Senior Forward Deployed Strategist, Public Sector

Socket.dev; Washington, San Francisco (District of Columbia, CA); On-site; GBP 109,000 - 137,000; Full time

Job summary

Socket.dev is seeking a Senior Forward Deployed Strategist for public sector initiatives, combining mission strategy with technical execution to operationalize AI controls in government environments.

You will work directly with government stakeholders, evaluators, integrators, primes, and internal teams to turn mission needs into deployable AI governance solutions, overseeing pilots from concept to deployment.

Qualifications

• 5+ years in public sector technology, defense technology, strategy consulting, technical program management, solutions, product strategy, enterprise SaaS, or other customer-facing roles.
• Deep expertise in Generative AI and LLM systems, including model behavior, evaluation design, red-teaming, RAG/copilot architectures, prompt injection, guardrails, observability, and agentic workflows.
• Strong technical fluency across enterprise software, cloud environments, APIs, AI/ML systems, cybersecurity, or deployment architectures.
• Ability to translate customer needs into use cases, solution strategies, implementation plans, success criteria, and executive-ready narratives.
• Track record managing complex stakeholders, milestones, proposals, pilots, statements of work, or cross-functional delivery efforts.

Responsibilities

• Become deeply fluent in the company's evaluation, guardrail, and agent governance platform.
• Work directly with public sector customers to identify high-impact use cases across AI evaluation, red-teaming, runtime controls, governance, observability, and agentic systems.
• Translate mission needs, policy requirements, technical constraints, and stakeholder priorities into practical deployment strategies, success criteria, and implementation plans.
• Create tailored demos, workshops, briefings, pilot plans, and customer-facing collateral for federal executives, technical teams, mission users, and partner organizations.
• Partner with product, engineering, and delivery teams to operationalize capabilities in customer environments.
• Act as an AI assurance subject-matter expert for customers, translating model, application, data, and agent risks into practical evaluations, runtime controls, and governance patterns.
• Support public sector growth efforts, including RFIs/RFPs, white papers, pilot proposals, partner strategies, and expansion opportunities.
• Bring field learnings back to product, engineering, research, and go-to-market teams to shape roadmap, delivery patterns, and customer strategy.

Skills

Public sector experience

Generative AI / LLMs

Cloud & API fluency

Stakeholder management

Travel willingness

Tools

APIs

AI/ML systems

Job description

Senior Forward Deployed Strategist, Public Sector

Compensation: $147,000 – $185,000 base salary, plus equity, company benefits, and incentive compensation.Location: Washington, DC or San Francisco, CA. These are the only two locations under consideration. No other locations, and no fully remote option.Role Type: Full-Time Employee, Individual ContributorWork Model: Customer-facing, with regular on-site engagement and up to 50% travelClearance: U.S. Citizenship required; active clearance preferred, eligibility and willingness to obtain one required

Client name withheld. Sitreps Talent is managing the search.

About the Client

Our client is a venture-backed AI security company. Their platform helps government and enterprise customers put AI systems into production safely: evaluating models and applications before deployment, protecting sensitive data and enforcing policy at runtime, governing what AI agents are allowed to do, and maintaining the evidence trail oversight bodies require. The platform runs across cloud, hybrid, on-prem, edge, and air-gapped environments. The team is standing up a dedicated public sector organization, and these are early seats on it.

About the Role

Our client is looking for a Senior Forward Deployed Strategist to help public sector customers operationalize their platform in mission-critical environments.

This role sits at the intersection of mission strategy, technical solutioning, customer execution, AI assurance, and public sector growth. You will work directly with government stakeholders, mission users, technical evaluators, systems integrators, primes, and the company's product and engineering teams to turn operational needs into deployable AI control strategies.

This is a customer-facing strategy and execution role, not a traditional sales or project management role. You will shape use cases, guide pilots, support technical discovery, help customers move from evaluation into initial deployment, and make sure the work delivers measurable mission value.

Responsibilities

• Become deeply fluent in the company's evaluation, guardrail, and agent governance platform.
• Work directly with public sector customers to identify high-impact use cases across AI evaluation, red-teaming, runtime controls, governance, observability, and agentic systems.
• Translate mission needs, policy requirements, technical constraints, and stakeholder priorities into practical deployment strategies, success criteria, and implementation plans.
• Create tailored demos, workshops, briefings, pilot plans, and customer-facing collateral for federal executives, technical teams, mission users, and partner organizations.
• Partner with product, engineering, and delivery teams to operationalize capabilities in customer environments.
• Act as an AI assurance subject-matter expert for customers, translating model, application, data, and agent risks into practical evaluations, runtime controls, and governance patterns.
• Support public sector growth efforts, including RFIs/RFPs, white papers, pilot proposals, partner strategies, and expansion opportunities.
• Bring field learnings back to product, engineering, research, and go-to-market teams to shape roadmap, delivery patterns, and customer strategy.

You Might Thrive in This Role If You

• Enjoy operating at the intersection of mission, technology, strategy, and execution.
• Communicate clearly with technical and non-technical audiences, from hands-on users to senior government stakeholders.
• Can build credibility with mission owners, program offices, technical evaluators, security teams, primes, and systems integrators.
• Are comfortable navigating ambiguity across customers, partners, and internal teams.
• Have strong ownership instincts and can drive work from early opportunity through pilot, deployment, and adoption.
• Like turning customer feedback into practical product improvements, deployment patterns, and mission value.
• Are excited to help public sector customers adopt custom AI evaluations, runtime controls, and agent governance systems in high-stakes environments.

Preferred Qualifications

• 5+ years in public sector technology, defense technology, strategy consulting, technical program management, solutions, product strategy, enterprise SaaS, or other customer-facing roles.
• Experience supporting government customers across the Department of War, IC, federal civilian, or national security environments.
• Deep expertise in Generative AI and LLM systems, including model behavior, evaluation design, red-teaming, RAG/copilot architectures, prompt injection, guardrails, observability, and agentic workflows.
• Strong technical fluency across enterprise software, cloud environments, APIs, AI/ML systems, cybersecurity, or deployment architectures.
• Ability to translate customer needs into use cases, solution strategies, implementation plans, success criteria, and executive-ready narratives.
• Track record managing complex stakeholders, milestones, proposals, pilots, statements of work, or cross-functional delivery efforts.
• Strong problem-solving, presentation, writing, and operational judgment.
• Willingness to travel regularly to customer sites.
• U.S. Citizenship required; active U.S. security clearance preferred, with eligibility and willingness to obtain one required.

Nice to Have

• Hands-on experience applying AI evaluation, red-teaming, runtime guardrails, observability, or agent governance in production or customer-facing environments.
• Familiarity with RMF, FedRAMP, IL environments, ATO processes, CMMC, or government software accreditation.
• Familiarity with public sector acquisition pathways, including BAAs, OTAs, SBIR/STTR, IDIQs, production transition, or programs of record.
• Experience working with systems integrators, primes, federal channel partners, or public sector resellers.
• Prior experience at a defense-tech, AI, cybersecurity, cloud, or enterprise SaaS company.
• Background in military, intelligence, federal technology, or mission-oriented consulting environments.
• Active Secret, Top Secret, or TS/SCI clearance.