Deployment Lead - Software Platform UAE

Harmattan AI; United Arab Emirates; On-site; AED 350,000 - 520,000; Full time

Job summary

Harmattan AI in the United Arab Emirates seeks a Forward Deployed Program Lead to own partnerships from strategy to delivery. You will embed with the customer, map stakeholders, define use cases, and drive AI data platform initiatives with the team.

You will manage multi-year roadmaps, coordinate Forward Deployed Software Engineers, remove blockers, and ensure deliverables meet the quality bar. English proficiency and frequent on-site presence with the customer are required.

Qualifications

• Product mindset: translate user needs into clear use-case requirements.
• Leadership: end-to-end delivery in fast-paced environments.
• Forward-deployed experience: navigate large organizations and build footprint with a customer.
• Analytical engineering mindset: comfortable with data and AI, credible with engineers.
• Self-starter with high autonomy.
• Humility: represent a startup inside a large organization without disruption.
• Frequent on-site presence with the customer.
• Proficiency in English is mandatory.

Responsibilities

• Own the project partnership end-to-end: grow footprint with the customer through new use cases and maintain relationships.
• Define and own the multi-year roadmap for the partnership: prioritized use cases, architecture, and pitch.
• Run joint governance with the customer: monthly steering committees and demos, alignment of the customer team.
• Coordinate development across use cases: prioritize engineers, remove blockers, ensure quality.
• Work with the customer’s IT teams to unblock data access and dependencies.
• Meet customer operational teams to understand pain points and refine use cases’ value.
• Analyze operational data to understand problems before building.
• Define deliverables and requirements with the customer project manager.
• Feed learnings back to Product and R&D to shape the platform.

Skills

Product mindset

Project leadership

Forward-deployed experience

Analytical mindset

Autonomy

Humility

English proficiency

Job description

About Us

Harmattan AI is a next-generation defense prime building autonomous and scalable defense systems. Following the close of a $200M Series B, valuing the company at $1.4 billion, we are expanding our teams and capabilities to deliver mission-critical systems to allied forces.

Our work is guided by clear values: building technologies with real-world impact, pursuing excellence in everything we do, setting ambitious goals, and taking on the hardest technical challenges. We operate in a demanding environment where rigor, ownership, and execution are expected.

As a Forward Deployed Program Lead you will own Harmattan’s first partnership built on our data platform, from strategy to delivery. You will embed deeply with the customer organization to understand their operational needs, map and win over the key stakeholders, and turn that understanding into AI use cases that get built and used. You will coordinate a team of Forward Deployed Software Engineers, prioritize their work, and make sure what they ship meets the quality bar. You will also own the multi-year roadmap of the partnership. You are early enough to project to shape both the product and the organization around it.

Responsibilities

• Own the project partnership end-to-end: grow our footprint with the customer through new use cases, and build and maintain relationships with key stakeholders and sponsors.

• Define and own the multi-year roadmap for the partnership: a prioritized list of use cases, the architecture to deliver them, and the pitch to support them.

• Run joint governance with the customer: communicate outcomes, prepare monthly steering committees and demos, and keep the customer team aligned.

• Coordinate development across use cases: prioritize the work of the Forward Deployed Software Engineers, collect and remove blockers, and review their work against the quality bar.

• Work with the customer’s IT teams to unblock data access and the technical dependencies of the development team.

• Meet the customer’s operational teams to understand their pain points, and refine the value proposition of each use case.

• Analyze operational data in the project platform to understand the problem at hand before building.

• Define use case deliverables and requirements with the customer-side project manager.

• Feed what you learn back to the Product and R&D teams to shape the platform.

Requirements

• A product mindset: you can understand a user’s need, work through high ambiguity, and turn it into clear requirements for a use case.

• Project leadership: a track record of managing delivery end-to-end in fast-paced environments, against ambitious deadlines.

• Forward-deployed experience: you know how to navigate large organizations, open doors, and grow a footprint with a customer.

• An analytical and engineering mindset: you are comfortable working with data and AI, and credible with engineers.

• Self-starter with a high degree of autonomy.

• Humility: you will represent an agile startup inside a large, well-established organization, and you know how to do it without ruffling feathers.

• Frequent on-site presence with the customer.

• Proficiency in English is mandatory.

Nice to have

• Experience in defense, public sector, or other large regulated organizations.

• Experience delivering AI or data-platform projects with a customer.

• Prior experience coordinating software or data engineers.