Senior Technical Program Manager - Forward Deployed Engineering

Senior Technical Program Manager - FDE, Core42, Abu Dhabi - UAEAbout UsCore42, a leader in AI-powered cloud and digital infrastructure, is driving transformative technology solutions globally. Leveraging advanced resources and partnerships, Core42 empowers clients to harness sovereign AI infrastructure, especially in sectors with stringent regulatory needs. With a mission to redefine digital transformation, we combine sovereign capabilities with scalable, high-performance compute infrastructure, positioning Core42 at the forefront of AI innovation in the Middle East and beyond.The opportunityAs Senior Technical Program Manager - Forward Deployed Engineering (FDE), you will embed with strategic customers and lead the end-to-end journey from opportunity qualification and problem definition through co-engineering delivery, production adoption and measurable business outcomes. You will operate at the intersection of customer strategy, product thinking, analytics and engineering, bringing structure to ambiguity without creating unnecessary bureaucracy.You will use design-thinking and business-analysis methods to uncover the real customer problem, map users and workflows, test assumptions, define success measures and translate qualified needs into clear scenarios, user stories, technical requirements and a sequenced delivery plan. Working in a small multidisciplinary crew with Forward Deployed Engineers, software engineers, data scientists, designers, product managers, security specialists and customer domain experts, you will maintain alignment, decision velocity and outcome accountability across business and technical stakeholders.This is an individual-contributor technical program leadership role. It is not the Forward Deployed Engineer profile and is not a people-management role. The TPM qualifies the problem, shapes the program, aligns stakeholders and drives execution; the FDE owns hands-on solution architecture, coding, deployment and production engineering.Your key responsibilities:

• Customer discovery and qualification: Lead structured discovery with executives, domain experts, users, engineering, data, security and operations teams. Determine whether a problem is valuable, feasible, deployable and suitable for an FDE engagement before committing delivery capacity.
• Problem framing and design thinking: Use user research, stakeholder interviews, workflow observation, journey mapping, service blueprints, problem statements, ideation, prototyping and validation to distinguish root causes from requested features and define the right problem to solve.
• Business analysis and value definition: Analyze workflows, baseline performance, demand, constraints, risks and available data. Build a clear value hypothesis, expected business or operational impact, measurable success indicators and an evidence plan for validating outcomes.
• Requirements translation: Convert customer context into prioritized scenarios, personas, user journeys, user stories, acceptance criteria, non-functional requirements, data and integration needs, security and sovereignty constraints, and decision-ready engineering briefs.
• Program shaping and roadmap: Define the engagement charter, MVP or first-production scope, delivery increments, milestones, dependencies, critical path, readiness gates, rollout approach and adoption plan. Protect speed by controlling scope and making trade-offs explicit.
• End-to-end execution: Own the program operating rhythm from discovery through prototype, production deployment, stabilization, adoption and closure. Maintain clear owners, decisions, risks, actions, dependencies and measurable outcomes across internal and customer teams.
• Technical fluency: Work credibly across AI, cloud, data, application and integration domains. Partner with engineers to test feasibility, understand architecture and model trade-offs, sequence technical work and challenge assumptions without replacing engineering ownership.
• Data-driven decision making: Create dashboards and decision mechanisms that combine delivery health with product usage, workflow performance, model quality, reliability, latency, cost, adoption and customer impact. Use evidence to recommend continuation, pivot, scale or stop decisions.
• AI-assisted program leadership: Use AI-enabled engineering and productivity tools to accelerate requirements-to-specifications, synthesize customer context, draft artifacts, analyze risks and maintain delivery flow. Validate AI-generated outputs with domain expertise, customer evidence and engineering review.
• Risk, readiness and governance: Identify technical, data, security, privacy, responsible-AI, regulatory, operational and adoption risks early. Establish proportionate readiness criteria, escalation paths, decision forums and rollback or contingency plans.
• Stakeholder alignment: Create concise, decision-ready communications for executives, product leaders, engineers and customer teams. Facilitate difficult trade-offs, resolve conflicting priorities and influence decisions without relying on formal authority.
• Customer adoption and change: Define adoption measures, stakeholder ownership, training, communications, operating-model changes and capability-transfer activities so the delivered solution becomes part of real customer workflows.
• Productization and field feedback: Identify recurring customer patterns and convert them into reusable qualification criteria, program playbooks, templates, reference journeys and product feedback that improve Core42 platforms and future FDE engagements.
• Continuous improvement: Run retrospectives and post-deployment reviews, convert repeated friction and manual work into scalable operating mechanisms, and share learning across FDE crews and product teams.What we’re looking for(a) Required skills / qualifications
• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, Data Science, Business Analytics, Product Management or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
• 10+ years of experience across technical program management, product development, engineering, data or business analysis, including 5+ years leading complex cross-functional or cross-team programs.
• Demonstrated experience working directly with customers to move an ambiguous need from discovery and qualification into delivered technical capability and measurable outcomes.
• Strong business-analysis capability, including workflow analysis, requirements elicitation, process mapping, value-case development, KPI definition and evidence-based prioritization.
• Practical design-thinking and product-discovery experience, including user research, problem framing, journey mapping, facilitation, prototyping, experimentation and iterative validation.
• Ability to write high-quality program and product artifacts, including engagement charters, user stories, acceptance criteria, technical briefs, decision records, roadmaps, dependency maps, risk registers and executive updates.
• Technical fluency across AI/ML, cloud, data, APIs, application architecture, software delivery and production operations sufficient to engage credibly with engineers and assess delivery implications.
• Experience managing scope, dependencies, risks, release readiness, rollout and adoption across multiple concurrent workstreams and organizations.
• Ability to define and use metrics for business impact, adoption, delivery health, reliability, quality, latency, cost and customer experience.
• Excellent executive communication, facilitation, negotiation and stakeholder-management skills, including the ability to create alignment and drive decisions under ambiguity.
• High ownership, structured problem solving, sound judgment and the ability to bring clarity and momentum without creating unnecessary process.
• Willingness to work regularly from customer locations and travel according to engagement needs.(b) Preferred skills / qualifications
• Master’s degree in Engineering, Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, Business Analytics, Product Management, Design or a related field.
• Experience leading AI, generative-AI, agentic, cloud or data-platform programs from discovery through production adoption.
• Experience with AI solution evaluation, responsible-AI controls, model and workflow quality measures, and data-readiness assessment.
• Experience with Azure, Azure AI, Azure OpenAI, GitHub, modern engineering backlogs, observability platforms, analytics tools and AI-assisted development workflows.
• Experience in government, healthcare, financial services, energy, defense or other regulated and mission-critical environments.
• Experience with sovereign, private-cloud, on-premises, disconnected or restricted deployments and related security, privacy and compliance requirements.
• Experience developing reusable program playbooks, qualification methods, delivery templates or product-feedback mechanisms across multiple customer engagements.
• Working knowledge of software engineering or data analysis, including the ability to read code, query data or create lightweight analytical prototypes when useful.
• Regional delivery experience in the UAE or wider Middle East. Arabic capability is advantageous but does not replace the required program, analytical and technical depth.What success looks like
• FDE capacity is focused on qualified problems with clear users, feasible delivery paths, committed customer owners and measurable value hypotheses.
• Customer needs are translated into decision-ready requirements and a realistic path from prototype to production adoption.
• Engineering crews move quickly because priorities, dependencies, decisions, acceptance criteria and risks are visible and actively managed.
• Solutions achieve agreed adoption and business or operational outcomes, not merely technical completion or demonstration milestones.
• Executives and engineering teams receive concise, evidence-based recommendations and make timely trade-off decisions.
• Reusable qualification models, program playbooks and field insights improve Core42 products and subsequent FDE engagements.Role boundaries
• The Senior TPM-FDE owns customer discovery, engagement qualification, program design, stakeholder alignment, delivery operating rhythm, risk management, adoption planning and outcome tracking.
• The Forward Deployed Engineer owns hands-on solution architecture, coding, integration, deployment, production reliability and technical implementation.
• The TPM-FDE must be technically fluent and comfortable in engineering tools, but is not hired as the primary full-stack developer for the engagement.
• The role influences multidisciplinary teams without direct authority and is not a line-management or engineering-manager position.
• Success is measured through qualified demand, decision velocity, delivery flow, production adoption and measurable customer outcomes, not reporting volume or meeting cadence.What working at Core42 offersWith a diverse team of 1,100+ employees from 68 nationalities, we foster an inclusive, innovative and collaborative environment. At Core42, we foster a culture grounded in trust, accountability and high performance. We are united by our values: Grit, where we overcome challenges with resilience and determination; Passion, which drives us to pursue excellence in everything we do; and Impact, as we aim to inspire progress and create meaningful change. Our team members thrive in an environment where each person’s contributions propel us forward, and together, we commit to achieving extraordinary results.
• Competitive Salary: We offer an attractive salary package based on your skills and experience.
• Yearly Bonus: In recognition of your contributions, you will receive a performance-based annual bonus.
• Exclusive Discount Cards: Access special benefits with Esaad and Fazaa cards, offering discounts across a wide range of services.
• Premium Family Insurance: We provide comprehensive health coverage, including dental, vision and life insurance, supporting you and your family.
• Learning & Development: Access top-tier learning platforms and development opportunities to grow your technical and leaders