Product Management: Forward Deployed Product Manager - Houston or Palo Alto (3+ days ONSITE)
Role Description
Our client is a fast-growing AI enterprise startup seeking a Forward Deployed Product Manager to own customer engagements end-to-end — from messy problem discovery through deployment, adoption, and measurable business impact in heavy industry environments.
This is a high-ownership, customer-facing role for someone who combines deep domain expertise in oil & gas, utilities, or chemicals with the product and delivery skills to turn complex operational workflows into shipped AI-powered solutions.
What You'll Do Own customer engagements end-to-end — from problem discovery through deployment, adoption, and measurable business impact Build credibility with customer stakeholders across field teams, technical teams, executives, and commercial buyers through deep domain fluency Translate complex customer workflows into clear problem statements, MVP scope, data requirements, user stories, and product requirements Partner with engineering and design to turn customer needs into stable, extensible AI-powered solutions Drive pilot-to-production conversions by creating so much value customers cannot live without the product when the pilot ends Manage tradeoffs across customer urgency, technical complexity, commercial value, and long-term product reuse Identify repeatable patterns across engagements and shape them into scalable product and delivery processes Stay close to expansion, renewal, and commercial outcomes — with significant variable bonus tied to account growth
Key Requirements 5+ years in customer-facing, high-ownership roles — consulting, forward-deployed product, or enterprise delivery Heavy industry domain exposure — oil & gas, utilities, chemicals, or refining as an operator, engineer, or consultant Consultative engagement ownership — has run customer engagements and connected them to commercial outcomes Product experience — writing tickets, working with engineering and design MBA from a top program (Harvard, Tuck, Stanford, Haas, Wharton, Booth, Kellogg) preferred MBB or Palantir-type forward-deployed product experience preferred
Startup experience preferred
Hands-on familiarity with AI tools (Claude, LLMs) in day-to-day work
About Forward Deployed Engineering
Forward Deployed Engineers are embedded directly with customers to build custom solutions, integrate products into existing infrastructure, and bridge the gap between product engineering and customer success. The role combines deep technical skills with the ability to operate in client environments and translate business requirements into working software.
Originally pioneered by Palantir, the FDE model has spread across AI, enterprise SaaS, and cloud infrastructure companies. FDEs write production code, architect integrations, train customer teams, and feed product insights back to the core engineering organization. At companies like OpenAI, Salesforce, and Databricks, FDE teams are treated as elite engineering units that can ship custom solutions in days rather than quarters.
Typical FDE stack: Python, TypeScript, SQL, REST/GraphQL APIs, cloud platforms (AWS/GCP/Azure), and increasingly LLM APIs and AI orchestration frameworks. Strong communication and the ability to context-switch between technical and business conversations are as important as coding ability.
Similar Roles
Get the FDE Pulse Brief
Weekly market intelligence for Forward Deployed Engineers. Job trends, salary data, and who's hiring. Free.