Forward-Deployed Product Manager
- Hybrid
- Contract
- Senior
- Posted 2 days ago
- Listed here until Nov 9, 2026
$180K to $220K a year as published by the employer
Applications are completed on the employer's own site.
Summary
Design and ship AI-powered products for private equity portfolio companies by working directly with management and engineering teams.
About this role
Forward-Deployed Product Manager
NY / Remote
Design AI-powered products for businesses that didn’t start with one: internal tools, customer-facing features, or both.
About Common Works
Common Works is an AI-native services firm built for private equity. We work at the intersection of investment diligence and technical delivery, helping PE sponsors and their portfolio companies translate AI from a thesis into operating outcomes: higher EBITDA, better margin, and durable capability inside the business.
Our model isn’t consulting. We are builders who understand how deals work, and deal practitioners who can ship AI transformations. We forward deploy engineers, architects, and operators inside portfolio companies, work alongside management, and are accountable for the outcome.
The Role
Forward-Deployed Product Managers own product vision and strategy inside portfolio company engagements. Depending on the engagement, the work may be internal (replacing or augmenting existing workflows), external (building products for the portfolio company’s own customers), or both. Either way, the discipline is the same: understand a business built before modern AI tools existed, and design software that fits how it actually operates.
This is creative, first-principles product work. You work alongside a Client Engagement Manager and an engineering pod, developing a strong point of view on what to build, making opinionated sequencing decisions, and holding the product direction as engineering executes. There is no existing product team to inherit, no backlog to maintain. You will be judged on what gets shipped and whether it matters.
Key Responsibilities
- Work with the Client Engagement Manager to understand the engagement context and operating priorities
- Design AI-powered products suited to the engagement: internal workflow tooling, AI-assisted operations, or external customer-facing products
- Run discovery with operators and end users to build conviction on what to build and in what order
Skills named in this posting
- Product Management
- AI
- Software Development
- Data Analysis
- User Research
About Common Works
Common Works is an AI-native services firm for private equity that helps portfolio companies implement AI transformations.
- Technology