Forward Deployed Strategist (FDS)

Brillio; United States; On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Brillio seeks an experienced Forward Deployed Strategist to embed in a complex business domain, rapidly understand operations, and lead cross-functional teams from problem definition through implementation and measurable value realization.

As a senior leader, you will frame opportunities, define outcomes, and drive adoption of AI-enabled solutions while partnering with engineering, product, data, and finance to ensure value is realized and sustained. Locations include major US cities.

Qualifications

• Typically 10+ years of relevant experience in strategy, consulting, healthcare transformation, product or capability strategy, operations leadership, technology strategy, or a related field.
• Demonstrated ownership of complex, cross-functional change from problem definition through implementation, adoption, and measurable results.
• Proven ability to learn a complex operating model quickly, synthesize input from frontline experts, and build sufficient domain depth to make sound decisions.
• Experience shaping products, capabilities, workflows, processes, or operating-model changes using user needs, outcomes, roadmaps, priorities, and tradeoffs.
• Strong business judgment, including the ability to assess value, feasibility, risk, strategic fit, and investment choices when information is incomplete.
• Executive-level written and verbal communication, facilitation, storytelling, and stakeholder influence without direct authority.
• Technical fluency across AI, automation, data, software delivery, integration, and enterprise technology, sufficient to work directly with engineering teams and challenge assumptions.
• Experience establishing business cases, baselines, success measures, and value-realization plans.
• Ability to operate effectively in ambiguity, move from analysis to action, and maintain personal accountability for outcomes.

Responsibilities

• Discover and frame the right problem by learning the business model, workflows, users, economics, constraints, and pain points.
• Define outcomes and product direction with scope, success measures, priorities, and decision rights.
• Lead cross-functional delivery by partnering with engineering, data, product, operations, and stakeholders.
• Drive adoption and operating change by preparing the organization for new processes, roles, and controls.
• Own value realization with baseline benefits, KPIs, and evidence-based recommendations for scaling or stopping.

Skills

Strategic thinking

Cross-functional leadership

Problem framing

Product leadership

Executive communication

AI/automation fluency

Stakeholder influence

Education

Bachelor's degree or higher

Job description

Brillio is seeking an experienced business transformation and product leader to serve as a Forward Deployed Strategist. In this role, you will embed directly within a complex business domain, rapidly understand how the operation works, identify high-value problems, and lead cross-functional teams from problem definition through implementation, adoption, and measurable value realization.

The FDS operates at the intersection of business strategy, process design, product, technology, data, organizational change, and executive decision-making. This is not a traditional advisory role that concludes with a recommendation, nor is it a project coordination role centered on schedules and status reporting. You will stay with the problem, shape the future state, work directly with solution builders, drive decisions and adoption, and use evidence to determine whether a solution should scale, change, transfer, pause, or stop.

Preferred Locations: Minneapolis, Chicago, Dallas, NYC

What You Will Do

Discover and Frame the Right Problem

• Learn the business model, workflows, users, economics, constraints, and current pain points.
• Challenge the initial request to identify the underlying customer or business problem.
• Identify opportunities to eliminate, simplify, redesign, automate, or better enable work.
• Translate ambiguity into a clear problem statement, opportunity definition, and decision path.

Define Outcomes and Product Direction

• Define the target outcome, customer need, scope, success measures, priorities, and decision rights.
• Shape the future-state workflow and product or capability concept before committing to build.
• Create and maintain a practical roadmap covering hypotheses, proof points, dependencies, tradeoffs, and sequencing.
• Apply AI and automation where they improve the business result, rather than treating technology as the objective.

Lead Cross-Functional Delivery

• Partner directly with engineering, subject-matter experts, product, data, architecture, operations, compliance, finance, and business stakeholders.
• Set priorities, clarify decisions, manage dependencies, remove ambiguity, and keep the team focused on outcomes.
• Work credibly with technical teams on data, integrations, governance, cost, scalability, security, and production constraints.
• Ensure the delivered capability remains aligned with the intended business and user outcome.

Drive Adoption and Operating Change

• Prepare the organization for changes to processes, roles, communications, controls, and operating practices.
• Stay close to frontline users and leaders, converting feedback into product and workflow improvements.
• Define ownership and operating mechanisms so the capability becomes part of normal business operations.
• Anticipate resistance, surface risks early, and create a practical path to sustained adoption.

Own Value Realization

• Establish the baseline, expected benefit, cost, KPIs, evidence plan, and definition of success.
• Monitor performance after deployment and communicate results, risks, and learning.
• Recommend whether to scale, refine, transfer, pause, or stop based on measurable evidence.
• Remain accountable from initial discovery through deployment, adoption, and realized business outcomes.

Required Qualifications

• Typically 10+ years of relevant experience in strategy, consulting, healthcare transformation, product or capability strategy, operations leadership, technology strategy, or a related field.
• Demonstrated ownership of complex, cross-functional change from problem definition through implementation, adoption, and measurable results.
• Proven ability to learn a complex operating model quickly, synthesize input from frontline experts, and build sufficient domain depth to make sound decisions.
• Experience shaping products, capabilities, workflows, processes, or operating-model changes using user needs, outcomes, roadmaps, priorities, and tradeoffs.
• Strong business judgment, including the ability to assess value, feasibility, risk, strategic fit, and investment choices when information is incomplete.
• Executive-level written and verbal communication, facilitation, storytelling, and stakeholder influence without direct authority.
• Technical fluency across AI, automation, data, software delivery, integration, and enterprise technology, sufficient to work directly with engineering teams and challenge assumptions.
• Experience establishing business cases, baselines, success measures, and value-realization plans.
• Ability to operate effectively in ambiguity, move from analysis to action, and maintain personal accountability for outcomes.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in healthcare, pharmacy benefit management, health services, insurance, regulated operations, or another complex enterprise environment.
• Background in management consulting, product leadership, digital transformation, enterprise operations, or technology-enabled business transformation.
• Hands-on experience shaping AI-enabled or data-driven products and workflows, with appropriate consideration for governance, risk, and operating controls.
• Experience working in multidisciplinary pods or product teams spanning business, engineering, data, architecture, operations, and subject-matter experts.
• Experience leading proofs of value, pilots, MVPs, or capability launches and using evidence to make scale-or-stop decisions.

What Success Looks Like

• The team is solving a clearly defined, high-value business or customer problem rather than simply delivering a requested feature.
• The future-state workflow, desired outcome, scope, decision rights, and success measures are understood and aligned.
• Cross-functional decisions are made at the appropriate level and delivery remains connected to business priorities.
• Users and operating teams adopt the capability, with feedback incorporated into ongoing improvement.
• Business value is measured against a baseline and leaders receive evidence-based recommendations on next steps.

Who Will Thrive in This Role

This opportunity is well suited to a hands-on transformation leader who combines strategic thinking with end-to-end execution. The strongest candidates will demonstrate learning agility, product thinking, technical fluency, executive communication, stakeholder leadership, value discipline, and ownership through implementation and adoption.

Equal Opportunity and Engagement Terms

Candidate consideration and engagement terms are subject to applicable sourcing, background, compliance, and company requirements. Brillio supports fair and consistent candidate consideration. Applicants should not include protected or non-job-related personal information in their submissions.