Forward Deployed Product Manager

This is a fully remote position, open to applicants in United States.

📋 Description

• Collaborate directly with state government partners during the stages of discovery, architecture, and design.

• Gain firsthand understanding of users, policy contexts, constraints, and workflows.

• Recognize underlying customer issues that extend beyond expressed requirements.

• Serve as a trusted product advisor to stakeholders in the public sector.

• Manage the comprehensive product landscape across statewide wallets, citizen-facing portals, APIs, and supporting services.

• Assist partners in shaping roadmaps and priorities, ensuring that solutions effectively tackle genuine problems.

• Collaborate with engineering, design, and delivery leaders from the definition phase through to deployment.

• Design and implement user research involving users, stakeholders, and end users.

• Conduct discovery and prototyping when appropriate.

• Integrate research insights into product decisions and roadmap direction.

• Navigate government relationships while presenting evidence that may question stated priorities.

• Identify trends across customer deployments and link needs to reusable product capabilities.

• Present work to small pilot groups and utilize findings to adjust the roadmap.

• Balance the speed of iteration with requirements for security, accessibility, and reliability.

• Propel the adoption of digital credentials by onboarding issuers, verifiers, and institutional partners.

• Establish high-impact partnerships with university research programs, workforce boards, and employer networks.

• Take ownership of adoption KPIs and employ innovative and resourceful methods to enhance them.

• Counsel executive stakeholders, including agency directors, university leadership, and ecosystem partners.

⛳️ Requirements

• 6–10+ years of product experience in startups or in developing new product initiatives.

• Background in an early-stage environment where you have personally launched products and acted swiftly.

• Experience in taking a product from inception to launch or pursuing entirely new opportunities.

• Ideally, substantial experience in education, workforce development, or related fields.

• Familiarity with government or other highly regulated environments.

• Authentic customer-facing experience; roles in forward-deployed product, solutions PM, implementation, or founder-led delivery are relevant.

• Proven, hands-on experience in user research, including designing and executing discovery that informs product decisions.

• Sufficient technical knowledge to collaborate effectively with engineers on APIs, services, and system design.

• Ability to thrive in an ambiguous environment with a broad scope and shifting priorities.

• Credibility at the executive level with agency directors, university chancellors, and institutional partners.

• Must be based in the U.S. and eager to engage directly with state government partners.

• A strong passion for workforce development and expanding opportunities through technology.

• Eligibility and ability to pass a government background check are required.

• Nice to have: experience with digital identity, IAM/ICAM, credentialing, or authentication systems.

• Nice to have: familiarity with accessibility standards, FedRAMP, or NIST frameworks.

• Nice to have: experience with public-sector procurement and contracting.

• Nice to have: prior engineering or in-depth technical systems experience.

• Nice to have: experience in building or enhancing multi-sided ecosystems, marketplaces, or platform adoption.

• Nice to have: background in education technology, learning and employment records, or workforce development programs.

🏝️ Benefits

• Significant travel to state government partner locations may be required based on assigned engagements.

• Work within a small, high-trust team where autonomy and sound judgment are highly valued.

• Commitment to equal employment opportunities regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity, or veteran status.