Forward Deployed Lead

At HTEC, customers come to us with business problems they want to solve through AI: increasing revenue, reducing cost, and transforming customer service. Your job is to turn these problems into robust AI solutions that deliver business value.

• Own the day-to-day customer relationship
  :
  Join calls, capture feedback, and keep customers informed. Maintain clear alignment between what is promised and what is delivered, acting as the trusted voice customers rely on.
• Lead technical execution
  :
  Guide projects through the full lifecycle—from requirements gathering and system design to coding, testing, deployment, and support. Serve as the technical expert in implementation decisions.
• Deliver results
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  Track milestones, unblock teams, push projects to completion, and overdeliver on impact so customers see measurable outcomes.
• Facilitate customer discovery
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  Run discovery sessions to uncover underlying needs, translate challenges into clear plans for engineers, and understand the customer's business context.

• Customer relationship experience
  :
  Understand what customers truly care about, communicate effectively in challenging situations, and build trust that withstands complexity.
• Technical oversight
  :
  Possess engineering depth to read code, participate in architecture discussions, and recognize risky technical decisions. Have completed the full cycle from concept to deployment.
• Product and commercial sense
  :
  Act as an embedded insider, learn the customer's business, and make sharp calls on what to build, sequence, and expand. Identify product bottlenecks versus execution or change-management issues, say no when necessary, and provide evidence-backed feedback to engineering.
• A flexible mindset
  :
  Be resourceful, hands‑on when needed, and committed to getting the job done. Thrive in situations with constantly changing requirements and conflicting objectives.
• Relevant experience
  : 10+ years in product or engineering leadership roles where execution and customer trust were critical. Experience leading cross‑functional delivery teams in fast‑moving, high‑stakes environments.
• Communication skills
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  Translate between product, technical, and business stakeholders, ensuring everyone understands what is built and why it matters.
• Problem‑solving orientation
  :
  Navigate ambiguity, identify blockers early, and devise creative solutions to keep projects moving forward.
• Comfort with travel and frequent on‑site client visits to maintain presence and impact.

• Own one or more customer projects, such as an AI content moderation system or automated customer support solution.
• Morning stand‑ups with your team to review progress, address blockers, and align on priorities.
• Customer call with a CTO, executive team, or product lead to discuss progress, gather feedback on demos, and align next steps.
• Update your PRD based on new insights, clarifying requirements for the engineering team.
• Afternoon focused time to update project timelines, prepare for upcoming demos, and coordinate user flows with designers.
• Quick sync with the tech lead to discuss trade‑offs and ensure expectations align with feasibility.
• Possibly join a prospective customer call to understand needs and help scope potential projects.

• Customer engagement is key
  :
  Interact closely with client teams, deeply understand constraints, and ensure solutions fit real needs.
• Variety over predictability
  :
  Work across different customers, industries, and AI applications, encountering new challenges and learning opportunities.
• Balance of autonomy and collaboration
  :
  Own relationships and delivery while collaborating daily with engineering teams.
• Professional services context
  :
  Build for clients, requiring adaptability, strong relationship skills, and comfort with changing priorities.
• Remote and in‑person collaboration
  :
  While remote, the team thrives on collaboration and open communication; every member is expected to embody this mindset.

• Show, don’t only tell:
  Excellence is our standard in code and language.
• Eat our own dogfood:
  We practice what we preach and use AI wherever possible.
• We are one team:
  People and relationships give us our competitive advantage.