Principal Technical Product Manager (AI Focus) — Contract
We are seeking a highly skilled Principal Technical Product Manager (TPM) with a strong foundation in AI implementation to join a complex, enterprise-scale delivery environment. This contract role serves a dual purpose: ensuring seamless execution of current product roadmaps while acting as an internal AI catalyst to modernize product architecture, tooling, and Agile delivery practices.
This engagement is intentionally designed to scale impact over time. You will begin in a high-execution phase—taking ownership of delivery for select product teams to quickly learn the domain, compliance considerations, and internal tooling. As you ramp up, your scope will expand to leading cross-portfolio AI strategy, tool adoption, and technical roadmapping.
How You Will Make an Impact
Initial Focus: Immersion & Delivery
- Strategic Delivery Ownership
- Assume immediate TPM responsibilities for a subset of enterprise products, partnering with Business Product Managers and distributed engineering teams to drive reliable, on-time delivery.
- AI-Enabled Delivery Enablement
- Lead a critical internal initiative to embed AI into the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC). Partner with Scrum Masters and Product Owners to implement AI-driven automation for backlog refinement, sprint reporting, and workflow optimization.
- Architectural Partnership
- Work closely with Technical Architects to roll out modern technical specification frameworks and developer productivity tools (e.g., Spec Kit, GitHub Copilot) across engineering teams.
Expanded Focus: AI Strategy & Scaling
- Cross-Portfolio AI Leadership
- Once delivery teams are stabilized, transition to driving AI initiatives across a broader product portfolio.
- Strategic AI Roadmapping & Integration
- Act as the bridge between technical strategy and execution—evaluating feasibility, selecting appropriate models and architectures (e.g., RAG, APIs), and ensuring secure, scalable implementations.
- AI Knowledge & Enablement
- Lead AI upskilling and knowledge sharing across Product and Technology organizations. Champion best practices and hands-on adoption of a modern AI toolchain, including platforms such as GitHub Copilot, Gemini, Vertex AI, MCP (Model Context Protocol) servers, Custom Skills, and NotebookLM.
What You Will Do (Core Responsibilities)
- Define AI Success Metrics
- Establish and evaluate success metrics for AI-powered products and internal workflows, maintaining a high standard for quality, usability, and adoption.
- Drive Rapid Iteration
- Partner with Architects, Engineers, and Data teams to continuously refine and improve AI integrations (hands-on coding not required, but strong technical fluency is essential).
- Translate Complexity
- Convert complex AI and technical concepts into clear Product Requirements Documents (PRDs) and technical specifications.
- Govern & Scale
- Define AI governance standards and best practices to ensure solutions are secure, scalable, cost-effective, and repeatable.
- Global Collaboration
- Effectively partner with US-based stakeholders and international engineering teams across time zones.
What You Bring (Experience & Skills)
- Technical Product Leadership
- 7+ years of experience in Technical Product Management, ideally owning complex, multi-team portfolios or operating at a senior/principal level.
- Applied AI Product Experience
- 1–2+ years of hands-on experience delivering AI-enabled or LLM-based products, features, or workflows (or equivalent experience through pilots, product ownership, or deep collaboration with AI engineering teams).
- Strong AI Literacy
- Solid understanding of AI agents, agent orchestration, prompt-driven workflows, data pipelines, API latency considerations, and token economics.
- Modern AI Toolchain Expertise
- Hands-on experience or deep conceptual familiarity with platforms and tools such as Vertex AI, Gemini, GitHub Copilot, MCP servers, and NotebookLM.
- Engineering & SDLC Modernization
- Proven experience helping teams adopt new technical standards, frameworks, or architectural patterns (e.g., Spec Kit, API standards, RAG architectures).
- Regulated Environment Experience (Preferred)
- Prior experience in highly regulated or compliance-driven industries is a strong plus.
Who You Are (Attributes & Mindset)
- Curious & Growth-Oriented
- Deeply motivated to stay current with emerging AI capabilities, tools, and industry best practices.
- Outcome-Driven
- Strong product mindset with a consistent focus on execution and measurable business outcomes.
- Structured Thinker
- Able to turn ambiguity and cutting-edge technology into clear, logical, and executable roadmaps.
- Decisive Leader
- Comfortable making difficult trade-offs while balancing speed, quality, and long-term impact.
- Highly Collaborative
- Thrive in cross-functional environments, building trust and alignment across engineering, product, and business teams.
We are not seeking someone who simply "knows how to use ChatGPT." This role requires a true Technical Product Manager with 1–2+ years of direct experience integrating LLMs, AI agents, or machine learning models into software products or internal workflows. The ideal candidate is comfortable bridging high-level AI strategy with hands-on Agile/Scrum delivery. Experience in regulated or complex enterprise environments is highly valued.
Required Qualifications Summary
- 7+ years of Technical Product Management experience (Agile, SDLC, backlog ownership)
- 1–2+ years of applied AI product experience (LLMs, AI agents, prompt-driven workflows)
- Modern AI toolchain expertise (Vertex AI, Gemini, GitHub Copilot, MCP servers, NotebookLM)
- Technical strategy & standards leadership (Spec Kit, API patterns, RAG architectures)
- Outcome-driven product mindset with experience defining and measuring AI success metrics