Forward Deployed Product Manager

Code and Theory

• $70K — $140K *
Enterprise Technology
Less than 5 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • 2-5 years of experience in product management, business analysis, or related roles, preferably in startup or SaaS environments.
  • Proven ability to manage workstreams independently and deliver high-quality outcomes on complex projects.
  • Strong systems thinking and ability to make informed decisions with limited information.
  • Hands-on expertise with prototyping and workflow design using modern AI tools.
  • Excellent communication skills for interacting with both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
  • Demonstrated ownership and proactivity in work, often creating processes rather than waiting for direction.
  • Experience in collaborative, cross-functional settings involving product, delivery, and engineering.

Responsibilities

  • Gather and clarify business requirements from clients and internal stakeholders during implementations.
  • Translate complex workflows into structured user stories and briefs for the delivery team.
  • Prototype quick solutions to validate ideas before full-scale development.
  • Partner with Technical Account Managers to address implementation obstacles in real time.
  • Work with implementation engineers to refine market solutions as real-world usage reveals new challenges.
  • Identify recurring workflow patterns from deployments and integrate them into the product roadmap.
  • Document decisions and process changes to ensure organizational knowledge is retained.

Benefits

  • Opportunity to work on innovative projects with a forward-thinking team.
  • Engagement with modern AI tools and methodologies.
  • Collaborative work environment fostering team partnerships across disciplines.
  • Flexible problem-solving that encourages independent thought and ownership.
  • Professional development opportunities within a dynamic startup culture.
Full Job Description
We9re looking for a Forward Deployed Product Manager who will be embedded directly in implementation pods, turning client and internal needs into clear, actionable product requirements during platform rollouts. This person bridges product, delivery, and implementation teams throughout rollout - defining workflows, prototyping solutions, and shaping how The Machine9s agents behave in real-world use.

They own discrete workstreams end-to-end, translating ambiguous business needs into structured requirements that implementation engineers can act on without dropping specificity along the way. They9re comfortable moving between client context, product thinking, and delivery realities, and are increasingly the person who creates structure where none exists rather than waiting for someone else to define it.

WHAT YOU9LL DO
  • Gather and clarify business requirements directly from clients and internal stakeholders during implementations
  • Translate ambiguous workflows into structured requirements, user stories, and briefs that a delivery team can work from
  • Prototype flows, prompts, and lightweight solutions to validate direction quickly, before investing in full builds
  • Partner with Technical Account Managers to keep implementations moving and unblock decisions in real time
  • Work closely with implementation engineers to refine solutions in-market as real usage surfaces new edge cases
  • Identify recurring workflow patterns across deployments and feed them back into the core product roadmap
  • Document decisions, edge cases, and process changes as the team learns, so knowledge doesn9t live in one person9s head
  • Support discovery, solution design, and handoff across multiple concurrent deployments
  • Identify and proactively communicate risks, blockers, and trade-offs as they emerge
  • Stay current with modern AI tooling and bring new prototyping and prompting techniques back into the team9s practice

WHAT YOU9LL NEED
  • 2-5 years of experience in product management, business analysis, solutions consulting, forward-deployed, or implementation roles - ideally from a startup, SaaS, or technical services environment
  • A track record of owning workstreams independently and delivering high-quality work on complex, ambiguous projects with limited supervision
  • Strong systems thinking and workflow intuition, with the judgment to make good calls on incomplete information
  • Hands-on comfort with prototyping, prompting, and workflow design using modern AI tools - you9re technical and curious, not just directionally aware
  • Excellent communication skills, able to move fluidly between technical and non-technical stakeholders and between client context and internal delivery realities
  • High ownership and a bias to action - you9re more likely to write the playbook than wait for one
  • Experience working in collaborative, cross-functional environments spanning product, delivery, and engineering

The compensation range for this role is $70,000 - $140,000 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.

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