Forward Deployed Product Lead

MetaPhase Consulting•Reston, VA

3d•$150,000 - $175,000•Onsite

About The Position

As a Forward Deployed Product Lead, you work side by side with our clients to turn their mission needs into products that ship and get used. You own the product vision and backlog, guide the team through agile delivery, and use modern AI tools every day to design, build, and improve solutions. This is a senior, hands-on role. You wear many hats: product owner, developer, technical advisor, presenter, and trusted partner to client leaders. You are capable, curious, and customer-oriented.

Requirements

5+ years of experience in product management, product ownership, or a similar customer-facing role.
Hands-on software development experience in one or more languages, such as Python, JavaScript/TypeScript, Java, or C#, plus familiarity with APIs, cloud platforms, and modern web frameworks.
Hands-on use of modern AI tools (such as LLM assistants, AI coding tools, and AI APIs).
Strong client-facing and presentation skills, including with senior stakeholders.
Experience with agile delivery, including scrum practices and backlog management.
Ability to work onsite in Reston, Virginia, and travel up to 10%.
U.S. citizenship and eligibility for Public Trust.

Nice To Haves

Agile certifications such as CSM, PSM, CSPO, or SAFe.
Cloud or other technical certifications, such as AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud.
Experience building or deploying AI-enabled solutions for clients.
Experience in federal or other regulated environments.
Experience working embedded with a client or customer team.
A track record of taking a product from idea to launch.

Responsibilities

Work directly with client stakeholders to understand mission needs and turn them into clear product goals and priorities.
Own the product roadmap and backlog, and make trade-off calls with the client and the delivery team.
Run agile ceremonies and act as scrum master when needed, keeping the team focused and moving.
Build production-quality prototypes across the full application stack, from front end and APIs to data and cloud, and hand them off ready to move into client production environments.
Use modern AI tools to write, test, and review code faster, while holding to engineering standards for security, testing, and maintainability.
Work closely with engineers on design, integration, and release of client solutions.
Present demos, status, and recommendations to client leaders and executives.
Gather user feedback, measure results, and adjust the product based on what works.