Forward Deployed Product Manager

Fractional AI Customer Role

Our customers come to us with ambitious, often fuzzy goals — make content moderation faster, customer service cheaper and better, unlock new integrations, automate the workflows no one else can touch.

Your job is to turn those goals into AI-powered solutions that work in the real world, and to own the journey from first conversation to live system to real business impact.

This is a forward-deployed, full-stack customer role:

• Part engagement manager — you're the primary face of Fractional to the client.
• Part product manager — you decide what we build and why.
• Part delivery/program manager — you run the execution motion end-to-end.
• Part "do whatever it takes" operator — you jump into the gaps to keep things moving.

What You'll Do

• Own the customer relationship end-to-end. Act as the customer's day-to-day strategic partner and primary point of contact, building trust across all levels of the organization and being candid about tradeoffs.
• Shape what we build and why. Translate ambiguous business problems into crisp problem statements, user journeys, and success metrics — and work with customers to define what "success" actually means.
• Turn messy problems into shipped solutions. Translate ambiguous needs into clear requirements, PRDs, and plans for engineers. Shape workflows, edge cases, and evaluation criteria for AI-powered systems.
• Drive execution across multiple AI products. Run the day-to-day rhythm — planning, check-ins, risk tracking — and coordinate between customers, engineers, designers, and Fractional teammates to keep work unblocked and on time.
• Help create demand, not just fulfill it. 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 spot expansion opportunities.
• Drive adoption and long-term impact. Work with client teams on rollout, enablement, and change management so the systems you build actually get used. Bring back insights that inform Fractional's playbooks and product direction.
• Bring judgment and clarity. When requirements are fuzzy or customers change course, be the person in the room who can say: here's what we're trying to do, here's what we know, here's the plan.

What You Bring

• Customer-facing, high-stakes experience. You've led projects where customers were under pressure, stakeholders weren't aligned, and the path wasn't obvious. You're comfortable pushing back, reframing the problem, and holding the line on quality. We typically look for 4–8 years in product, consulting, or implementations, although we care more about what you've done than the label on your resume.
• Real product and delivery experience. You've built and shipped products with engineers and designers across multiple cycles. You can run an execution rhythm — stand-ups, planning, tracking, retros — without turning it into process theater.
• Structured problem-solving and communication. You ask good questions, structure chaos, and turn ambiguity into a plan — moving from whiteboarding with execs to writing a crisp doc for engineers without losing the plot.
• Bias for action and ownership. You roll up your sleeves and make things happen, whether that's writing a scrappy SQL query, drafting a support playbook, or jumping into a last-minute exec demo.
• Comfort with ambiguity and intensity. You like high-energy environments, messy problems, and "we haven't done this before" projects. You can juggle multiple customers, keep priorities straight, and make good calls with incomplete information.
• AI curiosity, not AI Dogma. You don't need deep AI expertise on day one — you do need strong reasoning, a desire to learn fast, and a willingness to overuse AI in your own workflow.

How Fractional Is Different

A typical PM here ships two to three products per year and learns from dozens more. You have outsized autonomy on each product — but you won't have a year to polish a single system. The upside is constant time on the frontier of models and tooling, and a muscle for AI product development that's hard to build anywhere else.

Many PMs look back at this as the biggest growth period of their career. But it's possible you won't like it — we recommend using the interview process to hear what our team members think.

Our Values

• Overdeliver: We are writing the playbook on how to create enterprise value with LLMs, and building our reputation as the world's best applied AI team.
• Overuse AI: We go out of our way to experiment with the latest tools and share what we learn with our teammates - building a culture at the frontier.
• Over "engineer" the culture: For every big decision, we ask "would this make Fractional a better or worse place for our team?"

Location

San Francisco, CA Work Arrangement: 4 days in-person, Fridays remote

Benefits

• Competitive Compensation Package: Attractive salary aligned with your experience and skills.
• 401k with Matching: Invest in your future with our company-matched retirement plan.
• Unlimited PTO: Take the time you need to relax and rejuvenate.
• Exceptional Medical, Dental, and Vision Coverage: Comprehensive health benefits to keep you and your family healthy.
• Health FSA: Manage out-of-pocket health expenses effectively.
• Commuter Benefits: Make your travel to work easier and more affordable.
• Life Insurance: Providing peace of mind for you and your loved ones.
• Team Events and Activities: Regular events to build camaraderie and a strong team spirit.