Associate Forward Deployed Product Manager

Fractional AI • San Francisco, CA

21h • Hybrid

About The Position

Fractional AI is a startup in Silicon Valley focused on transforming companies with AI software. They work with clients like Zapier and Airbyte, and their projects range from making content moderation faster to automating complex workflows. The role of a Forward Deployed Product Manager involves turning ambitious client goals into functional AI-powered solutions. This is a full-stack customer-facing role that combines aspects of engagement management, product management, delivery/program management, and operational support. The position offers significant ownership and responsibility, scaling with performance, and the opportunity to work closely with experienced team members on end-to-end projects.

Requirements

• Customer-facing, high-stakes experience where significant ownership was taken in projects with pressure, misaligned stakeholders, and unclear paths.
• Comfortable pushing back, reframing problems, and holding the line on quality.
• Experience building and shipping products or services in partnership with engineers and designers, ideally across multiple cycles.
• Knowledge of how to run an execution rhythm (stand-ups, planning, tracking, retros) without it becoming process theater.
• Structured problem-solving and communication skills: asking good questions, structuring chaos, and turning ambiguity into a plan.
• Ability to go from whiteboarding with execs to writing a crisp doc for engineers.
• Ability to explain ideas simply, avoid jargon, and tie work directly to business value.
• Bias for action and ownership: rolling up sleeves to make things happen.
• Typically 1-3 years in product, consulting, implementations, or any role where execution and customer trust mattered more than job title.
• Comfort with ambiguity and intensity: liking high-energy environments, messy problems, and "we haven’t done this before" projects.
• Ability to juggle multiple customers, keep priorities straight, and make good calls with incomplete information.
• Curiosity about AI, strong reasoning, and a desire to learn fast.
• Willingness to overuse AI in personal workflow.
• Commitment to in-person work in San Francisco or New York City offices.

Nice To Haves

• Deep AI expertise is not required on day one.

Responsibilities

• Take ownership of execution and delivery operations while building towards full ownership of end-to-end projects.
• Own the customer relationship end-to-end, building strong day-to-day relationships and growing into a trusted partner.
• Join early-stage calls, run discovery, synthesize feedback, and keep customers aligned on what is being built and why.
• Build trusted relationships across all levels of an organization, setting clear expectations and being candid about tradeoffs.
• Contribute to defining product builds, refining scope, and identifying high-leverage use cases.
• Translate ambiguous business problems into crisp problem statements, user journeys, and success metrics.
• Work with customers to define "success" and design experiments, KPIs, and dashboards to prove it.
• Translate ambiguous customer needs into clear requirements, PRDs, and plans for engineers.
• Shape workflows, edge cases, evaluation criteria, and deployment success metrics for AI-powered systems.
• Sit in the loop with engineering: prioritization, tradeoffs, testing, evals, and launches.
• Increase team leverage by owning delivery mechanics: tracking progress, coordinating stakeholders, and unblocking projects.
• Run the day-to-day execution rhythm: stand-ups, planning, check-ins, risk/issue tracking, and runway management.
• Coordinate between customers, engineers, designers, and other Fractional teammates to keep projects unblocked and moving.
• Own timelines, track delivery quality, and proactively flag risks with clear recommendations.
• Jump on early, messy conversations where the "project" is still a vague idea.
• Help founders and sales tease out real pain, sketch solution approaches live, and scope engagements that can be delivered.
• Spot expansion opportunities and help turn successful deployments into broader, long-term partnerships.
• Work with client teams on rollout, enablement, and change management to ensure systems are used.
• Monitor performance, gather qualitative and quantitative feedback, and push for improvements.
• Bring back insights and patterns that inform Fractional’s internal playbooks, tooling, and product direction.
• Break down problems and help drive toward the highest-impact solution when requirements are fuzzy, data is messy, or customers change course.
• Be the person who can articulate the objective, knowns, and plan.

Benefits

• Competitive Compensation Package: Attractive salary and meaningful equity aligned with your experience and skills.
• 401k with Matching
• Unlimited PTO
• Exceptional Medical, Dental, and Vision Coverage
• Health FSA
• Commuter Benefits
• Life Insurance
• Team Events and Activities

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Entry Level
• Education Level: No Education Listed