Blank Metal is an AI-native engineering company that partners with enterprises to deliver production AI fast. Our approach combines strategic thinking with rapid implementation, ensuring AI initiatives deliver measurable business value.

As an AI Strategist at Blank Metal, you’ll serve as the client-facing lead for product value and evaluation strategy. You’ll co-lead engagements alongside a Technical Lead and a lean, senior team to identify high-impact use cases, ship production-grade AI, validate performance through rigorous evaluations, and drive adoption. This role blends strategic thinking, hands-on evaluation design, and delivery leadership to ensure measurable outcomes - not slideware.

Our office is located in Minneapolis and we offer a hybrid working model. This role is not eligible for visa sponsorship.

Key Accountabilities

• Set the business thesis & AI approach - Identify the highest-leverage problems, shape the value story (KPIs/OKRs, ROI), and choose an AI path (assist, draft, or automate) that fits the risk/reward.
• Own value end-to-end - Lead from discovery through launch and post-launch improvement; keep the roadmap tied to outcomes and prove impact with real adoption and results.
• Product co-lead with the AI Technical Lead - You drive product vision, prioritization, and trade-offs while the Tech Lead drives architecture and build.
• Gain and keep executive alignment - Run sponsor touchpoints, make crisp calls when constraints collide, and surface smart expansion bets - no surprises for stakeholders.
• Govern delivery health - scope, schedule, risks, and dependencies - so stakeholders get no surprises.
• Ensure enterprise-ready delivery - Make sure deliverable is production-ready by holding the line on security, privacy, compliance, performance, and reliability; ensure changes are governed so the solution scales safely.
• Platform & playbook influence - Use insights from customers and team members to inform our internal platform roadmap so future teams deliver faster at higher quality.

Key Responsibilities

• Run discovery to define value thesis, KPIs/OKRs, and agency roadmap
• Prioritize backlog to maximize ROI and user value
• Design and lead evaluation plans across offline and online layers
• Build rubrics and test cases using code-, LLM-, or human-graded approaches
• Partner with Tech Lead to implement eval harness and publish dashboards
• Analyze model behavior and maintain error taxonomy; drive mitigations
• Orchestrate calibration cycles to manage autonomy escalation
• Lead sprint rituals, manage risks, and ensure delivery transparency
• Chair Responsible-AI checkpoints and secure legal/infosec approvals
• Design enablement and rollout plans; prove usage and satisfaction
• Identify adjacent use cases and support proposals/SOWs

About you

Must-Have Experience

• 7+ years in product management, digital consulting, or equivalent
• Shipped AI/ML or data-intensive products to production
• Hands-on experience with evaluation design and operations (offline/online)
• Skilled in building golden datasets and designing rubrics for scoring
• Working knowledge of LLMs, RAG, prompt engineering, and basic data tooling (SQL, notebooks, dashboards)
• Strong analytical and executive communication skills
• Proven experience applying Responsible-AI practices in regulated domains

Nice-to-Have Experience

• Familiarity with OpenAI Evals or similar frameworks
• Experience with experimentation platforms (A/B, interleaving)
• Prior use of agency-gated releases and continuous calibration loops
• Industry depth in one of Blank Metal’s core verticals
• Experience leading change management at scale

Why Join Us

• Build Production AI That Matters: We ship real solutions - not endless pilots. Every milestone unlocks value, and our incentives are tied to client success.
• Craft Meets Velocity: We obsess over engineering quality while moving at the speed of AI. You’ll shape best practices, pair-program, and lead with impact.
• Outcome-Driven Model: Fixed-price, KPI-linked deals. Shared upside when we exceed targets. Focus stays glued to results - not hours.
• AI-Native DNA: Our founding team has shipped category-defining products for 15+ years - including AI long before the hype.
• Backed to Build: Fueled by a $3M seed round from Rally Ventures, Traction Capital, and PurePlay Partners.
• Culture That Clicks: Open conversations, shared ownership, and a healthy dose of laughter. Bring your voice and entrepreneurial spirit.

Equal Employment Opportunity

We’re proud to be an equal opportunity employer and welcome our employee’s differences, regardless of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, or Veteran status. Difference makes us better. Join us.