Product Development Lead - AI-Driven Platform Solutions

McCarthy Holdings, Inc.; St. Louis (MO); On-site; USD 110,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

McCarthy Holdings, Inc. is seeking a Product Development Lead as part of its AI Development Program to own the product direction for a squad, set priorities, and translate needs into production-ready features.

You’ll partner with Palantir engineers and business stakeholders to move concepts to production, manage roadmaps and KPIs, and deliver value across the platform over 3–9 month cycles.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Computer Science, Engineering, or related field.
• 3+ years in software product delivery, PM/PO/BA roles.
• Familiarity with Agile and sprint-based delivery.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills.
• Ability to translate complex problems into product requirements.
• Comfort with ambiguity as processes mature.
• Experience in construction or related fields preferred.
• Experience in matrixed cross-functional teams with shared accountability.
• Experience with data platforms, analytics tools, or enterprise software products.
• Familiarity with AI/ML concepts at product level.

Responsibilities

• Define and maintain product vision, roadmap, and backlog for squad.
• Gather requirements, prioritize features, and define acceptance criteria.
• Advocate for users’ workflows, pain points, and priorities in decisions.
• Facilitate backlog refinement, sprint planning, reviews, and retrospectives.
• Conduct user acceptance testing before release.
• Define and track product KPIs to assess adoption and impact.

Skills

Agile methodologies

Stakeholder management

Product ownership

Cross-functional collaboration

Communication skills

Education

Bachelor's degree in Business/CS/Engineering

Tools

Palantir Foundry

Analytics tools

Job description

McCarthy Holdings, Inc. (McCarthy), is the holding entity for McCarthy Building Companies, Inc., the oldest privately-held national construction company in America, and Castle Contracting. McCarthy provides the crucial business infrastructure for these entities and connects the day-to-day operations to ensure seamless operations across the business. Repeatedly honored as a great place to work and healthiest employer, McCarthy is a 100 percent employee-owned company.

At McCarthy, we are committed to sustaining a culture that delivers great experiences for everyone. This begins with developing high-performing individuals and teams through our award-winning learning and development programs, best-in-class Total Rewards benefits, and our inclusive culture aligned with our core values: Genuine. We, Not I. All In.

How do McCarthy partners define our culture?

• We Live Our Core Values: We do whatever it takes to deliver on our promises with honesty and integrity.
• We are Employee Owned: We are personally invested in building the things people need in our communities.
• We Feel Like a Family: We value genuine connections and help each other succeed in an inclusive environment.
• We are Builders: We respect the work we do and everyone who helps make it happen safely.
  
  
  

Position Summary

McCarthy Holdings is investing in the future of construction through its AI Development Program – a growing team that builds custom applications on Palantir Foundry to help field, design, and corporate teams work smarter and faster.

As a Product Development Lead, you’ll own the product direction for a squad within this program – shaping what gets built, setting priorities, and ensuring every product solves real problems for the people who use it. You’ll partner with a dedicated Project Lead, Palantir engineers, and business stakeholders to move from concept to production.

Products span a range of complexity – from operational tools that streamline field workflows to applications that leverage machine learning and AI capabilities. Across all of them, you’ll work alongside AI-enabled development tools and technical teams to deliver meaningful impact at speed.

Responsibilities

• Define and maintain the product vision, roadmap, and backlog for your squad’s products, aligned with the overall platform vision and business strategy.
• Gather requirements from stakeholders and subject matter experts, prioritize features, and define acceptance criteria to ensure work is ready for sprint commitment.
• Serve as the primary voice of the business and frontline users – advocate for their workflows, pain points, and priorities in every product decision.
• Facilitate product cadences: backlog refinement, sprint planning, sprint reviews, and retrospectives. Participate in standups and cross-team coordination, providing product context and surfacing dependencies.
• Conduct user acceptance testing to validate features and iterations before release.
• Define and track product KPIs to assess adoption, usability, and business impact.
  
  
  

Scope and Growth

• The program operates with AI tools integrated into daily workflows – agentic coding assistants, Palantir AIP, and AI-enabled development practices. No prior experience required, but you’ll be expected to adopt them.
• Product delivery runs 3-9 months from inception to production. You may manage up to two products simultaneously, participating in transition planning as products reach go-live and hand off to a sustaining team.
• This role does not currently have direct reports, but may grow to include product managers, interns, or consultants as the team scales.
  
  
  

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field.
• 3+ years of experience in a software product delivery environment, preferably in product management, product ownership, or business analysis.
• Familiarity with Agile methodologies and sprint-based delivery.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills.
• Ability to translate complex business problems into clearly defined product requirements.
• Comfort operating in ambiguity – this program is maturing its processes while delivering simultaneously.
• Experience in the construction industry or related fields (engineering, infrastructure, industrial).
• Experience working in a matrixed or cross-functional team structure with shared accountability.
• Experience with data platforms, analytics tools, or enterprise software products.
• Familiarity with AI/ML concepts at a product level (not engineering depth – understanding what’s possible and how to frame requirements for AI-enabled features).
  
  
  

McCarthy is proud to be an equal opportunity employer, including disability and protected veteran status.

NOTICE TO EXTERNAL SEARCH FIRMS: McCarthy’s Talent Acquisition Team is the only authorized representative permitted to engage with external search firms, staffing agencies, or other third-party recruiting partners. McCarthy maintains an Approved Agency List for recruiting partners, which is reviewed and updated annually.

McCarthy will only consider submissions from agencies with a signed fee agreement in place for the current year. McCarthy does not accept unsolicited resumes, candidate submissions, or referrals from agencies that do not meet these requirements.

If a candidate is submitted without an active agreement, McCarthy will have no obligation to pay any fees and reserves the right to contact, engage, interview, or hire such candidate(s) without any financial or other responsibility to the submitting agency. Unsolicited resumes, including those sent directly to hiring managers or other employees, will be considered the property of McCarthy.