Forward Deployed Strategist (AI)

CollegeVine; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 100,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading education technology company is looking for a Forward Deployed Strategist in San Francisco to work directly with university clients, solving their biggest challenges using data, AI, and web technologies. This role involves owning end-to-end project delivery, engaging with customers, and leveraging large datasets to drive impactful solutions. Ideal candidates will have over 3 years of experience in product management or software engineering and possess strong analytical and communication skills.

Qualifications

• 3+ years of product management, software engineering, or consulting experience.
• Proven ability to manage complex projects in a fast-paced environment.
• Strong analytical skills to resolve ambiguous challenges.

Responsibilities

• Engage with customers to understand workflows and needs.
• Own design and deployment of technical solutions.
• Use data and AI to enhance project outcomes.
• Occasional travel to client sites for collaboration.

Skills

Product management

Analytical problem solving

Collaboration

Customer engagement

Job description

Who We Are

The American higher education system is a beacon of innovation, opportunity, and transformation, shaping future leaders and advancing knowledge on a global scale. Yet, it faces unprecedented challenges—from rising costs to increasing demands for accessibility and relevance. At CollegeVine, we’re on a mission to not only address these challenges, but also unlock new possibilities for operational efficiency, student success, and alumni advancement. We deploy safe AI Agents to drive real outcomes across campus and bring cutting‑edge AI to the industry. Hundreds of universities trust us with the important job of communicating, advising, and helping millions of their constituents every single day.

About The Role

As a Forward Deployed Strategist at CollegeVine, you’ll partner directly with our university customers to solve their biggest challenges using data, AI, and web technologies. You’ll work in small, cross‑functional teams, owning end‑to‑end delivery of high‑stakes projects: from requirements gathering and architecture to code, deployment, and ongoing support. This role is ideal for someone who aspires to be both a technical leader and a strategic partner—think startup CTO meets solutions architect—with the opportunity to influence product direction and drive real outcomes for education institutions.

Responsibilities

• Customer Engagement & Discovery
  • Rapidly understand complex customer workflows and pain points.
  • Translate domain needs into valuable technical solutions.
• End‑to‑End Delivery
  • Own design, development, testing, and deployment of custom features and integrations.
  • Collaborate with product managers, designers, engineers, data scientists, and customer success to iterate quickly.
• Data‑Driven Problem Solving
  • Leverage large‑scale datasets, LLMs, and AI agents to surface insights and automate workflows.
  • Build dashboards, APIs, or custom agents that drive measurable impact.
• Travel & On‑Site Collaboration
  • Occasional travel to client sites for discovery, workshops, training, and deployments.

What We’re Looking For

• Experience & Expertise
  • 3+ years of product management, startup strategy & operations, consulting, investment banking, or software engineering experience, ideally including roles that involved solution delivery and customer‑facing projects.
  • Proven ability to own complex projects end‑to‑end in a fast‑moving environment.
• Problem‑Solving Mindset
  • Deeply analytical, with a knack for breaking down ambiguous challenges into concrete solutions.
  • Eagerness to learn new tools, frameworks, and research—especially in ML/AI.
• Collaboration & Communication
  • Excellent interpersonal skills: able to bridge technical and non‑technical audiences.
  • Humble, pragmatic, and coachable—valuing feedback and always seeking to raise the bar.
  • Making your work visible: share what you learn from customers with the broader org and make sure nobody is ever surprised by project status.
• Entrepreneurial Drive
  • Aspires to grow into an engineering leader or product‑centric role.
  • Comfortable stepping into uncharted territory and defining what “done” looks like.