Forward Deployed Product Builder

4M Analytics Ltd • Austin, TX

3d • Hybrid

About The Position

The 4M story is likely one you haven't heard before: we're on a mission to unlock access to the world below us — to do for the world below ground what Google Maps did for the world above. By mapping subsurface infrastructure and making reliable, real-time utility data accessible to the construction and infrastructure industry, we're transforming a traditional, high-stakes industry. Joining the Utility Owners Business Unit means you are at the forefront of a mission-critical expansion. You will have a direct impact on how major utilities manage their subsurface risk, preventing catastrophic damage and saving lives. This role offers a unique career trajectory: as a foundational hire, you have the opportunity to grow into owning broader product areas, leading new segments, or shaping our entire AI-product strategy as the business scales. Over the past several years, 4M built significant business around Departments of Transportation (DOTs) — we now serve 10-12 DOT customers, and we did it deliberately: hire someone close to the customer, learn the workflow cold, and build the product the market actually needed. We're now applying that same intentional playbook to a new frontier: the Utility Owners segment. This is a hybrid, next-gen role, combining classic Product Management with hands-on AI Building. You'll spend your time close to utility owner customers, absorb their workflows and pain points first-hand, and turn what you learn directly into working software — prototyping with modern AI tools, validating with real customers, then handing proven concepts to engineering to take to production fast. You're the connective tissue between the market and the product, fluent in the language of both the customer and the developer. This is a deliberate, foundational hire. You'll report directly to the VP Product, work hand in hand with Engineering, and have the mandate to define what winning the Utility Owners segment looks like.

Requirements

• Relevant educational background (BA/BS/BE/MBA). This could be in business, computer science, or even architecture/industrial engineering.
• 2-5 years of experience spanning reputed management consulting and/or product management at a B2B SaaS, data, or AI-native company.
• A genuine builder's mentality: you can independently design, prototype, and ship working software using modern AI tools. For example, you might have a portfolio showcasing a deployed web app built with AI. You understand what the AI is generating well enough to reason about it and correct it — this is required, not solely dependent on "vibe coding." Prior engineering experience or a technical degree is a strong plus, not a must.
• Comfortable operating in a 0-to-1, forward-deployed capacity — shaping a brand-new product and market directly with executives and customers, without an existing playbook to lean on.
• The "Strategic Builder" balance: We exceptionally value the intersection of strategic consulting instincts — the ability to decompose complex business problems — and the gritty, hands-on skills required to build the solution yourself.
• Sharp, credible communicator who translates cleanly between customer needs and engineering, and who's comfortable working shoulder-to-shoulder with the CEO and Chief Growth Officer as well as in front of customers.
• Based in or open to relocating to Austin, TX.
• We're building an AI-first product culture, and we're looking for product builders who are genuinely excited about working this way. This role is for you if you use tools like Claude daily to prototype, iterate, and demo functioning software yourself.

Nice To Haves

• Candidates who pair top-tier consultancy experience along with hands-on product experience are an exceptionally strong fit.
• Your own side project, startup, or open-source work built substantially with AI tools — don't just tell us, show us!
• Prior exposure to utility infrastructure, civil/damage-prevention work, or the regulatory landscape (permitting, compliance, fines, risk on infrastructure projects).

Responsibilities

• Live in the market. Run continuous discovery with Utility Owner customers — calls, site visits, workflow shadowing — to build a first-hand understanding of their pain points, workflows, and business drivers.
• Find the patterns, the opportunity, and turn it into a product. Think like a founder to map the market landscape, identify where the biggest pain points and budget reside, and synthesize customer feedback into a scalable product roadmap and clear productization strategy.
• Define the strategy for winning the segment. Own the "where to play / how to win" for Utility Owners — target sub-segments, positioning, and the wedge that gets us in — in close partnership with the CEO, Chief Growth Officer, and engineering leadership.
• Build beautiful products, fast. Use AI-native tools (Claude,Cursor etc.) to go from idea to a working, demonstrable Alpha in days or even hours — and if the customer validates it, Engineering makes it production-viable.
• Bridge market and engineering. Be the connective layer between customers and the engineering pod. Translate validated concepts into something engineering can take to production, and stay involved through the handoff.
• Own the outcome, commercially. Define what success looks like for the segment in business terms — adoption, revenue, land-and-expand — and track progress against it, partnering with Growth on how we take it to market.
• Master a regulated, technical domain fast. No utility expertise required, but you'll rapidly get fluent in civil infrastructure, damage-prevention, and the regulatory landscape well enough to be credible with customers.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Entry Level