocates, operators, and investors. We know that when small businesses excel, their neighborhoods, cities, and our economy do, too.

Next Street is a certified B-corporation that is committed to becoming an anti-racist organization to represent the small businesses we strive to serve. Through this commitment, inclusivity is integral to our DNA, and our values are embedded in every aspect of our work.

 

Why this Role?

As the Fractional Head of Product at Next Street, you’ll step into a pivotal executive role with outsized influence on the future of our tech-enabled solutions.  This is a unique opportunity to lead product strategy and innovation at a fast-moving, impact-focused firm, thereby ensuring meaningful contributions to economic equity and community development.

You’ll join the executive leadership team and lead a dynamic product team.  In this role, you’ll define and execute the strategy to scale our digital offerings and help shape the next generation of tools that empower small businesses across the country.  Supported by a collegial, collaborative, and values-driven culture, you'll leverage your strategic expertise in product and technology leadership to amplify Next Street’s social impact for the communities we serve.

This interim, fractional role (approximately 12 months) is ideal for a senior product leader who thrives on shaping strategy, mentoring teams, and rolling up their sleeves to drive results. While the role is fractional and interim, there is potential for this to convert into a full-time executive role, depending on fit and mutual interest.

Your work will consist of…

Product Leadership and Strategy (70%)

  • Executive Strategy Partner: Serve as a member of the Executive Leadership Team, contributing to company-wide strategy, value creation, and long-term planning. Lead the vision and roadmap for Next Street’s digital and tech-enabled solutions, ensuring alignment with client needs, business goals, and user impact.
  • Client Engagement: Act as the senior product voice in high-profile client engagements, gather product insights and enable firm-wide feedback loop. Shape delivery strategies and coach teams to meet both immediate outcomes and long-term product evolution.
  • Cross-Functional Tech-Enabled Solution Leadership: Lead cross-functional teams to ensure tech-enabled solutions are aligned with the broader strategic vision. Guide data, infrastructure, and tech stack decisions alongside internal and external partners.
  • Team Leadership & Coaching: Manage and mentor key leaders (including Senior Director of Product and Director of Engineering), fostering their professional growth and ensuring alignment with strategic objectives and execution of the product strategy.
  • P&L Management: Oversee the profit and loss statement for the firm’s tech-enabled solutions, ensuring financial health and future sustainable growth.
  • Partner & Vendor Management: Partner with Senior Director of Product and Director of Engineering to optimize and troubleshoot external vendor relationships, collaborating with cross-functional teams, including the Revenue and Delivery teams, to evaluate and optimize external technology and implementation vendors.
  • User-Centric Focus: Build a culture of continuous learning and customer-centric design across the product and delivery ecosystem.
  • KPIs and Impact: Own the establishment of long-term product KPIs, ensuring measurable outcomes aligned with business goals, user adoption, and customer engagement targets.

Business Development (30%)

  • Sales Enablement: Partner with the Revenue team and Executive Team to cultivate and expand relationships with both prospective and existing clients. Provide strategic and technical leadership to support the acquisition of new business opportunities, gather product-market fit insights across a variety of client audiences, inform value proposition (pricing, positioning, pitch materials) and long-term recurring revenue model, as well as provide extensive feedback to grow revenue base, and deepen engagement with current clients.

Why you?

  • You have 10+ years of progressive experience in senior product leadership roles, particularly within digital platforms or marketplaces.
  • You have demonstrated expertise in developing and scaling innovative digital products, ideally those oriented toward social impact.
  • You have proven experience managing teams, ideally including product teams and engineering teams. Experience with professional services preferred.  
  • You have a strong strategic orientation with the ability to articulate and execute clear, impactful product and solutions strategies.
  • You have a depth of understanding of AI, modern technology ecosystems, and platforms to be able to advise strategically and practically.
  • You have a passion for doing impactful work that ultimately supports the small businesses that power our local communities.
  • You are motivated and inspired by Next Street’s mission and values.
  • You are a proven strategic leader with the ability to coach and develop talent.

Contract Structure

This is a fractional, interim executive role (~12-month engagement). The structure allows for flexibility in scheduling and time commitment. The starting compensation for this role is $17,000 a month. There is potential for this role to convert to a permanent, full-time position based on performance, business needs, and mutual interest.

 

Next Street is an equal opportunity employer and considers qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, color, creed, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other protected characteristic.

Note: We are unable to sponsor or take over sponsorship of an employment Visa at this time.

 

 

 

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