AI Technical Product Manager, HBS Foundry

Company/Role Overview

Harvard University – Harvard Business School Foundry is a new initiative that helps founders build, fund, and launch ventures through an AI-driven digital learning platform. Foundry combines the energy of a startup with the mission and reach of Harvard, and brings together educators, engineers, and creative thinkers dedicated to innovation, learning, and impact.

Job Summary: Lead development and implementation of complex information technology projects to solve problems that may have wide impact, requiring high levels of functional integration and involving multiple disciplines. May manage a number of projects simultaneously.

The AI Technical Product Manager bridges the gap between artificial intelligence capabilities and real-world product applications, combining deep technical understanding with strategic product thinking to build AI-powered solutions that deliver measurable value.

• Product
  • Balance innovation with practical implementation, assessing technical feasibility and business impact
  • Establish success metrics and KPIs for AI product initiatives
• Technical Leadership
  • Collaborate with data scientists, ML engineers, and software developers to translate business requirements into technical specifications
  • Understand AI/ML fundamentals including model architectures, training processes, evaluation metrics, and deployment considerations
  • Make informed decisions about model selection, data requirements, and infrastructure needs
  • Evaluate emerging AI technologies and determine their applicability to product challenges and risk mitigation strategies
• Cross-Functional Collaboration
  • Partner with engineering teams to prioritize features and manage the development lifecycle
  • Work with design teams to create intuitive user experiences that leverage AI capabilities effectively
  • Coordinate with data engineering on data pipelines, quality, and governance
  • Communicate technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders including executives and customers
• Product Development & Execution
  • Align with Project Director on strategic priorities, customer experience and usability needs, and internal/external deadlines
  • Own the product backlog, writing detailed user stories and acceptance criteria for AI features
  • Manage tradeoffs between model performance, latency, cost, and user experience
  • Oversee A/B testing and experimentation frameworks to validate AI-driven improvements
  • Monitor model performance in production and coordinate retraining or optimization efforts
• Ethics & Risk Management
  • Ensure responsible AI practices including fairness, transparency, and privacy considerations
  • Identify potential biases in training data and model outputs
  • Establish governance frameworks for AI model deployment and monitoring
  • Navigate regulatory requirements, security needs, and compliance considerations
  • Build trust and collaboration by being present on-site and engaging directly with colleagues and constituents
  • This role is responsible for other duties as assigned.

Basic Qualifications:

• Minimum of seven years’ post-secondary education or relevant work experience

Additional Qualifications and Skills:

• Knowledge of Microsoft Office Suite, advanced Excel skills
• Knowledge of information technology applications, processes, software and equipment
• Highly specialized knowledge of a specific technology
• Knowledge of advanced IT project management principles (e.g. Agile) and software
• Demonstrated cross-functional project management experience
• Demonstrated team performance skills, service mindset, and the ability to act as a trusted advisor
• Attitude that supports an Agile working environment
• Master’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Data Science, or related technical field
• Experience with large language models, prompt engineering, or RAG systems
• Background in software engineering or data science
• Track record of managing products at scale with millions of users
• Exposure navigating AI regulatory landscapes (EU AI Act, etc.)

Technical Background

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Data Science, or related technical field
• 5 years of product management experience with 2 years specifically on AI/ML products
• Strong…