Job Search Retro: Forward Deployed Strategist

Sienna landed a Forward Deployed Strategist role at a Series C AI company.

Hedgy Member Background

• Previously a PM at a now public tech company then founded their own startup.
• Had a data science background and ability to code (but was never formally in a full stack engineering role).
• Their search was initially focused on PM roles but then pivoted to Forward Deployed roles at AI first companies.

Key Insights

Looking past the title

• When Sienna started her job search, she was laser-focused on finding "PM" roles based on her background. But as she talked to AI startups, she realized the role she actually wanted didn't have that label anymore. The day-to-day work she was drawn to lived in something called a Forward Deployed Strategist position.
• Turns out, the company she ended up joining doesn't even have traditional PMs. Instead, they follow the Palantir model where Forward Deployed Engineers and Strategists work together in pairs to deliver solutions.

The updated “PM” interview loop

• The Forward Deployed interview process felt streamlined compared to typical PM loops. It was four conversations: 30 minute recruiter screen, then two hour long 1:1s with a forward deployed engineer and strategist, and lastly a 15 minute co-founder 1:1.
• The hour long forward deployed 1:1s were split roughly in half between behavioral questions and an exercise.
  • The first exercise had her debugging code. Since she'd done hands-on coding before, she felt comfortable tackling it. They asked her not to use AI tools for the interview itself, though they made it clear that using them on the actual job would be totally fine and even encouraged.
  • The second exercise was more familiar. It simulated how she'd work with a small team (e.g. a couple junior engineers) help a real customer get a solution up and running. It was basically a product exercise: here's the problem, here's the proposed solution, here's how we build it and roll it out.

Make your passion tangible

• A lot of candidates talk about loving the team, company, and product during interviews. Sienna did something different. She actually used the product to build something and brought it to the founder interview to show off.
• Nobody asked her to do this, but having something concrete the founder could interact with and react to felt way more powerful than just verbally saying how excited she was to join.

This post is part of our job search retro series where Hedgy members who have recently started a new job share learnings from their search. If we can be helpful as you navigate your search, email us at founders@hedgy.works