GovTech Forward-Deployed Product Manager

Electric Capital; United States; Remote; USD 120,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

SpruceID is seeking a Forward Deployed Product Manager to work directly with state government partners through discovery, architecture, and design, helping them articulate needs and why they matter.

You will own end-to-end product visibility across statewide wallets, citizen portals, and APIs, shaping roadmaps, conducting user research, and driving adoption with KPIs across ecosystems.

Qualifications

• 6–10+ years of product experience at startups or building new product initiatives.
• Time in an early‑stage environment where you personally shipped product and moved quickly.
• Zero‑to‑one experience: you have taken a product from nothing to shipped, or identified and pursued entirely new opportunities.
• Ideally, meaningful experience in education, workforce development, or adjacent sectors.
• Experience in government or another highly regulated environment.
• Genuine customer‑embedded experience - forward‑deployed product, solutions PM, implementation, or founder‑led delivery all count.
• Demonstrated, hands‑on user research: you have designed and run discovery yourself and turned it into product decisions.
• Enough technical depth to sit comfortably with engineers and hold your own on APIs, services, and system design.
• Comfort with ambiguity, a broad surface area, and shifting priorities.
• Credible at the executive level - comfortable holding a room with agency directors, university chancellors, and institutional partners.
• Based in the U.S. and excited to engage directly with state government partners.
• Passion for workforce development and expanding opportunity through technology.

Responsibilities

• 1. CUSTOMER-EMBEDDED DISCOVERY: Work directly with state government partners through discovery, architecture, and design
• 2. END-TO-END PRODUCT OWNERSHIP: Hold the full product picture across a statewide wallet, citizen‑facing portals, and the APIs and services beneath them
• 3. HANDS-ON USER RESEARCH: Personally design and run research: talk to users, stakeholders, and end users directly, conduct discovery, prototype where appropriate
• 4. INFLUENCE IN A PUBLIC SECTOR CONTEXT: Navigate government relationships thoughtfully while introducing evidence that may challenge stated priorities
• 5. PATTERN RECOGNITION AND PRODUCT STRATEGY: Identify patterns across customers and ask what individual deployments teach us about broader product opportunities
• 6. JUDGMENT ABOUT PACE VERSUS RISK: Put work in front of small pilot groups early and let findings redirect the roadmap
• 7. ECOSYSTEM BUILDING & ADOPTION: Drive adoption of digital credentials across the ecosystem - onboard issuers, verifiers, and institutional partners with startup GTM resourcefulness

Skills

Product management

Startup experience

User research

APIs & services

Public sector experience

Executive communication

Job description

SpruceID is seeking a Forward Deployed Product Manager to work directly with state government partners through discovery, architecture, and design, helping them articulate needs and why they matter.

You will own end-to-end product visibility across statewide wallets, citizen portals, and APIs, shaping roadmaps, conducting user research, and driving adoption with KPIs across ecosystems.