IvoryCloud is seeking a Senior Forward Deployed Product Lead to lead a product team and shape a broad portfolio of technology products and capabilities for a major U.S. federal department.
This is not a traditional product-management role centered on a single application, roadmap, or development team. IvoryCloud leads a significant technology delivery program supporting a major federal office. The portfolio spans enterprise platforms, mission-critical business systems, legacy systems support and modernization, data and analytics solutions, workflow automation, and a rapidly expanding set of artificial intelligence capabilities.
The Senior Forward Deployed Product Lead will be responsible for the direction and performance of the product function supporting this portfolio. You will lead and develop product team members, establish consistent product-management practices, and create an integrated product strategy across existing systems, modernization initiatives, shared capabilities, and emerging technologies.
AI will be a major focus of the role. You will help define and operationalize an AI-as-a-Service model for the office while ensuring that AI initiatives are prioritized and managed as part of the broader enterprise product portfolio—not as a separate or disconnected innovation effort.
You will work directly within the customer environment across programs, business functions, and stakeholder groups to identify high-value opportunities, translate mission needs into executable product strategies, and guide products from initial concept through implementation, adoption, modernization, and continuous improvement. A central part of the role will be managing demand across the enterprise—evaluating competing requests, resolving cross-product and cross-program dependencies, and establishing priorities based on mission impact, strategic alignment, user value, technical feasibility, risk, lifecycle needs, and available delivery capacity.
The role offers an uncommon combination of team leadership, enterprise portfolio management, emerging technology, public-service impact, and room to build. The right person will bring structure to ambiguity, develop a high-performing product team, engage credibly with senior government stakeholders, and help determine how the organization invests across its existing technology portfolio while responsibly expanding its use of AI.
Requirements
- U.S. citizenship. This requirement is non-negotiable and is different from general authorization to work in the United States.
- Ability to successfully complete required federal, local, employment, and background screening processes.
- Bachelor’s degree in product management, business, information systems, computer science, data science, engineering, public administration, or a related field, or equivalent relevant experience.
- 10+ years of progressive experience in product management, technology delivery, digital transformation, technology consulting, business analysis, or a related discipline.
- 7+ years of direct responsibility for digital products, enterprise platforms, data products, mission systems, or complex technology initiatives.
- 3+ years leading, coaching, or managing product managers, product owners, business analysts, or comparable product and delivery professionals.
- 3+ years managing a portfolio of products, platforms, modernization efforts, or competing technology investments.
- 3+ years working within or directly supporting federal government organizations.
- Demonstrated practical experience evaluating or delivering AI-enabled products, generative AI capabilities, intelligent automation, machine-learning solutions, data products, or other emerging technology initiatives.
- Ability to operate effectively in an embedded, customer-facing environment with a high degree of autonomy, judgment, and accountability.
Responsibilities
- Lead, coach, and develop product owners and other members of the product function, establishing clear roles, expectations, decision rights, and accountability.
- Create consistent standards for product discovery, product definition, roadmap development, backlog management, stakeholder engagement, lifecycle planning, and outcome measurement.
- Own the integrated view of enterprise platforms, mission systems, legacy applications, modernization initiatives, shared services, data products, automation capabilities, and AI solutions across the customer organization.
- Develop and maintain a portfolio strategy that connects individual products and initiatives to enterprise priorities, mission outcomes, shared capabilities, and longer-term technology objectives.
- Establish a transparent process for collecting, evaluating, prioritizing, sequencing, and revisiting demand from different programs and stakeholder groups.
- Evaluate competing requests based on mission impact, strategic alignment, user value, technical feasibility, data readiness, lifecycle risk, urgency, scalability, and available delivery capacity.
- Make clear prioritization recommendations when stakeholder needs conflict or delivery capacity is constrained, and communicate why work should proceed, be deferred, be combined, or not be pursued.
- Balance investment across new capabilities, product enhancements, modernization, technical debt, operations and maintenance, security, accessibility, and end-of-life needs.
- Identify common requirements that should be addressed through shared platforms, reusable capabilities, or enterprise solutions rather than separate point solutions.
- Manage dependencies and tradeoffs across products, programs, delivery teams, data sources, infrastructure, governance processes, and customer organizations.
- Translate organizational objectives, mission needs, operational challenges, and stakeholder demands into a cohesive enterprise product strategy.
- Develop a clear point of view on where the organization should maintain, modernize, consolidate, replace, build, buy, or retire technology capabilities.
- Help establish and continuously refine an AI-as-a-Service model and define how AI capabilities fit within and strengthen the broader enterprise product portfolio.
- Identify opportunities where generative AI, machine learning, intelligent automation, analytics, or agentic systems can produce measurable mission and operational value.
- Distinguish between problems that require AI and those better addressed through conventional software, workflow redesign, automation, analytics, or process improvement.
- Lead discovery sessions, workshops, working groups, and stakeholder interviews with government executives, program leaders, operational teams, subject-matter experts, and end users.
- Convert ambiguous or emerging ideas into clear problem statements, product concepts, requirements, user journeys, roadmaps, and measurable outcomes.
- Provide oversight across the full product lifecycle, from opportunity identification and validation through development, implementation, adoption, modernization, sustainment, and retirement.
- Directly lead the portfolio’s highest-priority, highest-risk, or most strategically significant product efforts.
- Partner with engineers, data scientists, architects, designers, analysts, cybersecurity professionals, and operations teams to shape practical, secure, responsible, and sustainable solutions.
- Maintain portfolio roadmaps, capacity views, lifecycle plans, decision records, and executive reporting that make priorities, dependencies, risks, and tradeoffs visible.
- Use performance data, stakeholder feedback, operational risk, technical condition, and user behavior to determine whether products should be enhanced, modernized, consolidated, replaced, scaled, or retired.
- Serve as a trusted product advisor who can move fluidly between strategic planning, team leadership, executive engagement, portfolio management, product discovery, delivery coordination, and hands-on problem solving.
Qualifications
- Proven ability to prioritize across competing stakeholders, business functions, programs, and delivery constraints.
- Ability to make and communicate difficult portfolio decisions using clear criteria, evidence, and enterprise-level judgment.
- Proven ability to turn complex, ambiguous problems into clear product strategies, roadmaps, requirements, and delivery plans.
- Experience leading products through discovery, design, development, implementation, adoption, modernization, and continuous improvement.
- Strong understanding of modern product-management practices, including portfolio management, product discovery, roadmap development, backlog management, user-centered design, prioritization, experimentation, and outcome measurement.
- Advanced proficiency in product discovery, product strategy, portfolio management, roadmap development, backlog management, prioritization, user-centered design, and outcome measurement.
- Experience developing portfolio intake, evaluation, prioritization, sequencing, capacity-planning, and governance processes.
- Experience using product and delivery management platforms such as Jira, Azure DevOps, Rally, or comparable tools.
- Strong working knowledge of Agile, Scrum, Kanban, and hybrid federal delivery models.
- Ability to define product visions, product roadmaps, epics, features, user stories, acceptance criteria, success measures, and lifecycle plans.
- Ability to assess product health using user feedback, operational performance, technical condition, delivery risk, adoption, and mission outcomes.
- Working knowledge of generative AI, machine learning, AI agents, copilots, intelligent automation, analytics, and data-enabled products.
- Ability to distinguish between problems that require AI and those better addressed through conventional software, automation, analytics, process redesign, or policy change.
- Experience evaluating AI opportunities based on mission value, data readiness, technical feasibility, risk, governance, supportability, and user adoption.
- Experience working with cross-functional teams that may include engineers, data scientists, architects, designers, analysts, cybersecurity professionals, and subject-matter experts.
- Strong executive communication, facilitation, conflict-resolution, presentation, and stakeholder-management capabilities.
- Experience managing an enterprise AI, digital transformation, data, automation, or technology-modernization portfolio is preferred.
- Experience establishing an enterprise product model, shared service, platform strategy, center of excellence, or AI-as-a-Service capability is preferred.
- Familiarity with federal AI policy, responsible AI frameworks, model governance, data governance, privacy, cybersecurity, records management, accessibility, and technology-acquisition requirements is preferred.
- Experience in a consulting, professional-services, customer-embedded, or forward-deployed product role is preferred.
- Strategic thinker who is willing to engage deeply in the work required to turn strategy into delivery.
- Comfortable distinguishing between a stakeholder’s urgent request and the organization’s highest priority.
- Able to challenge assumptions, provide candid feedback, develop people, and hold team members accountable without creating unnecessary friction.
- Intellectually curious, adaptable, open to feedback, and committed to developing real expertise in emerging technologies.
- Takes ownership of outcomes and values team success, professional excellence, and the development of others.
About IvoryCloud
IvoryCloud is a purpose-driven technology company serving complex and consequential government missions. We go to work each day focused on achieving meaningful results for our customers, mastering new capabilities, and taking ownership of the growth and success of the people around us. That purpose drives us to produce innovative, reliable, and high-quality work.
We are building a company for people who:
- Pursue both team and individual excellence.
- Are committed to becoming true subject-matter experts in their disciplines.
- Approach problems with intellectual flexibility, sound judgment, and curiosity.
- Take ownership, communicate directly, and follow through on commitments.
- Invest in the development and success of their colleagues.
- Want to help build a growing company while delivering measurable value to its customers.
Benefits
We offer a competitive benefits package including, but not limited to:
- Competitive salary with performance-based bonus opportunities.
- Mentor program to support professional and personal development.
- Competitive paid time off.
- Single and family health insurance plans, including dental coverage.
- Short-term and long-term disability coverage.
- Matching 401(k).
- Training and certification opportunities eligible for expense reimbursement.
- Catered lunches twice a week at the headquarters office in Rockville, Maryland.
- Team-building and social activities.
Pay: $155,000.00 - $175,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- 401(k)
- 401(k) matching
- Dental insurance
- Flexible schedule
- Health insurance
- Life insurance
- Paid time off
- Referral program
- Retirement plan
- Vision insurance
Application Question(s):
- This role requires U.S. Citizenship. Type 'citizen' if you meet this requirement
- Can you meet the hybrid requirement of 2 days a week in office in Rockville, MD?
Experience:
- Federal environment : 7 years (Required)
- AI Product Development: 2 years (Preferred)
- Product management and technology delivery: 10 years (Required)
Work Location: In person
