Forward Deployed Product Manager

Code and Theory•Austin, TX

4h•$70,000 - $140,000•Hybrid

About The Position

The Machine is the agentic operating system for marketing, built by Code and Theory. It plugs into the tools marketing teams use and turns disconnected workflows into a single intelligent system, connecting brand strategy, creative production, and media performance. The Machine helps power agencies across Stagwell's network and world-leading brands. We're 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 Machine's 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. They're 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.

Requirements

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 — you're 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 — you're more likely to write the playbook than wait for one
Experience working in collaborative, cross-functional environments spanning product, delivery, and engineering

Responsibilities

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 doesn't live in one person's 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 team's practice