Client Discovery & Delivery Leadership Job Northern Kentucky USA,Business

Location: Northern

At Jacobs, we're challenging today to reinvent tomorrow by solving the world's most critical problems for thriving cities, resilient environments, mission-critical outcomes, operational advancement, scientific discovery and cutting-edge manufacturing, turning abstract ideas into realities that transform the world for good.

Your impact

At Jacobs
, we're challenging today to reinvent tomorrow - turning ideas into solutions that transform the world for good. Our Digital Program Solutions (DPS) team pairs Forward Deployed Engineers (FDEs) with clients to build fast, high-impact digital and AI solutions. Before any of that gets built, someone must quickly figure out what's actually needed — and once it's being built, someone must make sure it lands.

We're looking for a Discovery & Implementation Lead to own both ends of that process. Every client and stakeholder challenge you take on should trace back to one or more of three equally important outcomes:
delivering earlier - or protecting the schedule as-is - at lower cost, and with greater certainty and confidence. You'll start with fast, focused discovery — days and weeks, not months — meeting directly with users and small working groups (2–4 people) to find what's actually putting schedule, cost, or confidence m there, you'll own the backlog, lead the FDEs on your project, and stay engaged until the work is buttoned up and its impact is proven.

This is not a development role — you won't write production code — but you're accountable for the FDE team delivering the right thing, well, with results you can show.

Location :
Hybrid 2 days per week at any US based Jacobs office with occasional travel for client discovery and delivery activities, primarily in North America.

Run Rapid Discovery
- Lead interviews and small-group workshops (2–4 users), completing a discovery cycle in days or weeks, focused on finding what's putting schedule, cost, or delivery confidence at risk.
Identify Real Challenges
- Dig past the stated request to the actual driver - a schedule risk, a cost overrun, or a source of uncertainty the team hasn't named yet.
Translate Findings into Requirements
- Convert what you learn into clear requirements aimed at protecting or improving schedule, cost, and certainty alike.
Own & Prioritize the Backlog
- Maintain the project backlog and sequence work by what most protects or improves schedule, cost, or certainty - not just what's requested loudest.
Lead the FDEs on Your Project
- Set direction for your project's FDEs and own accountability for what gets delivered.
Define & Track Success Metrics
- Establish upfront how you'll measure impact - schedule days pulled in or protected, cost saved, or confidence/certainty gained - and report against it.
Validate Against the Client's Needs
- Continuously check work against discovery findings and client expectations, catching gaps early.
Button It Up
- Own final quality - nothing half-finished, undocumented, or unclear before the team calls it done.
Be the Client's Point of Contact
- Serve as the primary line between client and FDE team, managing expectations and keeping the client confident in where things stand.

Here's what you'll need

Experience in discovery, business analysis, requirements gathering, product ownership, or a similar client-facing role - ideally with exposure to program/project schedule or cost management.
Experience owning and prioritizing a backlog, and leading or directing a technical team's work without formal authority.
Strong facilitation skills - able to extract clarity and the real driver behind a request, not just notes.
Ability to define measurable success criteria and write requirements a technical team can build from directly.
Working fluency with Azure Dev Ops or Jira.
Comfort…