The Deployment Strategist will own the end-to-end deployment experience for Forerunner's customers, from discovery to go-live, ensuring deployments are aligned with business impact. This role sits at the intersection of strategy, project management, and operational delivery, working closely with customers and internal teams to drive high-quality, repeatable, and outcome-driven implementations at Forerunner, a company building mission-driven climate adaptation software.
What You'll Do
- Lead structured workshops with customers to uncover business objectives, operational constraints, and success metrics.
- Translate findings into a clear deployment roadmap and set of deliverables.
- Define project scope, milestones, dependencies, and governance.
- Serve as the primary point of contact for the customer during deployment.
- Coordinate across cross-functional teams (Implementation Specialist, Forward Deployed Engineer, Customer Success Manager, internal stakeholders) to ensure alignment and momentum.
- Proactively identify risks, manage dependencies, and escalate when necessary.
- Provide regular status updates to both the customer and internal leadership.
- Partner with the Implementation Specialist to ensure system configurations align with business goals.
- Work with the Forward Deployed Engineer to scope integrations and customizations.
- Ensure that deployment deliverables map back to the business requirements and success criteria.
- Lead user acceptance testing (UAT) and drive readiness for go-live.
- Collaborate with the Customer Success Manager to ensure a smooth transition to the ongoing success phase.
- Document lessons learned, refine the playbook, and drive continuous improvement across deployments.
What We're Looking For
- 4-6 years of experience in project management, SaaS implementation delivery, customer consulting, and operations.
- Strong ability to translate ambiguous business challenges into structured, executable plans.
- Excellent communication skills with both technical and executive stakeholders.
- Comfortable operating in a fast-paced, customer-facing environment where you are building repeatable processes.
Nice to Have
- Believe in delivering measurable outcomes to customers, not just checking off tasks.
- Enjoy being the glue across teams, driving clarity, and removing friction.
- Are comfortable juggling strategic thinking and tactical execution.
- Want to build and refine playbooks that scale, not just follow them.
Team & Environment
- Work within a small, early-stage, interdisciplinary team.
- Remote-first culture with physical offices in New York City, NY; San Francisco, CA; and Portland, ME.
- Part of a mission-driven organization with urgency, focused on solving intractable climate adaptation challenges.
- Collaborative environment that values diverse perspectives and field engagement to understand real-world problems.
Benefits & Compensation
- Competitive compensation with a salary range of $120,000–$165,000
- Health, vision, and dental coverage
- Commuter benefits
- Quarterly wellness reimbursement
- Schedule flexibility for all employees, with accountability expected in return
- Meaningful impact on business and technical direction
- Opportunity to work on mission-driven climate adaptation software
- Supportive team environment focused on solving intractable problems
- Engagement with partners in the field to understand real-world challenges
- Welcome for unique perspectives and backgrounds
Work Mode
- Hybrid work model with team locations in New York City, NY; San Francisco, CA; and Portland, ME.
- Remote-first approach with schedule flexibility and accountability.
Forerunner is an equal opportunity employer. We value diverse perspectives and are committed to fostering an inclusive environment where all team members can contribute and grow.