Product Manager - Contract

Ascendance Foundry (AF) is built on two beliefs:

• Apprenticeship belongs at the centre of education
  

• Winning with AI demands the fastest workforce retraining in history
  

Our Ascendance Fellowship program embeds a top student on your team after they have completed an intensive bootcamp focused on AI tools. The placement is supported by structured mentorship from seasoned founders, executives, and technical leaders.

Through our flagship Ascendance Fellowship, we recruit top students from universities and high schools, train them in AI-first problem solving, and embed them into real client projects alongside experienced operators. Our programs combine intensive bootcamps, hands-on project work, expert talks, and mentorship from an “Expert Network” of industry leaders.

We are looking for Product Managers to work with Ascendance Foundry on a contract, project-by-project basis, with flexible time commitments ranging from ~10 hours per week to full-time depending on project needs and availability.

As a Product Manager at AF, you will lead product direction and execution for client engagements—working at the intersection of business strategy, user needs, and technical delivery. You will partner closely with Solutions Architects, engineers, and Ascendance Fellows to define, scope, and ship AI-enabled products and internal tools for our clients.

This is a highly entrepreneurial role suited for operators who enjoy ambiguity, fast iteration, and working directly with clients to build meaningful, production-grade solutions.

• Lead product discovery with client stakeholders to understand workflows, pain points, and success metrics
  

• Translate ambiguous business problems into clear product requirements, roadmaps, and prioritized backlogs
  

• Define MVP scope and iterate rapidly based on user feedback and real-world usage
  

• Align stakeholders on product vision, trade-offs, and delivery timelines
  

• Work closely with Solutions Architects and engineers to translate requirements into technical plans
  

• Manage sprint planning, prioritization, and delivery cadence across project teams
  

• Ensure high-quality, user-centric outputs that deliver measurable business value
  

• Continuously refine product direction based on data, user feedback, and evolving client needs
  

• Communicate product decisions in terms of ROI, operational impact, and scalability
  

• Collaborate with technical teams on feasibility, constraints, and system design decisions
  

• Help clients operationalize and adopt delivered solutions within their organizations
  

• Provide guidance to Fellows on product thinking, user research, and prioritization
  

• Help structure work in a way that creates a strong apprenticeship experience while maintaining delivery quality
  

• Strong product intuition paired with first-principles thinking
  

• Comfort operating in ambiguous, fast-moving environments
  

• Bias toward action and rapid iteration
  

• Ability to simplify complex problems into clear, actionable plans
  

• Strong communication skills across both technical and non-technical stakeholders
  

• Experience with product discovery, user research, and defining MVPs
  

• Strong ability to write clear product requirements and manage backlogs
  

• Familiarity with agile/iterative development processes
  

• Comfort working alongside engineering teams building data and AI-driven products
  

• Working understanding of modern AI systems (LLMs, RAG, APIs, data pipelines)
  

• Familiarity with how software systems are built and deployed (cloud, APIs, databases)
  

• Ability to engage meaningfully with engineers and Solutions Architects on trade-offs
  

• 2–8 years in product management, product strategy, or similar roles
  

• Experience working on B2B products, internal tools, or data/AI-driven systems
  

• Experience working directly with clients or cross-functional stakeholders
  

• Experience leading small teams or owning end-to-end product delivery
  

• Contract, project-based work with flexible time commitments (~10 hrs/week to full-time)
  

• Opportunity to work across multiple projects and industries depending on interest and availability
  

• Potential for longer-term or repeat engagements based on fit and performance
  

• Work directly with founders, executives, and operators across a wide range of industries
  

• Build and ship real products—not decks or theoretical strategies
  

• High autonomy and ownership over product decisions
  

• Exposure to cutting-edge AI applications across sectors
  

• Opportunity to mentor and shape the next generation of technical talent