We9re looking for a Lead Forward Deployed Product Manager who will provide functional leadership for a pod of 4-5 Forward Deployed Product Managers embedded across client implementations. This person sets the operating standard for how requirements, prototypes, and workflow decisions get made across every active deployment, and acts as the escalation point between the FDPM pod, Technical Account Managers, implementation engineering, and core product. This is not a reporting-line management role - pod people management sits with the Director of Product - but it is the person who sets the bar the rest of the pod works to. They9ve done the individual-contributor version of this role and know where it breaks under pressure. Product-minded but still executional, they lead by example rather than by authority, and are comfortable operating at the level of a single deployment and the level of the whole pod in the same day. They9re the person who builds structure and standards where none exist, then gets peers to actually use them - turning scattered patterns across deployments into a shared playbook and a steady feed of learnings back into the core product. **WHAT YOU9LL DO** - Set and enforce a consistent bar for requirements quality, prototyping rigor, and documentation across the pod - Unblock FDPMs on ambiguous or contested requirements by making the call or escalating to the right owner - Own the relationship with Technical Account Managers and implementation leads at the program level, not just per-deployment - Review and sanity-check the workflows, prototypes, and briefs the pod produces before they reach clients or engineering - Identify which recurring patterns across deployments are worth generalizing, and drive that handoff into the core product roadmap - Build and maintain the shared playbook: templates, workflow patterns, prompting approaches, and documentation standards the pod reuses - Coordinate staffing and workload across concurrent deployments, and flag capacity gaps or performance concerns to the reporting manager - Surface pod-wide progress and blockers to product and delivery leadership - Stay hands-on enough to step into a deployment directly when a pod member is blocked, out, or the stakes require it **WHAT YOU9LL NEED** - Prior experience as a forward-deployed PM, solutions consultant, or implementation lead - including having done the individual-contributor version of this work and knowing where it breaks under pressure - A track record leading a workstream, initiative, or informal team in a fast-moving, client-facing environment; direct people-management experience is not required - Strong systems thinking with the ability to spot a pattern across multiple different client contexts at once, and the judgment to make the call for the pod, not just yourself, with incomplete information - Hands-on comfort with prototyping, prompting, and workflow design - well enough to review someone else9s work critically, not just do your own - Excellent communication skills across technical, non-technical, client-facing, and leadership audiences - High ownership and a bias to action, with the discipline to know when to step back and let an FDPM own it - Comfortable working directly for clients and influencing a team without a reporting line - leading by example, not authority - Likely from a startup, SaaS, or technical services environment, with a builder/operator orientation rather than a pure roadmap PM background The compensation range for this role is $140,000 - $190,000 and spans multiple levels. We9re open to hiring at the level that best matches the right candidate9s experience. Actual compensation is influenced by a wide array of factors including but not limited to skill set, level of experience, budget, and location.